6. Grayson

6

GRAYSON

C ruz fucking Martinez . The fucker stared at us, his lip curled, disdain written all over his face. But there was a curiosity too, and so I smirked at him, stepping forward as I did so.

He leaned back against his car, his arms folded across his chest in a casual display, but I wasn't fooled. His raven hair was falling over his dark eyes as he shot me a challenging look, daring me to come any closer.

When I reached him, I shoved my hands into my pockets, acting just as casual as he was. "Martinez. Still slumming it at the track, I see."

"Fuck you, Cross. Why don't you fuck off back to the ice rink with your brain-dead jock bros and your puck bunnies, instead of ‘slumming it' here where you don't belong?" he ground out.

I gritted my teeth, my patience running out. "Drop the act. I know you know why we're here."

He opened his mouth to reply, but whatever he was going to say was lost in the crowd as people swarmed around him. A pretty girl tugged on his arm, saying something I couldn't catch, pulling him toward a man standing at the edge of the crowd. Tall, huge body, greasy hair…

Fucking great. Big Dog was here. If Coach ever caught wind of the fact that I'd been in the vicinity of a notorious drug lord, my life wouldn't be worth living. Even associating with Cruz Martinez was risky, but I had no choice. I glanced back at Ava and Micah, both alert and waiting, and straightened my shoulders. Fine. I could do this. I was the captain of the Barracudas—I could command a team, and I could make Cruz Martinez think twice about ever pulling a stunt like this again.

I stepped back, out of the way of the crowd. "You guys shouldn't be here. Why don't you wait in the car while I talk to him?" I was speaking to both Ava and Micah, but my words were mostly directed toward Micah. I knew firsthand that his dad ruled with an iron fist, and we'd both bear the brunt of his ire if he ever found out about Big Dog. My record had to be impeccable for me to hold my captaincy, and I had no doubt that Coach had the same high standards for his own son.

Micah glared at me, his eyes glittering dangerously, and I almost smiled. For someone so quiet and unassuming, he seemed to have no issue with letting me know exactly what he thought of me. I seemed to get under his skin, somehow, and I couldn't deny that a part of me was excited by that.

"We're not going anywhere. This affects all of us."

Ava nodded firmly. "We all stay."

"Fuck. I try to do something nice," I muttered under my breath, and the next thing I knew, Micah was yanking me into him, speaking low and fast in my ear.

"What's nice about you acting like the arrogant asshole we already know you are? Yeah, we know you're the team captain and you're used to being in charge, but we can handle ourselves, and more importantly, you can't do this on your own. Use your fucking brain for a second, if you even have one. You don't walk into a situation like this on your own."

My fingers were wrapped around his throat before he'd even finished speaking, and I shoved him up against the side of the nearest car. His body was thrumming with tension against mine, his gaze dark and hot as he bared his teeth at me. "Fuck. You," I growled, tightening my grip on his throat. "What's your fucking problem with me?"

I never got an answer because Ava was suddenly there, pulling us apart. She shot me a look that was a combination of frustration and disappointment, and that deflated my anger almost instantly. Turning away from them both, I scrubbed my hand across my face, pacing up and down as I attempted to compose myself.

"Okay. Look, I was only trying to help. Do either of you even know who that man is?" I jerked my head toward Ricky. "That's Big Dog."

Ava's eyes widened. "The drug guy?"

"Yeah. That's him. See why I wanted to keep you both away? I was trying to protect you." Giving Micah a pointed look, I added, "It wasn't me being arrogant. If Coach found out we were hanging out with the local drug lord, we'd be in serious shit."

Ava bit down on her bottom lip, thinking, and out of nowhere, I had a sudden urge to kiss her. Not that I could have acted on it—it was completely inappropriate, given our tense situation. Now was not the time or the place, and even if it was, she wasn't interested in me in that way. She'd made that clear enough in our sophomore year. Now, though… No. Nothing had changed.

She sighed. "I get that, but it's irrelevant. We need to speak to Cruz. Let's stay back, and we can confront him when he's on his own. We can't let him get away with what he did."

Some of the tension seeped out of me at her words, and I smiled at her. She returned my smile with a hesitant one of her own, and something inside me warmed. Fuck, she was so gorgeous.

"Have you two finished eye-fucking each other, or can we get on with what we came here for?"

Ava flushed at Micah's clipped words, and my smile widened into a grin. Micah glared at me as I stepped up to him, slinging my arm around his shoulders. "Aww, sorry, baby. Were you feeling left out? We can eye-fuck you too, if you want."

He stiffened, and then viciously shoved my arm away, moving to the other side of Ava. "Fuck off, Cross. I hate you."

"Yeah, I got that. I don't understand why, though."

Muttering something under his breath, he slid his arm around Ava's waist, and she leaned into him with a small smile. The way they looked so comfortable together made something inside me hurt. I envied their ease with each other. The truth was, I hadn't formed any close friendships since my move from England. I trusted my teammates with my life on the ice, and yeah, they were my friends, but this…this was something deeper that I'd never experienced before.

Also, fuck Micah Pierce for having the hottest girl at Blackwell Lake U wrapped around him.

Gritting my teeth, I pushed my inconvenient jealous thoughts aside and began walking in the direction of Cruz. It was time to get what we came here for.