Page 48 of The Draft

Well, he had another thing coming if he thought he could do that.

But then another thought passed through my mind. Did he know Madison attended Covey U? Was he here to try to get her back? That wasn’t going to happen. I’d kill him if he fucked with her.

“Bright! Off the ice,” Coach hollered. “If you can’t play nice, then you can’t play at all.”

“But—”

“Don’t ‘but’ me.” Then he pointed to me. “You too, Bridges. Ithink you both need to cool down.”

“What did I do?” I snarled.

“You pushed the new guy into the wall. As much as I’d like to see that hot head of yours come out more during games, I don’t want you using force against teammates.Teammates.Remember that word. Nothing comes before your team.”

I shook my head and skated beside Cade as we made our way off the ice to our punishment. Cade didn’t have a problem bumping shoulders with Coach as we skated past. “If you don’t want a reaction like that, then maybe next time you should consult team members before you change the roster. Where’s he going to go? All the lines are full.”

Cade had balls, I’d give him that.

Coach sighed. “Coaching by committee is not a thing here. You need to get your head out of your ass and remember that I get paid to make decisions about the team. Not you. You play for as long as I allow you to, and if you keep acting like a petulant child, you’ll be off the ice until next semester.”

Cade grumbled as he put his guards on and stomped through the locker room before whacking his stick against the bench and breaking it in two.

“Calm down, C,” I said, sitting on the bench in front of my locker.

“How the fuck do you expect me to be calm when that asshole is out there playing on our team while we’ve been relegated to the weight room?”

I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the locker, trying not to think about it.

“He fucked your girl in the school hallway, and you’re acting like it was nothing.”

“They weren’t fucking, and he was right. He did me a favor,” I replied, thinking about Madison. The only good thing about catching them was that she found out he wasn’t all that into her. Oh, and I suppose it also gave me a reason to threaten guys with murder if they hurt Madison. “Amy’s out of my life, chasing someone else’s jersey.”

“And he’s right back in ours, being the worst teammate possible.”

“It’s going to be fine, Cade.”

“I want to murder the guy, so I’m not sure how you can say that it’s goingto be fine.”

“Murder? Really? Don’t you think that’s a little overdramatic? Maybe he’s right. Maybe we need to forget everything that happened in high school.”

Cade glared at me, shaking his head. “He broke my trust by dating my sister behind my back, and then he cheated on her with your girlfriend. Do you know how many nights I had to listen to Madison thinking she was sobbing so quietly I couldn’t hear her because of that guy? He deserves more than that broken nose you gave him.”

My fists clenched because Cade had never mentioned that to me before. I had no idea Madison was so upset over that idiot. Sure, she cried when she found him cheating, but I thought that broken nose had made her feel better.

“I agree,” I replied without question and swallowed down the lump in my throat. If Henry deserved more than a broken nose, then I deserved to burn in the pits of hell for all eternity.

Traitor. Traitor. Traitor.

Guilt riddled my bones because what made me better than Henry in all of this? Arguably, I’d done worse, and not because I’d slept with Madison, but because Cade wasn’t just my teammate. He was my best friend. Why the hell did I let my dick do all the thinking last night?

“But if we want to take Henry down, then we’ve got to be smart about it. Beating him up is exactly what he wants. That gets us benched, and then he’s got the higher ground. Think about it.”

“I don’t want to think about it. I just want to punch him in the nose.” Cade glared and pointed at my face. “He better not live with us.”

I nodded. “He won’t. There’s no room on our floor, but I’ll speak to Scotty when he’s off the ice, just in case.”

Cade shook his head, pulling his skates and the rest of his gear off before heading to the showers, muttering annoyances to himself. I leaned my head against my locker and closed my eyes.

Henry wasn’t here to play games. Not on the ice, at least. I would figure out what made him transfer, but that wasn’t my top priority right now. Madison was. She’d been hurt by Henry before, and now he was back. Someone had to tell her that he was here, and it felt like I was the only appropriate person to do it. Cade thought she trusted me after all and wanted me to see what was up with her, giving me the perfect excuse tosee her without suspicion.