Page 18 of The Draft

“I think you’re going to have to find a way to speak to him,” Adam answered. “You can’t leave it to fester like this because otherwise it will grow into a bigger problem. You need to deal with it.”

I nodded in agreement. It was the same advice Tiff had given me, and I supposed there was no point avoiding this anymore. I needed to do something.

“And for the love of all things sports-related, talk to him in person. Don’t try to sort this out over text. It will only end in disaster.”

“Did Dash tell your brother?”

“I have absolutely no idea. He won’t talk to me, remember? But Cade is texting me, wondering why I haven’t been around, so I’m assuming not.”

Adam thought about it for a second. “Yeah, but he could be pretending just to get you to go over there. So, the first thing you need to do is figure that out. Speak to Cade. Feel him out by seeing how angry he is. Granted, he always seems angry, but you catch my drift. If he doesn’t know about it, then speak to Dash and come up with a plan on how to address it.”

“Good idea. I like it.” I raised my hands for high fives, and they both looked at each other uneasily before reluctantly slapping my palms with theirs. “We make a great team.”

“If you say so,” Devin mumbled under his breath.

Chapter 5

“Here we go again,” I sighed as I stared at the cocky player gliding toward me, crisscrossing around the ice while he toyed with the puck. Cade had such precision when he was skating that I had to concentrate on his every move because I didn’t know what he was going to do next. That ability was impressive for a defender, but it wasn’t the only reason Coach Henson favored playing him in tough games. Cade had a secret talent. He was one of the best long-distance shooters on the team and liked to test it out on me any chance he got, which was fine. I was used to that. Today, however, things felt different.

He’d been testing me more than usual, hitting me harder, throwing endless taunts my way, and using the excuse of making sure I had no weak spots for his newfound vigor. Hit after hit, I was slowly getting pummeled by pucks, and although I was wearing enough padding to stop the blows from bruising, I couldn’t help but feel like the hits were personal. Cadewasn’t an unassuming, relaxed kind of guy on a good day, and this was supposed to be his warm-up. I knew better.

He knew about the kiss.

How could he not?

Madison practically mauled me in the street after I dragged her out of The Draft. It didn’t matter how drunk the surrounding student body was, someone had to have seen it. Besides, if the rumor mill hadn’t gotten to him yet, his sister would have. Madison was a blabbermouth, and there was no way she could keep a secret as big as kissing me from her brother. She just wouldn’t feel right about it. I was certain this was Cade’s way of tormenting me over the whole thing because he had to find out through her instead of me. His teammate. His apparent best friend.

“Let’s see if you can get this one, Bridges,” Cade mocked from the center line. I kept my eye on the puck even though he was doing everything in his power to make it nearly impossible to.

A puck flew past my right side, hitting the back of the net. I missed it again.

Dammit.

“Come on, Bridges,” Cade hollered, elbowing Alex in the stomach as he grinned with pride. I gripped my hockey stick tighter, stopping myself from losing it. “You’re going to have to do better than that.”

Funny. It felt like he was trying to be supportive by riling me up because I hadn’t played my best today, which wasn’t due to the lack of commitment. It was because I was too in my head, and I needed to be fluid. Whenever Cade came close, my body stiffened up at the mere thought of telling him that Madison kissed me. Shit. Madison kissed me, and that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was that I liked it, and I wanted to do it over and over again.

How the hell was I supposed to tell Cade that?

Alex whacked a puck in my direction, and I caught it without trying. See. I could do it, I just seemed to have a block when it came to Cade, and that was catching me off guard.

“Bridges,” Cade sang, his voice echoing through the rink. Thank fuck he couldn’t see my face through the mask, because otherwise, he’d see that I was wincing. I didn’t wince. It was pretty much a requirement if you weregoing to be in the net. Cade dipped his chin and glared at me with mischief. He drew back his stick, and I fully prepared myself for what was coming. A puck in the head.

“Hey, Bright.”

I opened my eyes to see that Erik had taken me out of my misery. With his helmet half on, he slowed his sprints to a gentle skate before turning with ease. The guy should have been a figure skater with how effortless he made it look. He smiled and pointed to the crowd. “Your sister is here.”

Well, shit.

As if things couldn’t get any worse today.

The hairs on the back of my neck rose, and when I’d finally managed to convince myself to look at the other side of the plexiglass, I froze, because, yup, there she was. Wide-eyed and beautiful. Only now I knew that she had feelings for me, and I had no idea what the hell to do about it.

What was she doing here?

It wasn’t uncommon for people to come and watch our practices, but Madison hadn’t done it in a while. Not since she kissed me, so why was today different? Maybe Cade invited her to come so she could watch him pulverize me to a pulp.

Cade waved at his sister for a couple of seconds, but it wasn’t long before he focused his attention back on me. I crouched into position, and glared back at him, but as much as I tried to keep my focus on him, my mind had other ideas.