Page 30 of Pucking Snowed In with the Enemy

“Good, you’re on the road. It means you won’t miss the game.”

I smiled and was happy he couldn’t see my face. “I could be headed home for all you know.”

“You wouldn’t drive home. It’s a long way back to Virginia.”

“Maybe I like to drive.”

“Do you?”

I laughed. “Not really. At least not that far.” I tapped my finger on the top of the steering wheel, feeling way too much like I had on my very first date. “Yes, I’m on my way. You didn’t leave me much choice if I want to find out what really happened to my brother.”

“Do you still think I killed him?”

“No, no, I don’t. But that doesn’t mean that someone else in your family didn’t.”

He chuckled and then sighed. “Yes, I guess that is plausible. Well, you can ask all your questions after the game. I’ll make sure we stay on task, at least for as long as it takes me to get you naked again.”

Cue the heat. I flicked the air on higher in the car. “You are so fucking cocky.”

“Oooh, fuck, and cock in the same sentence coming out of your mouth is so sexy.”

I rolled my eyes, and yet…fuck, he made me feel young and carefree. I was only twenty-five, yet it felt like I’d lived three lifetimes already.

“Hey, thirty-three, get your ass over here!” I heard someone yell in the background.

“Gotta go. Coach is going to reem my ass. See you tonight, Savannah.”

The line went dead, and I swallowed the lump in my throat as butterflies soared around my body. I needed to stop the insanity, but I didn’t know how. Being around Nathan was like standing in quicksand. The more I fought, the deeper I sank.

There wasn’t much that I remembered of my biological father before he passed away, but one of our last conversations always stood out in my mind. He told me it didn’t matter if you were loved or hated in this world just as long as you were yourself. The problem was I didn’t know who I was anymore. It was as if there were two versions of myself trapped in my skin and the one wanted to run away from the life life I’d worked hard to carve. The other still wanted to be an amazing FBI agent. My foot stayed firmly on the gass and my hands never wavered, answering which version of myself I was going to be. For one more night at least.

Taking a steadying breath, I turned up the music and tried not to think about what tomorrow would bring. I couldn’t hide forever from all the decisions I needed to make, but for tonight, I would. One more night couldn’t hurt. Right?

CHAPTER

TWELVE

NATHANIEL

Lined up on the ice for the national anthem, I looked for Savannah in the seat I’d reserved for her, but it remained empty. The disappointment was instant, but then a nagging bit of unease set in that something had happened to her on the drive here. My father wouldn’t do something so stupid. Would he? Then again, it had started to snow, she could’ve gotten into an accident.

By the time the song was over, I’d managed to turn myself inside out with worry, but a flash of strawberry hair caught my attention as people were allowed to move again. She was holding a massive beer and a bag of popcorn, and my entire body lit up at the sight of her.

She smiled as I skated by, and all the earlier apprehension melted away. I didn’t want to think about what came after this. I couldn’t leave my family even if I wanted to. Our world didn’t work that way. I’d already had three texts and a ranting phone call from my father demanding that she leave or he would take care of her himself.

He would have to go through me to do it, but nothing he did anymore surprised me.

I skated around to get into position for the faceoff. Even though I focused on my players and the puck, the boost I gained from Savannah being in the crowd was enormous. I felt light on my feet as we won the puck battle and passed it back and forth, finding the break to make our rush.

My center, Peters, started up the ice right down main street and then passed to me. Handling the puck cleanly, I sailed through the corner of the opposing end with their defenseman all over me. I was just a bit quicker and didn’t get bogged down in the corner, with my head on a swivel. As soon as we cleared the other side, I spotted my opening. With a quick flick of my wrist, the puck shot under the defenseman’s stick for a perfect pass back to Peters. I circled back staying close to the blue line and watched as he passed Roberts the donut. Roberts weaved closer to the net and passed the puck across to Peters who lobbed it over the stick of a defenseman to get it to Gunnarson. I was getting antsy watching it go back and forth across the ice with no shot attempts. Keeping my feet moving was key so I didn’t get caught flat footed if the play came back my way.

Roberts set up in front of the net to block the goalie’s view as Gunnarrson did a sneaky drop pass out of traffic to me. Peters had a small open patch of ice and I passed it to him. With a beautiful fake shot he deeked the goalie and drilled it home, going top-shelf over the goalie’s blocker.

“Yeah!” We cheered and came together with a hug before heading to the bench. I was breathing hard and pulled out my mouth guard for some water. I could see Savannah from the bench, and she was still standing and cheering. She looked fucking beautiful with her puffy white jacket and matching beanie, her cheeks pink and eyes bright with excitement. I couldn’t help wondering what my life would’ve been like if I’d just been a little more talented and made the NHL.

I watched Callum and Tyler on television and pictured myself in their place. It could’ve been my ticket to a different life, one that I controlled and where my every move wasn’t scrutinized. At least not by my father. Who was I kidding? He would probably demand I lose a game or some shit that I wouldn’t do, and we would still end up at each other’s throats.

We were up three to two when I jumped off the bench and, chased after the defenseman heading into my end and got a stick in the way before he could take a shot on goal. We flew into the corner together and ended up slamming into the boards. I knocked the puck loose, shot it around to my man, and pushed away from the guy I was covering to follow the play to the opposing end.