Page 33 of Tangled in His Game

I don’t know anything anymore. Victor is still a mystery. Well, on the inside, at least. I get to my feet and look through the window. No one’s hiding in the shadows, but my parents are home too, so I don’t think Victor will be crazy enough to try something.

And I have to be prepared for anything at Emberwell. Not that it’s any change from the usual, but Victor might be even more tempted to bully me. Then again, if he’s suffering no consequences, I don’t see why he would want revenge. But it’s Victor. He always finds a reason that probably only makes sense in his mind and no one else’s.

Chapter 16

IN CLASS, NOTHING HAPPENS. Victor barely spares me a glance, but I think I can feel his intense gaze on me. I don’t want to give him any attention.

When the class is over, I leave first. Maybe Victor has finally learned not to mess with me, and I don’t want to do anything to disturb the peace.

But when it’s time for the game, I sneak into the arena and hide in the shadows. I want to see if Victor will really play tonight.

The crowd is as wild as ever, and then I see him. He glides over the ice without any trouble and even waves to the crowd.

Unbelievable.

He must’ve been pretending then, because I don’t think it’s possible to play with a sprained ankle. I guess he didn’t twist it that bad, which makes me a little disappointed. But he could’ve gotten seriously injured, so I hope he thinks about that before he gets the idea to pester me again.

Unless someone else is pretending to be Victor and wearing his number. It’s not like I can see under the helmet from this far away, but someone would’ve surely noticed. The crowd happily chants his name when he scores.

Maybe he moves a little slower than usual and not as elegantly, but it might be my wishful thinking. I haven’t watched him enough times to know if this is just a normal variation in his gameplay. No player can be perfect in every game.

I sigh and head out. There’s a table with chairs outside in the light, and usually no one is there, so I can study in peace. I’ll wait to see what happens with Victor. MaybeIcan followhimfor a change and figure out where his dorm room is.

***

IT’S GETTING COLD,so I stuff my book into my bag and get up. All the players and the audience have left the arena, and I haven’t seen Victor. Is he doing his post-match routine, if that’s what I witnessed last time? Then yeah, he definitely didn’t get hurt.

But as I reach the entrance, the hallway is in darkness and the door locked. Victor isn’t here anymore, so where is he? Maybe he left through a different exit or I missed him in the crowd.

Although, he’s the reason his team won, so I’m sure it would be hard to miss the main star. There’s no way he could’ve just calmly walked close by without a bunch of fans at least congratulating him or shouting something to him. Someone who seems to like attention as much as he does would want everyone to know exactly where he is.

I hide behind a tree trunk as I see a group of men dressed in black coming through the back exit. As they part, I see Victor and Jake.

Victor is a little slower than Jake, and he seems to be favoring one leg over the other as he walks. Wait, what does that mean? Did Victor play injured? Under painkillers or who knows what?

But why? It wasn’t an overly important game. Just another in the line. Sure, the team won because of him, but they probably could’ve done it without him too. I guess that was why he was slower and seemed a little off.

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