Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 130307 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130307 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
He walked over to me without a greeting, standing directly in front of my bike and folding his arms over his chest.
“Listen to me, and listen to me well,” he said, not giving me a chance to tell him to fuck off before he kept on, his voice growing louder. “I understand you’re usually the one who whips guys into shape around here. I saw it when I first joined the team and for many months after. I know when someone is distracted, you call them back to the task at hand. I know when someone is having issues off the ice, you’re the one who talks them through it until there’s a solution that doesn’t impact the team in a negative way. I know you’re a leader. But right now, you’re falling apart. You’re held together by a single thread. I don’t know who else sees it, but I sure as shit do, and we’re going to squash whatever is going on right the fuck now. You’re not leaving this room until you talk it out. Because we have eight games left before the playoffs, Perry, and I’ll be damned if I let you ruin my shot at the Cup after all I’ve been through to get to this point.”
I blinked, both unamused and impressed by his outburst. “You finished?”
“Yep. Your turn.” He hopped up in the bike seat next to me, leaning his back against the handlebars and waiting.
For a long moment, I just glared at him. Who the fuck did he think he was, coming in here and demanding shit from me? He was a punk, one who had been a real pain in my ass since he first arrived. Even now, he was stirring up media bullshit in a time when our team needed to focus.
And what did he mean after everything he’d been through?
Smoke came out of my ears as I tried to figure it out. I knew he’d had a rough go on the team he was with before, but it was his fault. And likely, the reason they’d choked in the playoffs three years in a row was because he was too busy being a sideshow to be there for his team.
Or maybe I was seeing it wrong.
Maybe there was more to it.
“What do you mean, after all you’ve been through?”
“Nope,” he said instantly. “Not about me. This is about you.”
I flattened my lips. “I’m fine. Working through some personal things.”
“Great. I’m all ears.”
He kicked back even more, crossing his arms again.
The bastard.
Sweat came faster than I could wipe it away, and I knew I’d pushed too hard. I’d pay for this in the game tomorrow. I needed an ice bath and some soft tissue work at the very least.
“I don’t have all day,” Aleks prompted when I took a while to speak.
I sighed. “We’re not friends, Suter. And this is personal. So, just trust me when I say I’m fine and I’ll work it out.”
“No can do,” he said. “Vince is tied up with wedding shit. Grace is in town, so Jaxson isn’t an option either. That means you get me.”
I flattened my lips, ready to walk out if I could get my legs to work. But then he asked a question that made it impossible to move.
“It’s the nanny, isn’t it?”
Shit.
My face must have answered him where my words couldn’t, because he grinned, shaking his head and arching a brow. “I knew it. Let me guess — you took my advice to get your dick wet but didn’t take my advice to set up rules. So now you’ve got your feelings all involved.”
“Fuck you,” I spat, gripping him by the shirt. I pulled his face to mine. Just him talking about her like she was the kind of girl you could fuck and forget made me seethe. “Not all of us are heartless fucking pricks like you are, okay?”
His face went neutral at that, the corner of his lips curling before they fell. I thought I might have struck a nerve. I was about to apologize when he shrugged and laughed.
“Yeah, well, look where having a heart got you.”
I glared at him a moment longer before releasing him and sinking back into my bike seat.
“You knew before you even started hooking up, didn’t you?” Aleks asked. “You knew she was different. You knew you wanted more from her.”
I swallowed.
“Wanna know how I know?” Aleks continued. “Because I think we’re more alike than you want to admit. And I think you know how to scratch your itches when necessary without ever crossing any lines into this territory. You could have easily gone to Boomer’s. You could have fucked a puck bunny and left it at that. But you found a way to fuck her, instead.”
He held up his hands when I snarled at him.