Page 40 of Daring the Hockey Player
Charlotte is tapping away at her phone. "He doesn't," she says, matter of fact, and shows me his Instagram profile photo. "Isn't he hot?"
She practically shoves the phone in my face, a little too close. I grab her wrist and pull it back slightly so I'm not staring cross-eyed at the phone. "Yeah, I don't see it."
"That's because you only have eyes for Jasper, who, I might add, is decent, but he's no Noah Reece."
"Ask him out if you're into him," I say. I doubt either of us has a chance with Jasper or Noah, but at least I won't be the only one getting my heart crushed and stepped on. Not that I wish that for her, but we're nobodies to the Ice Dragons, and I'm sure they have tons of other girls—hotter girls—chasing after them all the time.
Charlotte shakes her head. "No, he's going to ask me out tonight."
I don't know what she's scheming, but I can already imagine it has to do with something at Blue Line after the game. I'm not sure I'm up for drinks, especially if Jasper tattles on me with my fake ID.
Intermission is nearly over, and the team returns to the players' bench. I shouldn't be watching for Jasper, but when he finally comes out, he's got a jersey in his hands.
He approaches the glass, staring at me like I've betrayed him.
I stand. I don't even know why or what compels me to, but it's like I need to be close to him, explain my side of the story, what happened.
"I blame you for my shitty performance on the ice. Wearing that—" he gestures to the jersey I have on, "is the biggest betrayal from a friend."
A friend?
I exhale a heavy breath, and I fog up a spot on the glass.
He's watching me, his eyes latched onto mine, gaze unwavering. There's commotion all around us, but I don't notice any of it. I reach my hand to the glass and draw a heart in the fog as I stare at him.
Jasper doesn’t move. His brow pinches when he breaks my stare and sees what I've drawn on the glass, the heart between us.
He opens his mouth, and my stomach clutches, waiting for the words to find his lips. Noah grabs the jersey from Jasper's hands and tosses it over the glass at me. "Coach wants you on the ice," Noah says to Jasper.
I catch the jersey in my hands.
Jasper blinks and turns, the spell between us broken.
Noah watches his teammates skate onto the ice. He's benched at the moment, which might give me the opportunity to find out what the hell is going on with Jasper.
"Put that jersey on before Jasper falls apart."
The gold jersey is clean and smells like Jasper. It's big, and so I throw it on over the other one that I'm wearing because I don't have anything on underneath except a bra to change clothes at my seat.
Noah grabs a seat on the bench in front of us, his back to us as he focuses on the game.
"Noah," I say, tapping the glass, trying to get his attention.
He glances over his shoulder at me and gives me a thumbs-up sign when he notices the Ice Dragons jersey.
Charlotte waves at Noah and smiles, but he gives a curt nod and turns back around when Montgomery, one of his teammates sitting beside him, elbows him in the side. They exchange a few words, but we're too far away to hear what's being said.
Jasper glances in my direction while on the ice, and the hockey player from the other team, Hayes, swings it like a golf club and smacks the stick up against Jasper's chin.
There are expletives from Jasper, and when the referees shrug it off, not having seen the play, Jasper waits until they're back on the ice playing and goes after Hayes. They're fighting over the puck, racing across the ice when Hayes begins to lose control and slide toward the wall. Jasper forces him into it hard. Stealing the puck, Jasper passes it to Kyler.
Knox Storm comes out of nowhere, slamming Jasper against the glass, throwing punch after punch, defending his teammate.
Conrad comes skating in from behind, ready to attack Jasper, when Kyler intervenes.
Kyler grabs Conrad by the jersey and yanks him around the ice and away from his little brother as they throw punches. The referees pull Kyler and Conrad apart but seem to be letting Storm and Jasper continue the fight.
Owen hurries over to Jasper, keeping the Island Bruisers from ganging up on Jasper; at least one-on-one, it’s a fair fight. Two other Island Bruisers teammates come charging at Owen, and he blocks them from intercepting his Ice Dragons brother.
