Shameless King

by Maya Hughes

  I eyed his hand warily before clearing my throat and standing on wobbly ankles. My steps were more like shuffles, but I made it to the edge of the bench box. Sliding my gloved hand into his, my stomach didn’t just flip, it was doing a gymnastics routine to score a gold at the Olympics.

  He moved backward so I could step out onto the ice.

  Taking a deep breath, I wrapped my hand tightly around the half wall beside me and tighten my fingers on around his. The strong, steady hold he had on me calmed me a little. My skate hit the ice, and I pitched forward. The sticks and pucks clattered to the ice as Declan wrapped his arms around me. I pressed my face against his chest and clung to him. My heart pounded, and his gentle chuckle made me pinch his back.

  “Hey, what was that for?”

  “For trying to kill me out here.”

  “I’m not trying to kill you. It will be fun.” Peeling my face off his chest, he took my hands in his and helped me stand. Slowly, like a foal trying to walk for the first time, I locked my knees. The skates glided across the ice, which wasn’t as smooth as I’d imagined it would be, with small bumps and nicks along the way.

  “You got this. Keep your knees bent a little, and I’ve got you. We’re going to take a few laps.” His voice was soft and gentle, like he was afraid any sudden noise would topple me over—and he was probably right. My body was like jello, and I tried not to run through every compound injury I could think of by being out there. The cool air off the ice had every muscle in my body bunched tight.

  “Eyes on me. Keep your eyes on me, and you’ll see there’s nothing to be worried about.” His smile and touch helped calm me a little bit.

  He skated backward, keeping his eyes locked on mine, and his hands never left my grip, not that he’d have been able to shake me if he tried. After a few laps I was steadier on the skates, not bent over like a grandma with a walker. Switching his grip, he skated beside me only holding on to one hand.

  “I told you, you’d get it.” As we did a few more laps like that, Declan pointed out the different spots on the ice and worked through the rules of the game. His steady voice kept me distracted from the possibly icy death that awaited me with one false move.

  “Stop worrying about it. The ice isn’t going to shoot up and sever an artery. You ready for a stick?” He skated away, abandoning me on the ice, and I scrambled to get my fingers on the small ledge where the half wall met the Plexiglas. His skates sliced through the ice, the distinctive sound filling the air.

  “Declan, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  He was back lightning fast with a puck and two sticks. Dropping the puck, he handed me a stick.

  “I think I’ll stick to the wall. I think that needs my full attention right now.” It was a wonder I hadn’t reverted to scooting my ass across the ice to get out of this place.

  “You’re using it as a crutch. You had it before. Let go of the wall.”

  “I’m good here.”

  “Makenna, let go of the wall.”

  I held my breath and gingerly turned so I was facing him. My skates slid, but I managed to flail my arms and catch myself. Declan’s hand pressed against my back to steady me.

  “You’re really not into this, are you?”

  I thought about pasting on a smile and soldiering on, but I couldn’t even hear what he was saying, the blood was thumping in my ears so loudly.

  “Maybe we work up to sticks and pucks eventually. Like in a few months.” I offered.

  “In a few months.” He said it like he was testing it out, and the bright smile he beamed at me meant he must have liked the way it sounded. And then it hit me. The future. I was making plans with him beyond right now or even this semester. Eventually had a much more in-the-future feel to it than next week or month.

  Helping me back to the bench, he grabbed a stick and a puck and put on a one-man show that had me up, leaning on the half wall, watching him in his element.

  I knew he was good. Declan wouldn’t have been a King back in high school if he weren’t, but seeing him up close and personal was different. He ran through all the positions, talked me through some plays and flew through some tricks that had me clapping my gloved hands as he skated by.

  Tugging the gloves off, I stuck two fingers in my mouth and let out a high whistle when he did a drill and sank every puck in the back of the net. My whistle ricocheted off the rafters. He raced over to me with little bits of ice flying up in the air.

  “I haven’t heard that one in a long time. Looks like you approve?” He leaned in close, his breath coming out in quick pants.

  “I definitely approve. You’re amazing out there.”

  “You should see me with the rest of the team. This means you’re coming, right? Coming to my game?”

  “After that impressive display, how could I pass it up? I’ll be there. You going to win for me?” I grinned so hard my cheeks hurt. He chucked his glove off, and it landed on the bench.

  “What do I get if I do?”

  He ran his hand along the back of my neck and threaded his fingers up into my hair, the warmth of his touch a sharp contrast to the freezing air. I sank into his hold as he leaned in closer.

  “I’m sure we could come up with something.”

  He nipped my lip before running his tongue over the sore spot and pushing it into my mouth. He tasted like hot cocoa on a cold night curled up in front of the fire. We were both panting by the time he finished, and he rested his forehead against mine.

  “I’m sure we can.”

  23

  Makenna

  Swinging by the train station, I waved out my window as Avery’s head of light brown curls bobbed above the other people pushing out the doors.

  “Avery!” I yelled and opened my door. She waved back and hustled across the street, wrapping her arms around me, nearly picking me up off the ground. Her telltale ripped jeans and hoodie were securely in place as always, but the bag slung over her arm made me smile.

