Total pages in book: 56
Estimated words: 54056 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 270(@200wpm)___ 216(@250wpm)___ 180(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54056 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 270(@200wpm)___ 216(@250wpm)___ 180(@300wpm)
Apparently, Coach caught them making out in her office this morning.
I did not want to be involved in that meeting when I got here. Matter of fact, I never want to be involved in meetings around here. It’s always some bullshit. And I’m always expected to step in and help handle it. Sometimes, being the captain sucks. Donkey balls.
River is an idiot who has made a career out of fucking everything that moves. This time feels different though. He’s falling for Alice. It was written all over his face in that meeting. And he doesn’t have a fucking clue what to do about it. I don’t think she does either.
Coach wants them to stay away from each other, and I get where he’s coming from. Really, I do. The last thing we need is for the world to find out that a member of the team—one constantly in the press for his shitty choices—is fucking our publicist. But I saw the storm brewing in River’s eyes as soon as Coach demanded it. He isn’t going to stay away from her. Because, out of everyone, she’s the one who matters.
“Shouldn’t you three be on the ice?” I ask Jordan, Nash, and Logan.
They bitch and grumble before hauling themselves over the boards onto the ice. River makes like he’s going to follow them.
“Hold back a minute,” I murmur.
“Fuck.” He settles back against the bench again, scrubbing a hand down his face. “Coach already jumped my shit, Graves. I don’t need to hear it from you too.”
“Good because that’s not what’s about to happen.”
He eyes me sideways, surprise written all over his face.
“You aren’t going to take his advice, are you?”
He doesn’t confirm or deny. He says nothing.
“That’s what I thought, which is why we’re having this conversation now. Alice isn’t another puck bunny.”
“I fucking know that,” he growls, scowling at me like he wants to hit me. “It’s not like that with us.”
At least he recognizes it.
“If you want to keep her, you need to get your shit together, man,” I murmur, not mincing words with him. River isn’t the kind of guy who listens to subtle. He needs a hammer blow to get through his hard ass head. “You’ve spent the last five years of your career turning yourself into an asshole that I’m guessing not even you actually like. You fuck around and drink and pretend nothing matters because it’s easier than dealing with your trauma. But she let you in anyway. She gave you a chance you don’t particularly deserve. If she matters to you, deal with your shit, River. It’s the only way this ends the way you want it to end because she’s not a puck bunny. She won’t settle for bullshit.”
He grits his teeth, glaring straight ahead.
“Are you fucking other women?”
“Fuck no. I haven’t touched another woman in months,” he growls. “Not since…well, that doesn’t matter.”
“It’ll matter to her.”
“Yeah.” He jerks his chin in a nod and then sighs heavily, bouncing his head against the glass behind him. “She thinks we’re just having fun. Like that’s all I’m capable of being. Someone to waste time with.”
“Prove her wrong.”
River is complicated. His history is complicated and nine kinds of tragic. His whole goddamn life is a fucking mess. He acts like an asshole and does all the wrong things to keep people at a distance. He thinks he never has to deal with his trauma and his bullshit if he buries it in booze and girls and hockey and never discusses it. But we can’t shape life like sculptors at a wheel. It doesn’t work that way.
I’m guessing he’s getting slapped in the face with that lesson right now. There’s no need for me to rub it in and make sure he learns it. That’s Coach’s job. Mine is to make sure he has his head on straight and he’s doing what he needs to do, not just for the team but for himself. Because he can’t focus on the game and scoring goals if he’s all fucked up in the head over Alice.
And, despite the way he acts, he’s not a complete dick. He needs people in his corner. Even when he irritates the fuck out of me and I disagree with damn near every facet of his life, I’m in his corner.
“If anyone can do it, you can,” I murmur. “It’ll be the hardest fucking thing you’ve ever done, but I know you, man. You never quit. You don’t know how to admit defeat. If anyone else had gone through the shit you had, they wouldn’t be here today. You are. If you want a future with her, you’ll find a way to prove that you’re worth it.”
He nods again, cutting his eyes at me. “You knew about us already, didn’t you?”
I smirk, tapping his skate with mine. “I know everything that happens around here.”