Page 3 of Break the Ice
It feels like the first time in forever he’s really held me. That’s how it goes, though. You always hold on tightest right before you lose something.
Every dream I’ve ever had was with him in it. Every wish I ever made was for him.
Elijah Sylkes has always been the heart of me.
And today, as he walks away, he takes every shattered piece with him.
CHAPTER 1
ELIJAH
TWO YEARS LATER
Breathe, man. Fucking breathe.
Gliding to the dot in our D-zone, I grip my stick tighter, squat lower, and focus on my ragged breaths while the linesman stands to the side waiting to drop the puck.
“What you waiting for, Sylkes?” Jayden Morrow leans closer, tapping the heel of my skate with his stick, urging me to hurry.
Every face-off feels like the face-off of a lifetime. When we play Portland, it always hits closer to the heart—they drafted me out of the WHL junior league and gave me the chance to establish my career in the National Hockey League.
Five years later, here I am, opening game of the season, playing against the Portland Wolves.
“Yeah, what you waiting for, pussy?” Presley Tomes, the Wolves’ star forward, sneers.
The thing about Presley is that we have history.
We’re from the same town, attended the same church—my father’s church—went to the same schools, played on the same junior teams until I traded from the Hillsboro Bobcats to the Olympia Warriors. For our whole lives, we’ve crossed each other’s spotlight, and he doesn’t like it one bit. Especially the fact that his twin sister is my sweetheart.
Today is the first game in the two years since I left her in Portland that all the stars have aligned to bring us together again.
When I don’t find her in the crowd, Presley’s grin greets my disappointed frown.
“Looking for something?” His grin grows impossibly wider.
Where is she?Finley said she would be here today. It’s Presley’s two-hundredth game. Their whole family is here.
Except for Finley.
I drop my gaze to the ice with a shaky breath to center myself.
“Poor crybaby,” Presley coos. “Are you going to bawl when your daddy betroths her tomorrow?”
What?My stare flashes to his, searching for the curl of his lips that says he’s lying, even though, deep down, I know he’s not. I’ve known this day would come from the moment my father told me the Elders rejected my request to marry her before I left Havenview for hockey.
“Ah shit, that’s right... You’re not invited.” My teeth clench at his mocking coo, mirroring my white-knuckled grip on my stick.
“Ready?” the linesman asks, but I’m too frozen, too stuck in my head, too nauseated to do anything right now.
Even so, I nod with a muttered, “Ready.”
Desperately trying to clear my head, I squeeze my eyes shut and focus on the pounding of my heart above the ruckus of the crowd.
Leaning forward, I continue taking my time, and Presley continues jeering at me, “Do you even care, sissy boy?” His eyes glance to the side where Jayden is waiting. “It’s not even like she’s your type, right?”
Do not bite.I keep chanting to myself.Focus on the game.
The Wolves have just equalized, and we need this face-off to turn the play around. Jayden is to the left of me, ready to shoot the puck to one of our Comets teammates and close out the third period on top. Overtime is not an option.