  “Can you stay over?” I leaned on the hood of my car as she walked around the other side.

  “Alyson’s staying at a friend’s house tonight, so I can if it’s cool with you. I have to be at an interview early tomorrow morning, and I figured this would be easier.” She jerked the door open and climbed inside.

  “Of course. I told you that. How’s she doing?” I pulled out of the lot and drove to my apartment.

  “She’s great. She’s a senior at Rittenhouse. I’m freaking out.”

  “Wow, a senior already?!” Her chubby, fresh faced little sister was going to be walking across a campus like UPhil in no time.

  “You’re telling me. I’m trying not to lose my mind, but she’d already in at UPenn, so at least she’ll be close.”

  “That’s awesome.” Her comment from before came back to me. “What’s the interview for?”

  She glanced down at her nails like she was actually thinking about not telling me. I had a way of making people talk.

  “It’s a college thing.” She peered over at me.

  “Really? Awesome. An admissions interview?” It had to be hard seeing her little sister go off to college when she hadn’t had the same chance.

  She nodded. “It’s for a transfer spot. I finally finished all my associate’s degree credits after nearly four years and I put in some applications and I have an interview.”

  I reached over and squeezed her hand.

  “That’s amazing, Avery. I know you’re going to kill that interview. You’ve worked so hard, and I know you’ll get in.”

  “At least one of us is confident.” She picked at the shredded jeans around her knee.

  “Don’t forget, I was your study partner back in high school.”

  “And if it hadn’t been for you, I would have failed everything.” She glanced out the window.

  “No, if you hadn’t been working while you were in high school like thirty hours a week and taking care of Alyson, then maybe it wouldn’t have turned out that way.”

&nb
sp; “You worked too. You were in the coffee shop all the time.”

  I dismissed her attempt to compare our situations.

  “I worked to get the hell out of my house. I always felt like I was suffocating there. You worked to pay bills, keep the lights on, and make sure your sister never wanted for anything. Two completely different situations.”

  “If you say so.” She was always so hard on herself. Sleep deprivation had a hell of an impact on your life, and I didn’t think Avery had had a full night’s sleep in a decade.

  “You got the material in high school. You’re smart, Avery.” Going to Rittenhouse Prep on a scholarship because her dad worked as a janitor there couldn’t have been easy. I’m sure some of the people were real assholes about it. It sucked always feeling like you were never good enough, even though she was amazing, and anyone who thought otherwise was an asshole.

  “I don’t know how many times it will take me saying it before you believe it.”

  She glanced over at me and gave me a small smile. “Maybe one more time.”

  “I’ll say it until I’m blue in the face.”

  We dropped Avery’s bag off at my apartment, and I introduced her to Fiona and Tracy who were actually staying in for the night. Shocker! After grabbing something to eat, we got to the stadium. There were cars everywhere. People dressed in hockey jerseys with their faces painted by the hundreds. I’d seen Three Streets after games, but this was completely different. Finally finding a spot, we parked and hopped out, joining the flow of people.

  “I haven’t been to a game in a long time.” Avery bent back, looking at the lights on the side of the stadium as we handed over our tickets. She’d been to every one back in high school because of Emmett. I’d stayed well clear of anything resembling a sporting event back in high school, which made it even weirder that I was here. And who I was here to see.

  The cold air inside matched the blustery temperatures inside, and I was glad I’d worn my coat and sweater. Had I known it would be this cold, I would have worn my gloves and a hat. Last time I hadn’t remembered it being that cold, probably because a hockey player heated things up with his skating prowess and sexy body.

  I shook my head as I followed Avery to our seats. That was not a sentence I ever thought I’d think, but even when I’d thought I hated him, I’d had to admit he had a hot body. Now it was one I knew intimately. The tips of my ears burned, and Avery turned around to quirk her eyebrow at me.

  “What?” I felt like she could see what I was thinking.

  “You made a weird noise. And the tips of your ears are all red. What the hell are you thinking about?” She scooted along the row.

  “Nothing,” I mumbled and kept my head down. We found our seats smack-dab in the center of the ice. While we waited for the game to start and everyone took their seats, she filled me in on some of the finer points of the game that Declan hadn’t already gone over with me.

  People had on team scarves and hats. Families were there with little pennants. It amazed me that people were so excited for the team, even though there was a professional team not too far away.

  “Some people just love hockey.” Avery bit into her hot dog and clamped her soda between her legs. My teeth were chattering just looking at it. The team stepped out onto the ice, warming up, and I spotted Declan immediately.

  “There he is.” I grabbed onto Avery’s jacket and pointed him out. Peering back at her, I hadn’t realized I’d scooted to the edge of my seat. She smirked at me and laughed.

  “Looks like someone’s a bit excited to see her man out on the ice.” I opened my mouth to dispute it, then snapped it shut. The reflex to deny it was there, but deep down I knew it was true. I’d never felt like this before. Like I needed him. Needed to see him and touch him. When he traveled for away games my phone was practically attached to my hand because I didn’t want to miss a message from him.

