Page 33 of Puck You
“Sebastian’s behind this.He has to be,” I added.
She nodded her head, a thoughtful expression crossing her face.“I’m going to talk to Coach Dawson—we can’t have this escalating all season.”
“That’s it?What about the guys?Are you going to report this to the athletic director?”Caroline’s tone was laced with incredulity.
“Unfortunately, there’s no proof, and even if there was, Idoubt Sebastian would face any consequences.Now that he’s returned to being the star of the team, they won’t risk losing him.”
Ugh.This school was so far up Sebastian’s ass I was sure they could see out his throat.It wasn’t fair that he didn’t have to abide by the rules like the rest of us.“This isn’tAnimal House, Coach Riley!”I exclaimed.“They can’t get away with disrupting our practice schedule.”
To my surprise, she nodded her head in agreement.“I’ll get us some rink time at DuLane.We’ll move practice to the evening.”She started typing something into her phone with determination.“In the meantime, I need you ladies to get new posters ready for tomorrow.Bigger ones—get creative.Be at DuLane Arena in the morning before the men’s practice.If they want to mess with our facility and make it so we can’t practice, we’ll be there to disrupt their ice time.”
Caroline and I exchanged wide-eyed looks of disbelief.I couldn’t help but think that with Coach behind us, we’d be unstoppable.
“We’ll work within the rules of the university, but that doesn’t mean we can’t push some buttons.I’ve had enough, and you girls deserve better.”
>> > <<
Sebastian
No one spoke as we performed our warm-up laps around the rink, though it would have been hard to hear anything over the blast of music coming from the stands.My nerves were starting to take over, flushing out all the anger and replacing it with dread.When I saw Grace sitting in the crowd with her oversized poster, a storm had swept through my body.The very womanresponsible for inciting my impulsive behavior was now invading DuLane, my place of refuge.Just one look at her and my skin felt ready to boil off.But when Coach called me down to the ice, the ringing in my ears settled and the truth of the situation became clear.Grace being here was entirely my fault.
I caught Bryce’s eye and waited for the impending “I told you so,” but he just shook his head and skated past me.I should have just gone to bed that night.Enacting my revenge on Grace was supposed to make me feel better.But the satisfaction was short-lived.It was a lousy prank, a stupid reaction because I couldn’t deal with my emotions.I hadn’t been in my right mind then, just as I hadn’t been a few moments ago when I’d laid eyes on Grace.
Dawson hadn’t joined us on the ice; he was speaking with Coach Riley.Her hands were braced on her hips in a way that didn’t bode well for him, though things seemed civil enough.After a moment, she looked out at the ice and pointed directly at me.
Shit.That couldn’t be good.
“Sebastian, pay attention!”
I slipped into the line for drills at the behest of our assistant coach.It was nearly impossible to concentrate when I knewshewas watching.For the next twenty minutes, I worked through different skills, my mind shifting between the ice and the stands where Grace remained.Every inch of my body felt impossibly hot, like I’d been doused with a form of liquid embarrassment that left blisters in its wake.It wasn’t an emotion I was used to processing, which left me feeling completely out of my depth.
Thankfully, Coach didn’t pull me aside or lecture me in front of the team.Instead, he rejoined practice and instructed usto ignore what was happening in the stands, as if that were possible.A tense atmosphere settled over the rink.No one seemed like they wanted to be the first person to speak, so everyone stayed quiet until we started to scrimmage.Still, Coach never said a word to me.Every time I overshot a pass or missed a goal, I glanced over, ready to take an earful, only to be met with silence.He wouldn’t even look at me.
