Chapter 10

“O’Neil, Logan, Hines… you’re starting line. Get out there. Start hard, play hard. And keep control.” Those are Coach’s parting words prewarm-up. Everyone stands from the benches. Bumps fists and pats backs as we make our way down the tunnel to the ice.

Away games are different from being on our home turf. When I look out into the stands, there’s a sea of green and white with patches of red popping up now and then.

I skate out to the middle of the ice and focus on warming up. I don’t look at the crowd as much at away games. I maneuver around the boards on our half of the rink, dribbling a puck along with me while passing it back and forth to Logan. A flash of red catches my eye, making me miss that little black disk when he slaps it in my direction. I turn my head and approach the Perspex. But it’s not the color of the jersey that draws me in like a moth to a flame; it’s the fiery red of her pouty fucking lips. I smile and lift a gloved hand to the window, meeting the palm she has pressed against the other side.

“What are you doing here?” I yell out over the noise of the crowd.

Lili lifts a shoulder in a half shrug. “Seems I have a sudden vested interest in hockey,” she says with a huge smile curling those same lips.

My eyes flick over to the guy seated next to her, his arms crossed over his chest and his glare deadly. Alessandro. Her brother, who looks anything but impressed to be here right now. I nod my head in acknowledgement before returning my attention to Lili.

“Thank you,” I tell her.

“Go and do your thing before you get in trouble,” she says.

Tapping the board with my gloved fist, I skate back over to where Logan is stretching. Fall down next to him and start my own routine.

“You’re either the luckiest motherfucker on the planet or a dead man walking,” he grunts while shaking his head at me.

“Oh, I’m lucky all right.” I grin at him. “Although I think I may have lost a fan. Her brother seems to hate my existence right now.” I can still feel that death glare aimed in my direction.

“If looks could kill, eh?” Logan laughs.

After warm-ups, I make my way over to the bench while gesturing for Lili to meet me there. By the time I reach the divider that separates the tunnel from the reserved seating, she’s waiting for me. Removing the glove from my right hand, I crook a finger at her. She leans in, and if I didn’t have skates on, I’d climb the fucking railing. When she’s close enough for me to reach out and cup her face, I fuse my lips to hers. It’s a quick kiss, nothing more than a peck, but it doesn’t go unnoticed by anyone looking.

“Thank you for coming,” I tell her.

“As if I’d miss it.” She smiles back at me.

“Wait for me? After the game?” I ask her.

Lili glances over to where her brother is seated, his eyes hyperfocused on us, and then returns her attention to me. “Okay, but I’m more than likely going to have a grumpy shadow.”

“As long as I have you, I don’t care who’s third-wheeling.” I smile and drop my arm. “See you soon, babe.”

“Break a leg,” she says, then quickly tries to correct herself. “Wait! Don’t do that! Well, at least not one of your own. Feel free to break someone else’s.”

She smirks as I shake my head and make my way back to the locker room. The moment I step through the door, the whole place goes silent. All eyes aimed in my direction. While Coach pins me with a look that rivals Alessandro’s when I was kissing his sister.

“What’d I miss?” I ask.

“A Valentino? Really, O’Neil? Of all the fucking pussy in New York, you had to get involved with a Valentino?” Coach sneers.

My fists curl at my sides. “Excuse me?” I do my best to even out my tone. Remain calm. Because right now, I’m ready to fucking flatten the motherfucker. Which would be career-ending, or so I’ve heard.

“That…” He throws an arm out towards the door. “…is going to bring nothing but trouble to this team. And I won’t have it.”

“I don’t recall my contract stating who I could and couldn’t date,” I remind him before dropping my ass down on the bench in front of my locker.

“I’m telling you now.”

I blink and count to five in my head. Anything to stop myself from jumping up and dropping gloves. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”

I know I’ve only just met the woman, but no way in hell am I going to let anyone tell me what the fuck I can and can’t do. Especially when it comes to Liliana.

“This isn’t fucking over. Get out there and do your damn job. We’ll revisit this conversation after you’ve won this game.” Coach’s face is red and spittle flies out of his mouth. He’s not used to hearing the word no.

I push up to my skates and follow my teammates down the tunnel. Then I skate out onto the ice, taking my spot on the starting line, and wait for the national anthem to play. I look over to where Lili is seated, and she waves at me with a big fucking smile on her face.

Yeah, Coach can kiss my ass if he thinks I’m giving her up.

I never thought I’d choose anything over hockey, and I’m not. Not really. Because, like I said, the team can’t control who I date.

The last note dies off, and we get into position and wait for the drop. I’m blocking one of the Nashville players, who’s chirping a whole bunch of nonsense. I ignore him. Which isn’t hard to do. I’m still so worked up my fists are itching to hit something. The referee lifts the puck in the air, and I watch that little black disk like a hawk that hasn’t seen a meal in weeks. I’m hungry for it. For the game, the adrenaline, the weight of the stick in my hand as I breeze across the ice. I have no doubt Logan will win the drop. He usually does. And I’ll be ready for it.

