Page 30 of Shots & Echoes

Not now.

I wanted to hit something. Felt that old itch—the one that made my knuckles crack and my blood run hot. Drop gloves. Throw punches until my fists split open, until I couldn’t hear anything but the slap of bone against flesh.

Until I was empty.

But it wouldn’t be enough.

Because what I really wanted was her.

Iris.

The thought sliced through me, sharp and wrong, but I didn’t shake it off. Didn’t even try. I wanted her against the glass—body tense, breath ragged—waiting for me to hit her again. To see if she’d hold the line. Or fold. Wanted to slam her back into that fucking wall, hear that gasp again—the one that wrecked memore than it should’ve. The one that made me hard in the middle of drills.

Her eyes afterward—sharp, furious, alive—like she was daring me to do it again. Like she liked it.

And fuck, that made something twist low in my gut—dark and possessive. Because if she wanted to play with fire, I’d burn her whole fucking world down.

I’d burnwithher.

She was mine.

She just didn’t know it yet.

And maybe that scared me more than anything. Because I didn’t know how to want something without breaking it. Without wrecking it with my own goddamn hands.

Doubt slithered in—cold, suffocating—dragging me back to reality.

Chambers. The fucking jersey. Her future.

Was I going to be the reason she never got it?

Was my name the weight around her ankles—the thing that drowned her?

Or…

Was I the reason she’d earn it?

Because every time we clashed, every time she pushed back harder, I saw it—that fire.

And it was getting hotter.

Sharper.

Because of me.

I shook my head like that would rattle the thoughts loose—but they were welded to my fucking bones now.

Behind the frosted glass, I caught a glimpse—her silhouette moving, effortless and fierce. Like she owned the ice. Like she was built for it. Like she was built forme.

That jersey? She deserved it more than anyone.

And if someone tried to take it from her?

I’d destroy them.

Even if that someone was me.

Even if it ruined us both.

---