Page 9 of Rise Above

aggressively grabbed his water bottle and poured the liquid into his mouth. He glanced over at Zeke and me, his frown deepening into a scowl. Competitiveness ran deep in the Carter bloodline. They both hated to lose.

“You got your ass handed to you by a chick.” Zeke

poked the bear. “How does that feel?”

“Shut the fuck up, Ezekiel.”

I coughed to hide my laugh. No one called Zeke by

his full name, which was how we knew how ticked off Jefferson was by the loss. To me, it was okay to lose as long as I played my best. If I gave it my all, it just meant the other team was better. Sometimes that was just the way the cookie crumbled. Jefferson and Zeke took it as a personal failure; their competitiveness knew no bounds.

“Hey, good game.” Her voice was light, a slight

accent to her words. She held a hand out to Jefferson.

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He looked down at it and allowed a smile onto his

face. “Nah, I was trash. You, on the other hand, were truly amazing. I’m Jefferson.”

“Nice to officially meet you. I’m Aife.”

“Ava?”

She laughed. It was a delightful noise, sending a

shock through my brain. What the fuck was that?

“I guess it does sound like Ava. Aife, though. A-I-

F-E.”

Jeff nodded and took another chug of water. “Weird

but cool. This is my older brother, Zeke, and essentially my other brother, TJ.”

Zeke and I quickly shook her hand. Zeke flashed his

infamous dimpled smile at her. Normally, that smile made women blush. Not her though, she seemed completely unfazed. Her hazel eyes met mine. They were this beautiful shade of caramel mixed with a touch of green, and I felt my heart quicken a little. Women didn’t do that to me. I usually had better control of my body, mind, and emotions. Shaking my head, I broke our eye contact. I just had to be exhausted from yesterday’s game.

Davis appeared and slung an arm over Aife. “Do

you have any idea who you were just introduced to?”

Her brow furrowed. “No. Should I?”

The Carter brothers and I looked at her, eyes wide.

While hockey wasn’t the biggest sport in the United States, Zeke and I had both been in the news lately. Zeke and I were going to be the new faces for the Warhammers and had recently had some national interviews. Somehow, we’d 28

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also become the National Hockey League spokespeople. She may not have needed to know anything about hockey, but she should have at least seen some of the ads we were now in.

“Aife?” Davis slapped his hand to his forehead. “Do