Page 215 of Don't Fall for the Goalie

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Humiliation burns hot behind my ribs.

“I’m okay,” I whisper automatically.

It’s obviously a lie.

My hands are shaking. My breathing still sounds wrong.

Tony’s expression shifts subtly as realization dawns in his eyes.

It’s as though he understands what happened outside wasn’t just overwhelming. Something deeper got triggered.

“You wanna sit in the back for a minute?” he asks quietly.

I nod once.

As I let him guide me to the back, a realization washes over me.

All I want is Daltyn.

And that realization terrifies me almost as much as the cameras did.

58

DALTYN

Training camp feels wrong all day.

Everything’s off.

My timing. My focus. My head.

Coach blows the whistle halfway through drills and skates backward toward me with narrowed eyes. “Guyer.”

I already know what he’s gonna say.

“You’re distracted.”

No shit.

I shove my mask onto the top of my head and wipe sweat from my jaw. “I’m fine.”

Coach Decker snorts. “That’s hockey player code for ‘my life’s on fire.’”

The guys laugh lightly around me.

I don’t.

Because every time I stop moving long enough to think, all I see are flashes of yesterday.

Ethan flinching.

The hurt look on Peyton’s face when I walked away last night.

The expression on her face when I shut her out.

Guilt sits like broken glass in my chest. It’s been like this all fucking day.

Practice finally endstwo exhausting hours later.

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