Page 65 of Callous Shot

His head shot to mine, his eyes sparkling as he bit back a smile. “Can I help you, Hoyton?”

“Mmm. Maybe. Wanna have a little friendly competition? Cranham versus Whelford?”

Behind me, I heard Ryker groan, but I kept my gaze fixed on Lincoln. He stopped struggling to bite back his smile, his mouth curving into a grin as we eye fucked each other across the ice. Damn him for being so gorgeous. “What are you doing here?”

“Open practice, baby.” I blew him a kiss, and he snorted, gliding closer to me.

“Were you stalking my stories again, demon?”

“Were you posting private stories with your upcoming schedule just for me, bellend?”

His cheeks went red. Yeah, I knew it.

“What the fuck are you two doing? Why are you smiling at each other?” Campbell’s big body pushed in between us, his eyes narrowed on me.

“It’s called psychology. Getting inside your opponent’s head. Jealous, Campbell? Want me to blow you a kiss?” Batting my lashes at him, I gave him a wide, fake grin.

“I want you to fucking die.”

I tutted. “That’s not very nice, is it?” Raising my hand, I called Enzo over. “Captain Fontana! Your teammates have challenged us to a battle, Kings against Flames. May the best team win.”

“Oh, bloody hell,” he muttered, rolling his eyes. Glancing over at Ryker, who had come up next to me, he jerked his thumb in my direction. “Control your teammate, Thorpe.”

“Arson’s uncontrollable. Want to swap? You for him, what do you say?”

“No, but if you want a bit of friendly competition, I’m up for it. No checking, though. If those two get into a fight—” He nodded at me and Lincoln, which was rude, in my opinion. “—I don’t trust them not to take it too far.”

Ryker looked between us, his brows pulling together, but eventually, he turned back to Enzo. “Okay. We can practice against each other, as long as there’s no checking. No dirty play. Just act like it’s a normal practice session with our own teams. Can we trust everyone to stick to the rules?”

“If anyone doesn’t, they’re out for the next game. I’ll come up with a reason if Coach questions it,” Enzo said immediately, glancing around at his teammates. I barely paid him any attention, my gaze sliding to Lincoln, who was already watching me. My stomach jolted at his heated look, and as for my dick… The less I said about that fucker, the better, given we were surrounded by our teammates and rivals.

Slowly and deliberately, I licked my lips and then moved forwards in a slow C-cut until I was right in front of Lincoln with my skates nudging against his. “Hi.”

“You’re gonna get me into trouble,” he murmured.

“But you like trouble.”

“Hmmm.” His gloved hand reached out, brushing against mine, out of sight of anyone else. “Meet me after. Come to mine?”

I smiled, butterflies erupting in my belly. “Yeah, okay.”

30

LINCOLN

Practice involving the Cranham Kings, our hated local rivals, was a whole new experience. My body was buzzing, adrenaline coursing through me as I skated across the rink, deking around Jay and smacking my stick into the puck, sending it in the direction of my captain, who was ready and prepared to flick it between Volkov’s legs.

Straight into the net.

Not being allowed to check the opposing team when it was a natural instinct to smash number eighteen up against the boards wasn’t something I wanted to repeat, although on the plus side, there would be fewer bruises decorating Daniel’s skin.

Until later. I gritted my teeth as I flew across the ice, evading Cranham players. What had I been thinking, inviting him over after the game? The answer was, I hadn’t been thinking. I’d watched him glide across the ice in my direction, his entire focus fixed on me. Being the recipient of Daniel Hoyton’s full attention was so heady. The words had just spilled out, and then he’d smiled at me, and I was completely gone.

My concentration was at an all-time low, my mind stuck on my hot-as-fuck nemesis, and I completely missed the moment Jasper purposely body-checked Kane Worthington, and all hell broke loose.

“No fucking body-checking!” Ryker roared, diving for Jasper, and then my teammates were piling on him, and their goalie and Enzo were punching each other, and I⁠—

I was pulled backwards into someone’s chest, and then gloved hands were lifting my helmet off my head and dropping it to the ice. “Hi,” a voice said in my ear. “Wanna fight?”