Page 86 of Rival Season
Fisher follows my gaze and shudders when he sees who I’m looking at. “Dude, Weatherby’s looking at you like he wants to skin you alive and turn you into a punching bag—or passionately make-out with you. I’m honestly not sure which.” Fisher grins. “Possibly both.”
I laugh but keep holding Chadwick’s unwavering gaze, wondering what the hell his deal is right now. If he’s trying to intimidate me or something, it’s not working. Fisher’s not wrong, he does mostly just look like he’s a little obsessed with me.
“Knowing Chad-dick, it’s more likely he’s plotting how to put me out for the rest of the season.”
“Does he know Hazel came to watch you tonight?” Fisher asks, chuckling. “If he does, he might actually try to murder you out there.”
“I’d like to see him try,” I reply with a grin. While myplanisto play a clean game and take the moral high ground, if Chadwick starts taking shots at me tonight…well, I know I can take him in a fight if it comes down to it. Which is more than a little satisfying, not gonna lie. “Hazel would probably hate to see me fighting, though.”
“Nah, chicks eat that shit up. Boyfriend and ex-boyfriend throwing down on the ice over her while she watches.”
“Not Hazel,” I say with a shake of my head, but I smile to myself at how the wordboyfriendsounds now that it’s no longer fake between us—we haven’t defined our relationship with those labels yet, but I like the thought of being her boyfriend, for real. I can still hardly believe she’s here tonight.
When I skate back out on the ice for my next shift, I crane my head to see if I can spot Hazel up in the crowd of people in the arena—I have no idea where she’s sitting and I doubt her budget would stretch to any of the seats near the ice, so I scope the place out up high but don’t find her.
I wish she’d told me she wanted to come tonight—I would’ve gotten her a decent ticket. I figured she wouldn’t want to be here at her ex’s home stadium, plus Ally had to work tonight so she’d have to sit alone. But the fact that she surprised me by turning up out of the blue is pretty damn amazing, because the thought hasn’t escaped me that she came tonight not for her own sake, but simply to supportme.
When I see her after the game, I’ll tell her what it means to me to have someone in my corner like this. But right now, I have a game to win.
Much of the second period continues like the first did—I manage to avoid Chadwick for most part, giving him a wideberth when we’re on the ice together, but the game is overall still rough, much more physical than an average regular season game. Despite the numerous penalties that result in power plays for both teams, at the bottom of the second, the score is still 0-0.
We trudge into the locker room, sore and tired. Coach Anderson gives us a pep talk that mostly consists of yelling at us to get our heads in the game and focus for twenty more minutes to lock this one in. Honestly, it works.
When the whistle blows and I hit the ice again, I’m full of renewed energy and focus, determined to push through the fatigue to help my team win this one.
And show off for Hazel a little, of course.
I skate fast after one of the Fire Cat’s forwards and neatly steal the puck from him, then pass to my teammate Carver, who’s in front of me. He passes to another teammate on the left, but the whistle blows and it’s called offside.
Carver skates forward to take the faceoff for us, and I get ready, crouching back to one side so I can pounce on the puck if it gets snapped in my direction.
“Hey, Matthews, having fun?” Chadwick’s slimy voice shatters my mushy thoughts about Hazel, and I look to my right to see him crouching in position nearby.
“I was, until about…oh, a second ago.”
“Always with the jokes there, aren’t you?” Chadwick smiles wickedly. “Be careful with those around Bethany later, she doesn’t really appreciate your style of humor.”
Bethany?As in… Hazel’s mom?
I look over at Chadwick in confusion before I can school my expression into submission and he tuts. “Oh, Penn. Did she not tell you?”
Don’t rise to his bait. Don’t rise to his bait. Don’t rise to his bait.
“Tell me what?” I blurt.Dammit.
“Why don’t you look for yourself?” Chadwick smirks and points at the glass behind the Fire Cats bench. “She’s right over there. Our families are sitting together.”
I turn my head and immediately see Hazel in the Fire Cat’s section, smack in the middle of the front row. No wonder I didn’t spot her before…that’s the last place I would have expected her to be. She’s wearing an aqua jersey, which looks adorable on her, and despite the confusing place she’s sitting, I crack a smile…until I see Walter Weatherby next to her. I haven’t seen the man in years, not since Chadwick and I played in high school together, but one look at him has my blood boiling with anger. He looks like the same smug prick he always did. On the other side of him stands his wife, Prudence Weatherby, who might be the only person on Planet Earth who can look like they have a stick jammed up their ass while dressed in a neon orange and red hockey jersey.
I recognize the couple on Hazel’s other side—from photos in her apartment—as her parents, and they’re both also wearing orange and red Fire Cats jerseys.With Weatherby’s number on them.Just what any guy wants to see when laying eyes on his new girlfriend’s folks for the first time.Not.
Chadwick watches me take in him and Hazel’s families with a delighted smile. “Aww, Matthews, didn’t she tell you she was coming to Sacramento to hang out with our families while they’re in town? Old family friends who love getting together to watch a game live, spend some quality time together, you get it…” His tone turns razor sharp, loaded with vitriol. “Oh no, wait, you don’t. Because you don’t have a family who come to your games. Or at least they didn’t until your dad showed up at the championship game and you guys got ar?—”
“Shut. Up,” I hiss through gritted teeth.
Why wouldn’t Hazel tell me she was coming tonight because her parents are in Sacramento? I’d love to meet them, officiallyintroduce myself and tell them what an incredible daughter they’ve raised—but I could’ve seriously done with a heads up so I wasn’t blindsided.
“Well, at least you have Hazel here wearing your team’s jersey.” Chadwick winks at me. “For now, at least. I got a notification that she checked into our hotel suite earlier already, and I’m thinking that ugly Lions’ jersey will look a whole lot better on the floor later…”
