Page 117 of Snow, Ice, and Spice
Relief washes through me. “I won’t.”
He nods once. “Good. Glad to have you back on the team,” he says, that perma-frown still plastered on his face.
“Thanks,” I say. “And thank you for giving me a second chance.”
“I won’t lie. It wasn’t an easy decision. And if Marquez hadn’t left for that job in Toronto, you wouldn’t be here,” he says matter-of-factly. “But he’s gone, so it’s a non-issue. And the fact that you showed you could stay out of trouble counted for a lot. But so did your recovery.” He glances down at my bum knee. “You’re playing like you didn’t take a stick to the knee.”
Shame heats my cheeks. I think back to that night when I was in bed with Assistant Coach Marquez’s wife Estella. It feels like a million years ago even though it was only a few months. That guy who partied and hooked up doesn’t even feel like me anymore.
Maya flashes in my mind. Two months with her showed me thatthat’sthe kind of life I’d rather live. I’d rather share a life with her, up in the mountains, away from everything and everyone else.
But then I remind myself that I’ll never get to live that life with her again.
That blasted-through feeling in my chest resurfaces. I clear my throat and do my best to swallow back the pain.
“You alright, Thompson?” Coach’s gruff tone centers me.
“Uh, yeah. Just trying to catch my breath. It was a tough practice.”
“Keep up the good work. You’re doing well, but I don’t have a lot of patience for repeated mistakes. Don’t make me regret taking you back.”
I nod. “Absolutely. I won’t.”
I head to the locker room, go to my locker, and start stripping off my gear.
“You get a good ass-chewing from Coach?” Dylan asks.
“Something like that,” I mutter as I yank off my jersey and pads.
“Sloane and Emerson talk constantly about how much they miss hockey camp,” Isaac says.
I look at him and feel the muscles in my back and shoulders start to loosen despite how worked up I still feel. “Really?”
Isaac nods. “It was all they could talk about for weeks. They loved it.”
I wish there were a way I could keep up with hockey camp while playing. I miss it too.
“Speaking of hockey camp, how’s Maya?” Xander asks from across the room.
Just the mention of her name sends a blast of pain through me.
“No idea,” I mumble as I toss my skates in my locker.
“Really? That’s too bad.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see him shed his pads and grab a towel. One of our teammates asks who Maya is.
“She helped Theo with his hockey camp,” Xander says. “She’s also an absolute smoke show.”
I whip my head up at Xander, who’s not even looking at me.
“I took her out.” Xander smirks before turning to me. “Hey, you think you could follow up with her? Ask her to text me back? I never got to seal the deal with her. I’m heartbroken, dude. That’s never happened to me before,” he jokes.
My ears ring as steam levels my insides. Before I even realize what I’m doing, I clear the space between Xander and me in half a second. I slam my arm against his chest, pinning him against his locker.
“Don’t fucking talk about her like that,” I bite through gritted teeth.
Xander struggles against me, his expression confused. “What that hell?”
