Page 37 of My Last Dance

My chest tightened.

“No,” Richard snapped.

A little sigh of relief punched out of me.

“So, she wasn’t in the closet with you?” another guy snickered.

“No, she wasn’t.”

“Oh, we thought—”

“No.” He laughed. “You’re talking about the tall one with the long blonde ponytail, right?” he asked, like he didn’t even know me. “She’s a viper, that one. Full of venom.” He scoffed. “No way would I be caught dead touching that one.”

My heart splatted to the floor. I tried to tell myself he was only saying that to protect me, to make it sound like I wasn’t involved in the zam crash, but the conversation kept going.

“Ah right, we’re forgetting Kappy’s not a one-woman kinda guy,” another teammate added.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever happened with you and Annie?”

“Ohh! That’s right! Annie!”

Annie? As in a fellow ice dancer? As in Ali’s sister? As in one of my competitors?

My ears rang.

My vision filled with red.

A shaky rage flooded my system.

And for the second time in my life, I wanted to punch Richard Charles Kappers the Third square in the face.

I should’ve retreated back to the locker room to avoid him.

I should’ve strategized more.

But my rage won out.

Storming up the stairs to the workout room, I walked straight through the group of hockey boys crowding the entrance.

Richard’s neck whipped around to see me. His mouth dropped open, but he remained speechless.

Grinding my back teeth, I stormed past him and threw open the workout room door.

“Piper, wait!” he called out. He burst into the room behind me. He dropped his voice to a whisper. “You said the kiss didn’t change anything.”

I spun on him. I could see his teammates in the clear glass behind us, all snickering. “It changedeverything.” My lip trembled for a second, before I forced myself to mask up.

His hands flew to his head and he looked around like he was lost. “What?” he spit out. “You’re the one who… who…”

I stormed away before he could see my tears, and I forced myself to completely ignore his pleas for me to come back.

It was amazing, really, how this day started off as a dream and ended as a stupid nightmare.

It left me wondering when I let him have so much control over my days. I knew that was a dangerous thing—letting anyone else dictate your mood. I decided right then and there that I was done giving him any sort of power over me.

_________

The next day, I avoided him as long as I could, but he finally cornered me when I was walking on the treadmill.

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