Page 119 of In It to Win It

“A round of your best corn whisky.” I manage a smile for her.

“Did he insult her?” Copper asks again.

“Yeah.”

“He can’t do that.” Dutch scowls and narrows his eyes. “She’s a sweetheart and doesn’t deserve that.”

Dutch flirted mercilessly when he first met Taylor, and still does, but I know it’s all in fun. The guys all like Taylor. He narrows his eyes. “Just wait till the next time we play them. He’s a dead man.”

“Fuck yeah,” Copper agrees.

“Yeah, yeah, the code, yadda yadda. We don’t settle things that way anymore.” My effort to be reasonable is half-hearted.

“In fact, I kinda want to go find him right now,” Abs muses, cracking his knuckles. “We could beat the crap out of him.”

“Off the ice we’d get arrested for assault.” I shake my head. Holy crap, I’m the voice of reason here. We’re in deep shit.

“Is he that hung up on her?” Dutch asks.

“I don’t get it.” I shrug. “He could’ve had her. He moved to Nashville and barely said goodbye to her.”

“Guess he regrets that.”

“No shit. But why is he taking it out on me? I didn’t steal her from him.” I catch their glances and my gut goes stone cold. “No! I did not! Why are you looking like that?”

“We heard what happened at Théo’s wedding.”

“They were broken up then! I didn’t even know they’d ever been together.” I meet their eyes resolutely. “It’s the truth. I didn’t move on her until I knew she wasn’t with anyone else.”

They all nod.

“What about you?” Dutch asks slowly. “Areyouthat hung up on her?”

“Me?” I open my eyes wide. “Nah.” I drop my gaze to my beer. “Just having fun.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Seriously.” I shrug, trying for casual.

“Didn’t look like it, the way you reacted.”

I’m not falling in love with her. I know better than that. I make bad choices all the time, as I’ve so clearly displayed tonight. She doesn’t need that. Like Dutch said, she’s a sweetheart and I can’t be relied on to do the right thing. After all the stupid things I’ve done, I sure as hell would never expect someone to be serious about me.

“I don’t think Martinez is that hung up on her,” Copper says slowly. “I think he was just trying to get under your skin.”

“I already figured that out.”

“He just said that because he knew it would get to you.”

I fill my lungs with air and let it out. “You’re right. I knew that. But when he said it . . . I lost it.”

“Understandable.” Dutch lifts his chin. “That dickwad knew exactly what to say.”

“It won’t happen again.” As I say it, I realize what a huge mistake I’ve made.

I can’t get involved with someone to the point where I lose it during a game. I can’t care that much about someone. I can only care about hockey and playing my best and working on self-control and managing my emotions.

Christ . . . look what just happened. I lost a game because of my temper. Because of . . . Taylor.

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