Page 27 of Skating to Him

Mackenzie skated up the other side of the rink, next to Cummings.

With a quick pass to Mackenzie, Cummings positioned himself at the net.

Mackenzie flicked the puck back to him, and it took air.

“Hell yeah.” Cummings picked the puck out of the air and whipped it at the Hawks goal, slicing it toward the upper corner of the net.

“Fuck.” The Hawks goalie stretched for it and missed.

The horn blew and the red light lit up over the net.

“What a wicked way to light the lamp, Cummings.” Mackenzie skated to him, patted the top of his helmet, and they tapped their helmets together.

“Where were you?” I spun around to Mackenzie, holding my stick on my thighs. He should have been down there with me.

“I was around.” He lifted his chin at me. “We gotta go in.” He halted and headed toward the bench. “Not happy I got the assist?”

“What?” Following him, I chewed on my mouthpiece. That wasn’t a cool thing to say, but then I didn’t congratulate him either. This was fucked. I climbed over the board and took a position on the bench next to Mackenzie. Did he have a problem with me now?

He looked straight ahead as if I didn’t exist.

I bumped my shoulder pad against his. “Hey, we okay?” I studied him. Would he even look at me?

With a shrug, he kept his gaze on the game. “Yeah, why wouldn’t we be?”

Coach Hammett bent over, putting his head between us. “What’s up with you two? I’m not seeing the same defensive line I saw last night.” He flicked his gaze from me to Mackenzie.

“Nothing, Coach. Just an off night, I guess.” He turned his head toward Coach. “We’re allowed to have an off night, aren’t we?”

“No, you’re not.” Coach pursed his lips. “Save your off times for practice, not games.”

“Sorry, Coach.” With a sigh, he snuck a peek at me and hung his head. “I’ll do better.”

My heart ached for him. It wasn’t all his fault. “No,we’lldo better.” I patted Mackenzie’s thigh. “Ace is counting on us out there. We can’t fail him.”

His blue-eyed gaze met mine and dipped to my lips.

My breath caught and my heart thumped. I couldn’t even look at him without feelings getting in the way, dammit.

“It’s not just Ace. It’s the whole team. Do your part. I’ve seen good things out of you two, don’t make me split you up.” Coach squeezed my shoulder and then Mackenzie’s.

As I watched Mackenzie flinch and turn his profile to me, I swallowed hard. If Coach split us up, would I ever find a partner as good as him again? And if I didn’t, where would my chances be with Chicago? He understood me better than anyone, knew the bullshit I was facing back home. We had to find a way to play through this.

After losing the game,two to one, everyone boarded the plane in silence. We shouldn’t have lost the game, and those goals weren’t on Ace. They were on Mackenzie and me. We didn’t do our part at the crease. We let the fuckers steal the puck.

I dropped into a seat toward the back of the aisle. I didn’t want to talk to anyone right now.

Myles stepped up. “Hey, window?” He ticked his head toward it.

“Oh yeah.” Myles would be okay. He’d leave me the fuck alone. I stood and let Myles into the row.

Rowan stepped down the aisle, glanced at me, clenched his jaw, and kept going.

Scratching his forehead, Myles said, “What’s up with you and Rowan?”

I exhaled loudly and sank into my seat. “Nothing.” Myles would never let me get away with that. “We were just off tonight.”

“Bull. Shit.” He glanced behind him. “He’s barely looking at you. You two had such a great bromance going until now.”

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