Page 25 of Puck and Prejudice

“You’re my problem,” he grits out. “You need to stay away from the Bennet sisters.”

“Excuse me?” I butt in.

Jackson turns to me. “Trust me on this.”

My brows shoot to the heavens. “Trust you? I don’t even know you. Who do you think you are to dictate who I socialize with?”

He narrows his eyes, and a muscle in his jaw ticks. “Fine. Ask him about the 2015 Junior Championship.”

“You’re such a jackass, Darcy.”

Manuel walks over. “Is everything okay here?”

“Yes, everything’s fine,” Gavin replies. “We’ll catch up later, Izzie. I’d better not piss off the captain, or I might get benched.”

Gavin walks away, and I’m fucking mad. I turn to Jackson. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“You don’t know Wickham like I do. Trust me, I did you a favor.”

My jaw drops. “You know what, Jackson? Why don’t you stick your favor up where the sun don’t shine.”

His nostrils flare. “Fine. I won’t interfere again. If you want to socialize with the likes of Wickham, who am I stop you? But be warned, whoever joins with pigs eats bran.”

He spins on his heels and walks back to our table.

“Joder. Este tío es un cabrón,” Manuel pipes up.

“Yes, he’s a bastard all right.”

“He’s best friends with Jane’s fiancé, sí?”

“Unfortunately.”

Manuel touches my shoulder. “Forget about him. Come to the bar and I’ll make you a drink.”

“Thanks. I was on my way to you when Mr. Jackass showed up.”

Manuel chuckles. “Mr. Jackass. That’s a great name for him. Come on, I’ll make your favorite cocktail.”

“Espresso martini?” I smile.

“Por supuesto.”

I follow Manuel to the bar, but as much as I want to forget the interaction with Jackson, I can’t. That infuriating man got under my skin. And what is up between him and Wickham? I have to find out.

ChapterEleven

JACKSON

Since the evening at Triana, Wickham’s made sure to stay away from me. He has many faults, but stupidity isn’t one of them. Chad knows why I can’t stand Wickham, but I refrained from telling him Wickham was sniffing after Izzie. I don’t want Chad worrying about anything besides goaltending.

We’re in Vancouver, and we just won the third game in a row in the series. We just need to win one more game and the Cup is ours. We can taste the victory, but we also know the job is not done.

The game today started early, and even though everyone is tired, we decided to go out to dinner just the same. It’s a laid-back affair—as laid back as a bunch of hockey players in one place can be. The locals aren’t too fond of us right now, and here the hockey culture is strong.

“Jesus, did you see the look that waiter gave us?” Alex Kaminski asks. “I’m afraid to eat here.”

“Right? What if they poison us?” his brother asks.

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