Page 84 of Ruthless Game

Just the two of us

Away from distractions so I can get her focused

We have a week between games, that should do it

Judah: Fucking weirdo goalies

Asher, I can’t fucking wait until you’ve got some girl you’re chasing

We’re all going to have to go into hiding

Jack: I can get you everything, Lawson, but the cabin.

Isaac: I can handle the cabin

But you better get her back

My jaw went tight, determined. If Emma could see me right now, she’d really run.

Lawson: Oh, I will

Or I’ll die trying

And I had no plan to die. No, I was going to live a long, long time with Emma by my side. I just had to get her alone and make her realize how serious I was about making it up to her, fixing what I’d broken between us. I’d swim across an ocean to prove how much I loved her, and how committed I was to never hurting her again.

I’d do anything.

Hours later, I slipped into the Schwartzes’ home, rope, soft cuffs, and an injectable sleeping drug in my backpack. Creeping through the quiet house, I stopped outside Emma’s door. I pushed it open, and for a moment, just gazed at her as she slept, curled up in a ball, head resting on one hand. I stalked toward her bed, only to notice her pillow was soaked.

She’d been crying.

I’d made her cry.

Again.

That knowledge sliced through me, sure to leave a scar.

A better man would have left. Let her live her life, find someone kinder, softer, easier to love. Someone less wounded than me.

But I wasn’t a better man.

I’d find a way to make it up to her, but I was never, ever letting her go.

Quietly lowering the backpack to the ground, I unzipped it, pulling out the syringe. I brushed aside Emma’s hair from her neck, pale skin gleaming in the moonlight.

“I’m sorry for this, baby,” I murmured, injecting the needle and pushing the plunger.

She murmured something—something that sounded like my name—and then went still.

Lifting her into my arms, I carried her off into the night.

Strategies had changed.

So had my goals.

Before it had been hockey at all costs.

Now it was bringing Emma back to me—or die trying.