“She’s hot, ya know. And now that I know she’s fair game, I’ll be sure to take her for a spin, show her what it’s like to fuck a winner.” The son of a bitch in front of me shoves at my chest.

I look at him and then follow his line of sight. My eyes land on Lili before sweeping back again. “What the fuck did you just say, motherfucker?” I hiss out as I throw an elbow into his gut.

“I didn’t stutter. I’m going to take that Valentino Princess for a spin. Tell me… is it as good as people say? Or has the shit gotten loose over time?”

The puck drops, and exactly one second later, so does my stick. Quickly followed by my gloves. My left hand wraps around his jersey while my right fist connects with his face, over and over again. I throw him off his skates, his back hits the ice, and I jump on top of him.

I get a few solid blows in before I’m pulled off by the refs and a few of my teammates. Then I’m shoved towards the Sin Bin. I don’t need to hear the words. I know I just earned myself five minutes.

I look across the ice to Lili. She’s staring right back at me, but I’m too far away to read her expression. The Nashville player sits on his team’s bench, holding a bloody rag to his nose. I hope I fucking broke it. I hear the ref call out the penalty and I grin.

“Fucking worth it,” I say right as my face is plastered on the jumbotron.

My body is fucking sore. Nashville came at me fucking hard all game. Not that I expected anything less. I gave it as good as I got it, though. And now, no amount of bruising or exhaustion is going to stop me from seeing my girl.

I walk out of the locker room and stop in my tracks. She’s here, waiting for me in the hallway. “Hey.” I smile at her.

“Hey yourself.” Lili closes the distance as she grips my face and inspects it. I don’t need to look in a mirror. I know I’m black and blue. “You should ice that,” she says before slamming her lips onto mine.

“You should see the other guy.” I laugh when I pull away from her mouth.

“What’d he say to you?” she asks, and I shrug.

“Nothing.”

“Bullshit. You don’t fight someone for no reason. What’d he say?” she tries again.

“It’s hockey, babe. Fighting for no reason is exactly what we do. It’s part of the game.”

“Okay, I’ll just go ask him myself then.” She lifts a brow and attempts to pivot on her heel.

I reach out an arm and wrap it around her waist. “Yeah, you’re not going anywhere near that fucker.”

My eyes scan over to Alessandro, who’s leaning on the far wall while pretending to ignore our conversation. His body language tells me he’s heard every word, though. He pushes off and I watch him pull his phone out of his pocket and dial a number.

He says something in Italian to whoever is on the other end before holding it out to Lili. “It’s Ma. She wants to know where we are.”

Lili glances over her shoulder, oblivious to the fact her brother was the one to make the call in the first place. She takes the phone and quickly covers the receiver. “I’ll be right back. Don’t move,” Lili tells me before walking farther down the hallway.

Once she’s out of earshot, Alessandro turns his glare on me. “What’d he say?”

“Who?” I try to play dumb.

“The guy you laid out the second the puck dropped. Fucker said something about my sister, and I want to know what it was.” It’s a demand, not a question.

“Trust me, you really don’t want to know,” I tell him.

“I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t want to know,” he counters. “Now, you can tell me or you can tell her. Either way, I’ll find out.” He shrugs as he gestures to himself, then his sister. “I’ll leave it up to you to figure out which option is in your best interests.”

“He said something about wanting to take her for a spin… and he didn’t mean out on the ice,” I tell him through clenched teeth.

If I thought Alessandro looked pissed off before, now his blood is boiling. I can nearly see the steam coming out of his ears, his jaw so tight he’s lucky if he doesn’t crack a molar. “I gotta go handle something. Do me a favor and don’t let her out of your sight. I’ll come find her later,” he says, walking off before I can respond.

Not that I would have argued with the guy. Keeping my eyes on Lili isn’t a hardship.

Alessandro whispers something to Lili, takes his phone from her hand, and pockets it. She watches him go for a few seconds, then makes her way towards me while her brother storms off in the opposite direction.

“What did you tell him?”

“You ready to get out of here? You hungry? Have you eaten?” I ask instead of answering her.

“Travis, what did you tell my brother? Because I know there is no way he’s leaving me alone with you without a damn good reason.” She folds her arms over her chest.

“You don’t want to be alone with me?” I lift a challenging brow while my lips curl into a smirk.

“Of course I do, but I want to know what has Alessandro walking out of here looking murderous first,” she says.

“That Nashville player… he said something about you I’d really rather not repeat. Your brother wanted to know what it was,” I tell her.

Lili’s eyes widen. “And you told him? Shit, fuck,” she curses under her breath as I watch her dig her phone out of her bag.