Page 2 of The Golden Goalie

Amber stands in front of a guy and shoves him hard in the chest. He doesn’t even rock backwards. I’m moving before I even think about it. I don’t know what he did to her; I don’t have to know. If she’s mad at him, so am I. I stop beside her, but she doesn’t even acknowledge my presence. “Amber,” I say in a low voice. Her head whips to mine, and I see the red eyes. The tears. Something hardens in my gut, and I crack my neck.That wholething about not wanting to throw down? I will absolutely take on this entire team if they hurt her.I step closer to the two of them. “What’d you do?” I don’t bother keeping the anger out of my voice.

The guy turns to look at me, and I recognize him. Anger burns in me.Adam Grey,forward for the Devils. “This ain’t got nothing to do with you.”

“If it involves her, it absolutely does,” I say right back.

“Why?” He turns back to Amber and sneers. “You been cheating on me? Spreading your legs for somebody else? And a Green Thunder player, no less?”

Anger rushes through me, hard and swift; and I slam my fist into his jaw. His head jerks backwards. I have just a moment to turn to Amber. “Are you okay?” Somebody shoves into me, and I barely keep from knocking her over. I push her out of the way and spin right as a fist flies right at my face. I duck fast enough to avoid a hit in the nose but end up getting clipped in the chin. I take another punch in the stomach from somebody else, and it knocks me backwards. I hear a feminine cry and try to turn and catch her, but we both hit the ground. I’m able to keep her from taking the brunt of my weight.

“Get off me,” she says, shoving at me. I jump to my feet and put out a hand to help her up but somebody plows into me.

“Seriously?” I grunt. I turn and shove him off me. And then it’s on. I lose sight of Amber in the fight. I want to make sure she got out of harm’s way, but I can’t get a moment without some idiot trying to beat my brains in. I lose track of how many times I get hit. I take a particularly nasty hit to my eye and wince. That’s gonna hurt tomorrow. Before I can swing a punch, the guy that hit me is knocked to the ground. I turn in surprise to see Gunner, my captain throwing down. “What are you doing here?” I ask as I deliver a hard hit.

“Saving your ugly backside,” he says and ducks as somebody comes at him, roaring.

I grin. “Thanks, Cap.” We go back to back and take on these hellions. We’re going to teach them what it’s like to take on two Green Thunder players. On or off the ice, we’re formidable when we’re together.

Chapter 1

Amber

I storm out of the house as anger courses through me. I don’t know that I've ever been this mad in my entire life. I get halfway down the sidewalk and remember I don’t have a way to get home. My supposed ride is inside, acting like a fool. I turn back a moment, trying to decide what to do. One glance at the house, and my stomach turns. I know I will never be able to go back into that house ever again, not after what I saw tonight. Bile rises in my throat, and I try to fight against it but lose the battle. I throw up what little food I have in my stomach into the bushes. Not much comes out, but I can’t stop dry heaving. I try to get myself to calm down, but it’s not happening. My mind keeps playing the terrible scene over and over again, and I feel helpless to stop it.

“Amber? Are you okay?” A hand touches my elbow, and I yank it away.

“Don’t touch me!” Rico puts his hands up and steps back. I get a good look at his face and shake my head. “You too?” I ask in surprise when I see the Green Thunder team captain come out of the house. “You guys look terrible.”

“Thanks,” Rico says with a grin that immediately turns to a wince.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t do that—not with that busted lip.” I shiver, not that it’s cold out. It’s only August. No, this has everything to do with my emotions.

“Come on. Let’s get out of here before they decide to pick back up where we started,” Rico says, motioning towards the driveway.

“They’d be idiots to do that,” the captain grunts out.

I tune the two of them out as we walk. My head feels like it’s full of cotton.What am I going to do?The question that has been pinging around in my head for the last twenty-four hours comes back to the forefront. Anger rises, swift and forceful, and I clench my fists. “Which car?” It comes out nastier than I intend for it to, but I can’t force myself to feel anything but anger.

“I had to park down the street,” Rico says. He looks at me. I can’t see his face clearly in the dark. “Do you want me to come pick you up?”

“No. I’ll walk.”

He turns back and talks to the captain, and I start down the dark sidewalk. Normally, it would creep me out a little, but tonight, it doesn’t even faze me. “Hey, Amber,” Rico calls out behind me. “Wait up.” I don’t. If anything, I speed up. He catches up to me, but I keep walking. I don’t even know which car is his; I figure he’ll stop me when we get to it. “You okay?” he asks for like the third time tonight. I ignore him, just like I did the first time. He’s a guy; he doesn’t really care. “It’s right here.” His words stop me, and I wait for the doors to unlock before I climb into the front passenger seat. He stands outside my door a moment. I turn my head away, and he comes around to the driver’s side. Without a word, he starts the car. Soft music plays on the radio, but I ignore it...just like I've ignored everything else. But after he starts the car, he doesn’t even make a move to pull away from the curb, so I turn to look at him. “Where do I take you?” he asks in a soft, kind voice...entirely too kind.

I don’t want kind; I can’t handle kind tonight. I’d rather he be angry.Why isn’t he angry? He had to come pick me up, he got in a fight, and now he has to take me home.

“Amber,” he says, drawing my attention back to him. “Do you want me to take you to your house?”

That snaps me out of it. Fast. “No!”

“Okay,” he says easily. “Do you have somewhere else you want to go?”

My brain scrambles, trying to come up with something. I think first of the library where I work, my place of solitude and peace. But it’s obviously closed now.

“Amber?” He prods.

“I...I don’t know. I just...I can’t go home.” My words are as broken as I feel right now.

“Okay, no worries.” He sounds so at ease, and for a moment, I envy him.

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