Page 64 of Pucking Knox
"I know… Wait… Maybe that's the problem!" The words burst out. "Maybe I protect myself. Maybe I give it another try. Nothing is ever truly safe, is it? I'm tired of safe. Maybe I want messy and complicated and real. Maybe I want–"
"Don’t say it."
"Ace, I know you’re trying to protect me."
He laughs. "You have no idea what I’ve done to protect you. And this next time, I might not be able to stop."
"What are you talking about?"
He sighs. "He’s going to break your heart again."
Ace ends the call. I huff as tears leave my eyes. Is that fear speaking or is that Ace protecting me because he can see the future?
Shit just got a lot more complicated when it’s not only my heart that Knox broke. It’s clear to me that he broke Ace’s too.
Chapter 24
My back hits the locker hard enough to rattle the whole row. Ace's forearm presses against my throat, his eyes wild with a rage I've never seen directed at me before.
"You piece of shit." He shoves harder. "You absolute waste of—"
"Ace." Grey's voice carries across the locker room. "Let's take this down a notch."
"Stay out of it." But Ace's voice shakes. "All of you stay out of it."
The rest of the team hovers uncertainly. We've had locker room fights before, like Grey and Matt. Countless number of times, but never between best friends. Never between me and Ace.
"She cried every single day." Ace's words hit harder than his hands. "Every single day, Knox. Wouldn't eat. Barely slept. Shut down. Tuned everyone out!"
"I know."
"You know?" He laughs, bitter and sharp. "You know how it felt watching my little sister break? Watching her doubt herself?"
"I fucked up." My voice is steady. "I know I fucked up."
"I warned you." His grip tightens. "I told you to stay the fuck away from her."
"You're right." I meet his eyes steadily. "But I love her, and I'm not letting her go again."
"Letting her go?" Another shove. "Like you have a choice? Like you didn't throw her away the moment things got real?"
"I was wrong, Ace."
"Damn right you were wrong!" His fist pulls back. "You—"
"ENOUGH!"
Coach Evans' voice booms through the locker room. He takes in the scene – me against the lockers, Ace ready to swing, the team watching silently.
"What the hell is going on here?"
"Nothing," Ace says, but doesn't release me.
"Doesn't look like nothing." Coach's eyes narrow. "Looks like you’re about to punch our enforcer two days before playoffs. After said enforcer already made an idiot of himself at the combine."
The words hit home. I'd almost forgotten about the scouts, the tests, everything I might have thrown away with that microphone.
"Speaking of which." Coach turns to me. "What were you thinking, Thompson? NHL scouts watching your every move and you pull that idiotic stunt?"
