Page 120 of Off The Ice

She was quiet so long I thought she might be asleep, but then, in a voice so soft I barely heard it, she whispered back, “I missed you too.”

And with the slightest motion, she pressed against me until her head was against my chest, and my arm was falling around her torso.

It was the fastest I’d ever fallen asleep in my life.

Chapter Forty

Cassie

Iwasn’t sure when I became a hockey girl, but suddenly every home game the Harbor Wolves had, my butt was in a seat, and Maggie was in one beside me.

Thoughshehad a better reason to be here than me. She had a brotheranda boyfriend on the team. I just had a roommate.

Not that Maggie saw the difference.

“So, any love declarations yet?” Maggie asked a moment after Liam scored a goal.

“Sorry, but no.” I laughed.

“Really? I figured by now there would be since you guys have been inseparable lately.”

“Not true.”

“Oh, you’re not?” She raised her brows in a challenge. “What about all the ‘Liam and I are cooking dinner,’ or ‘Liam and I justran to the grocery store’ or ‘Sorry, Maggie, I can’t hang out. Liam and I are watching a movie on the couch like we’re a 40-year-old married couple.”She rolled her eyes at the last part.

“Stop.” I groaned. “It’s good to be friends with the person you’re living with.”

“You’re wearing his jersey.” Maggie arched a brow with a smirk.

“To support him!” I said in a high-pitched voice. “It doesn’t mean anything!”

I didn’t tell her that he’d insisted.

I also didn’t tell her that I’d been sleeping in his bed every night for a week.

There was no point. Besides some very much-needed cuddling, he hadn’t so much as kissed me, which only proved what I already suspected. He didn’t like me, and whatever was happening between us was strictly platonic.

“Whatever.” She held her hands up. “I’m going to let you two figure this out yourselves.”

“Thank you,” I said, doing a double-take when something on the ice caught my eye.

As always, whenever we watched a game, my eyes were always glued to number twenty-six. I could spot him in seconds, wherever he was on the ice, no matter how fast he was moving.

That was why, when a player from the opposing team body-slammed someone against the ice, I knew at once that it was Liam.

I let out a shriek, flinching as if I were the one who took the hit. It was drowned out by the sound of the entire arena gasping with me.

“Calm down, Cassie.” Maggie put a hand on my knee to stabilize me, but I could see even she looked concerned about the intensity of the crash.

“What the hell was that about?” I asked Maggie, never taking my eyes off Liam, who used the weight of his shoulder to push the guy off of him.

“It’s their rival team,” Maggie explained, “These games tend to get a bit more… aggressive than most.”

“That was a targeted hit, Mags!” I yelled, standing from my seat, wishing I could break the glass to get to him.

The crowd was roaring as Liam and the other player went at each other until eventually, they both dropped their gloves to the ice.

“What are they—why are they doing that?” I asked, panic rising in my voice. “Why aren’t they stopping this?”

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