I shook my head, letting it hang low in defeat. There was no reason to even try to excuse it; my heart was just not in it.
“You all right, man?” Brayden asked as he skated by me, and I nodded.
“Just a little off my game today, I guess.” The excuse was so foreign to me. I hated being the weak link.
“Shake it off or Coach is going to have a field day with your ass in a few minutes.” He pushed my helmet with his glove playfully before skating to take another shot on the goal.
“Duly noted. Thanks for the advice.”
I did a few laps around the rink backwards before Coach Hayes could even bark the order. Sometimes it was best to just take a punishment even if it might never come to avoid something worse.
Gavin stopped in back of me, making me break hard. “Good call, rookie. The old man can be a jerk, but he’ll make you a better player for it.”
“Is it hard being the coach’s son?” I asked bluntly. I had always wondered how Gavin dealt with his father being his coach, especially with how big of a prick Gideon Hayes could really be.
Gavin flashed a toothy grin. “Nah, it’s a fucking dream. I mean, he’s justsofucking nice to me.” He skated off, chuckling. At least he was able to make light of the situation. Gavin really did get the worst of Coach’s wrath; I just never could decide if it was because of family crap, Gavin being the captain of the team, or if he actually deserved the verbal lashings.
I struggled through the next hour and a half, doing my best to push Nikki to the back of my mind, but it was fruitless.
“Hit the showers!” Coach yelled after blaring his whistle, and I sighed with relief. I had never been so glad to be skating off the ice—well, except for the one time I got two of my bottom teeth knocked out in a fight. That hurt like a bitch, and afterward, I was happy to be skating toward pain pills to calm my throbbing head.
I rushed to my locker and dove for my phone.
Me: Is it bad for me to be missing you like crazy even though it’s only been hours since I saw you?
It only took Nikki a few seconds to respond.
Nikki: If it’s a bad thing, then we’re both guilty of it.
Me: What are you doing tonight?
Nikki: Watching Nick at Night reruns and pretending I don’t want to order a pizza.
Me: Come to my place. I’ll be leaving here soon.
Nikki: I have a yoga class early in the morning that I cannot miss.
I wasn’t going to take no for an answer, but I didn’t want to scare her off.
Me: I promise you won’t miss it. Please?
Nikki: Fine. What’s your address?
That wasn’t too hard.
I sent her the address and showered at lightning speed so I could rush home.
“Where’s the fire, Harding?” Crosby called after me as I was about to bolt through the door to leave.
“I gotta see about a girl,” I hollered over my shoulder. I could hear a few of the guys hooting and making snarky comments as I practically ran out of the barn, but I didn’t give a shit. I was about to be right where I needed to be—with Nikki in my arms.
* * *
About fifteen minutesafter I got home, Nikki buzzed from the call box in my building’s lobby to be let up into my apartment. Waiting for her had been the longest fifteen minutes of my life. I rushed around making sure nothing was out of place as my heart raced and my palms sweated.
Get ahold of yourself, man!
My front door creaked as she opened it slowly. “Knock knock,” she called through as she started to make her way in. “Chase?”