Page 87 of Rival Season
A haze of red gathers in my vision. Everything inside of me wants to punch him in the face. Make his teeth clack together and his head snap backwards, just to shut him up for a few damn seconds.
But then I turn to look back at Hazel in the crowd again. She’s standing there, her hands clasped and her eyes wide. As our eyes meet through the glass, a sudden sense of calm finds me through the rage swirling inside.
Looking at her, my anger quickly cools down, and I’m hit with a sudden clarity that no matter what Chadwick is saying to me right now,I can trust her.
No matter why she’s here tonight, Hazel is kind and dependable…she’s the best person I’ve ever met. I care about her, and I know she cares about me, too.
“Did you not hear me, Matthews?” Chadwick prompts.
I jerk my eyes away from Hazel to look over at him.
He’s smirking, eyes gleaming. “I just told you your girlfriend’s checked into a hotel suite with me tonight, and you’re just standing there! Not like you to accept defeat this easily. At least last time you actually tried to fight for your girl…although we both know that was a losing battle for you…”
As Chadwick continues to heckle me, the impossible calm that Hazel’s presence brought continues to grow. Chadwickwantsto make me angry and jealous—this is the big ace up his sleeve.He’s orchestrated this whole situation as an attempt ata grand gesture to win Hazel back, and right now he’s trying to goad me into attacking him, so I look like a total asshole in front of Hazel’s family. He was convinced I’d live up to the Matthews family name in front of his highbrow parents who witnessed everything that happened before our high school championship game.
If only they knew that growing up, I dreamed of a family who loved and wanted me. So when my dad showed up at the school that night, I actually let myself believe he was there to wish me luck before watching me play. I was excited to make him proud—an idea that’s laughable now—but the moment he opened his mouth, I realized he wasn’t there for me. He was there for a favor. I had a hockey game to play and a team relying on me, but my dad told me heneededme. Telling me as his son, I should have his back.
He’d never called mesonbefore.
Hearing that word led me to make the biggest mistake of my life, because I was desperate to earn my dad’s love and approval.
But this isn’t high school anymore—this is real life. My chance to prove I’ve learned from my past mistakes and changed.
So instead of doing what Chadwick’s expecting me to do, I roll my shoulders back and focus on the puck. My pulse hammers with the thrill of not falling into Chad-dick’s trap. I huff a laugh to myself, knowing I’m the bigger person here. I’ve changed. I’ve grown and matured…and Chadwick clearly hasn’t. He’s the same prick he always was, a man who’s grown up to be just likehisdad…but I’m nothing like mine.
My gaze moves back to Hazel for a moment, and she gives me a nervous smile. Her presence is all I need. When the whistle blows, Carver wins the puck. I snag it a second later, determined to win this game and get it over with already so I can go hug my girlfriend.
Yes, girlfriend. Because screw seeing how it goes—I already know she’s everything to me.
CHAPTER 33
HAZEL
The final periodof the game is awful. There are bad calls left and right, like the referees were bribed before the game. But all I can think about is the look on Penn’s face at the beginning of the period when he saw me standing with Chadwick’s parents. He went from so happy to see me, to hurt and confused in a nanosecond. It didn’t help matters that I could see Chadwick goading him out there—goodness knows what that creep was putting in his ear.
For the rest of the game, I find myself counting down the minutes until the clock runs out so I can go find Penn and explain. The Lions play well despite the penalties, but the Fire Cats end up scoring in the last twenty seconds of the game.
Everyone in my row is ecstatic with the win, even though the Fire Cats barely won. My dad reaches over me to high-five Chadwick’s father. “Yeah! Our boy is back!” Dad laughs.
Chadwick’s father grins. “Yes, he is!”
Um, need I remind them Chadwick never even scored a goal?
As we file out of our row, we slowly make our way through the crowd and then through the staff hallways toward the dressing rooms.
My brother comes up behind me and holds out an elbow like an old-fashioned gentleman. I smile over at him, surprised that the small gesture has tears springing to my eyes. I blink them back, hoping he doesn’t notice. It just feels so good to have someonenotupset with me, so I loop my arm through his.
“How ya doing, sis?” he asks. “Kind of badass of you to date a player from Weatherby’s rival team,” he whispers the sentiment through the side of his mouth.
Despite my nervous anxiety to see Penn, I huff a laugh. “Yeah, well, badass is my middle name.”
Cory chuckles and I didn’t realize until this moment how much I’ve missed that sound. Cory was always the bright spot of life in Ohio for me.
“Congrats on the promotion,” I tell him.
He rolls his eyes. “You and I both know it’s just a glorified assistant manager position.” Cory smirks. “But thanks.”
There’s a pause before he asks, “So you and Chadwick broke up because he cheated on you?”
