Page 39 of Heart Taker

I stepped out onto the ice and ignored the urge I had to skate over to him.

Get it together for fuck’s sake.

“Okay guys,” I called out. “Our final ice time for the season. Are we ready?”

There were shouts and cheers.

“Good. Before we get started, let’s welcome our guest today, Silas’s brother Josiah. I expect nothing less than your best behavior.” I motioned to Josiah. “Welcome, Josiah.”

Everyone clapped loudly and Jo eagerly waved back.

“Okay, it’s competition time,” I added. “Who’s up for it?”

There were shouts and whistles this time.

“That’s what I want to hear,” I called out. “We’ll start with fastest skater, then hardest shot, stick handling, accuracy shooting, and finally, the passing challenge.”

The guys were fiercely competitive, even amongst each other. There was a lot of laughing and trash-talking, but all of it good-natured.

And an hour later, we had our winners.

Jace won fastest skater, no surprises there. Hardest shot went to Dane. Stick handling, Ethan. Axel won the passing challenge. And the last one, accuracy shooting, to my shock, saw Silas come out on top.

I had Josiah help me pass out the prizes. Each winner got a gold medal and a fifty-dollar voucher from the local sporting goods shop. When it came time to hand out Silas’s prize, Josiah motioned for me to offer it to him. Instead of refusing, I slid thesilly medal around Silas’s neck, and when I caught a whiff of his musky sweat, I tripped over my feet.

Silas’s hand suddenly grabbed mine, steadying me. It was the fundraiser all over again. Once again, my knees were about to give out on me.

“You okay, Coach?” he asked.

“Fine, yes, great,” I muttered and pulled my arm away. “Sorry. I guess I hit a rough patch or something.”

There was no problem with the ice; I’d tripped over my tongue.

Silas offered me a questioning look, which I ignored. And shit, my hand was burning, but I figured it had to be from the cold. It had nothing to do with Silas touching me. I needed to layer up more the next time I came out here. Gliding around the ice at a leisurely pace wasn’t the same thing as playing hard like these guys.

Shaking off my unease, I skated backwards and held my hand up.

“I want to thank every one of you for playing your very best this season. We had an ambitious goal, and we achieved it. Many of you are returning next year and you know what that means. The pressure’s on to keep our top spot. For now, I hope you get to enjoy some much-needed rest this summer. Have fun, but not too much,” I warned and paused as players chuckled. “For those of you joining the camp, fair warning: it’s going to be intense. But I’m sure come the fall, it will mean great things for you and for the team. Thanks, guys, you’re good to go.”

Players came up to me, one by one, to shake my hand before they headed off the ice.

Everyone except Silas. He skated over to his brother and gave me a wave before heading for the boards.

Relief and disappointment hit me, but instead of sitting with it, I put on a practiced smile and watched all the playersleave until it was just me and the echo of my breathing. I did a few gentle laps around the rink and tried to shake off this weird mood that had been building since that final game. More questions whirled in my mind, questions I shouldn’t even be asking.

The answers that came to me didn’t help matters at all.

Silas

“That was rude, bro.”

“What?” I turned to Josiah as we headed down the hallway.

“You didn’t shake Coach’s hand like everyone else.”

“I’ll see him in camp in a few weeks, Jo.”

What else could I say? I didn’t dare think about Damien, never mind touching him again. Bad enough I’d grabbed hold of him when he’d tripped. The electricity that sparked between us was as heady as it was the night of that fundraiser. And it was getting out of control. I was more than eager to get the fuck out of here. What would’ve happened if he’d fallen on top of me? The vision of the two of us, him lying over me, melted what was left of my brain.

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