  He whipped around the ice and spotted me. Lifting his stick up, he motioned in my direction. My chest got tight, and I resisted the urge to raise my arm in the air, wave back like a complete idiot, and instead, I lifted my hand and gave him a small wave. A few people around us glanced over at me, and my cheeks heated at the attention.

  He and Heath skated around the ice together, loosening up and taking some practice shots. At one point he stopped at the glass like he saw someone, and then he kept going. I checked out who it might have been. There was one guy with a scowl on his face and an expensive coat, but that was it. The stadium-shaking horn bellowed, and the guys left the ice.

  “Could that thing get any louder?” I felt like someone had held an air horn right up to my ear.

  “Oh yeah.” Avery took a sip of her drink and then a wave of cold soda splashed on my legs and covered her.

  “Shit.” I shook the drink off my hands. She grabbed some napkins and tried to clean the droplets of soda on me, looking like she’d seen a ghost.

  “Avery, what the hell?”

  “I’m sorry. It slipped.” She tried to clean it up, but her eyes weren’t on me. They were on in the ice—well, close to the ice. I glanced up, following her gaze, and grimaced when I saw why she was freaking out. All dark and gloomy like a black-haired harbinger of doom, Emmett stood in the aisle down by the ice. He might have shaved the beard from back in high school, but I’d recognize him anywhere. People flocked to him in his impeccably tailored wool calf-length coat asking for autographs, but his gaze kept darting to Avery.

  “I’m going to go.” She stood, her seat bouncing up.

  I grabbed her arm.

  “Don’t let him run you out of here. There is no reason you two can’t be in the same building together.” This thing with them was ridiculous, and I could see that nothing had changed in the years since we left school.

  “It’s fine. I shouldn’t be out late anyway because of my interview tomorrow. I’m just going to go. I’ll head back to your place and grab my bag and go.”

  “Avery…”

  She shimmied by me and gave me a weak smile before chancing another look at Emmett, who was glowering just as much as before.

  “Really, it’s fine. I’ll go. You stay and enjoy the game. Tell Declan I said hi.” She rushed up the steps just as the buzzer rang again and both teams skated onto the ice. Torn, I glanced back at her one more time and she motioned with both hands for me to sit. Reluctantly I sat in my seat, not ready to be completely lost in whatever the hell was happening, but I’d told Declan I’d watch, so I did.

  24

  Declan

  Standing in the locker room, I shifted from leg to leg, waiting to head out onto the ice. It was the same smell of sweat, ice, concessions, and victory. Those mingled together to settle over everyone as we got ourselves pumped up to put another game in the W column.

  Coach had already given us his give-them-hell-and-don’t-get-stuck-in-the-Sin-Bin speech. I was never nervous before games, but my stomach was a giant ball of ‘don’t fuck this up’.

  Makenna was out there. Sitting in the stands waiting for me to show her everything I’d worked hard at since I was little. My mom had done everything she could to keep me in hockey. Early morning practices, expensive equipment—she’d done a lot to make it happen, and I’d worked my ass off so I could give her everything she’d missed out on making sure I had enough.

  The stadium vibrated with the energy of the crowd. We were undefeated so far this season, and they were expecting a win. Who were we to let them down?

  “She’s out there, right?” Heath said, standing beside me looking like he was about to enter a bubble-blowing championship, infuriatingly chill about everything.

  “Yeah. She asked for two tickets.”

  “Maybe she’s bringing her boyfriend.”

  I glared at Heath, and he laughed in that way that made his whole body shake.

  “Relax.”

  If he weren’t wearing his helmet, I’d have punched him.

  “There are these things people tell sometimes and they’re called j
okes. You might have missed the memo.” He pushed against my shoulder, pointing out that the guys were walking out to the rink. The people in the stands roared when we came out of the tunnel and onto the ice. My body vibrated with barely contained intensity. I was back and ready to get in the wins we’d worked our asses off for. It was a feeling that never got old, basking in their energy out on the ice with my teammates.

  I skated along the edge of the rink until I spotted her. In her bright red sweater, looking straight at me. I lifted my stick, and she went all red waving back, but I almost stumbled when I saw who was next to her.

  “Is that Avery?” Heath asked like we were sitting in study hall.

  “Yeah, that’s Avery.” A bad feeling rushed over me.

  “Didn’t Emmett say he might be coming to this game tonight?”

  And the small gathering of people on the other side of the glass let me know he had decided to show. But it was another scowling face that caught my eye. Archer stood on the other side of the glass looking like he owned the place. Those old feelings I always got when he was there tried to bubble up, but one glance over at Mak pushed it all away.

  I wasn’t going to let him get in my head. I wasn’t going to fall into the same trap he wanted me to. Screw him. With one last look I pushed off the ice and blocked him from my mind.

  Trying to keep my head in the game, I went back to warming up with Heath. I’d have to figure how to sort through the linger animosity between them out later, but it looked like I didn’t have to. Avery was walking up and out of the stadium.

  Worried Mak had gone with her, I found her spot in the stands again where she was worriedly staring back at Avery but still in her seat. I breathed a sigh of relief. The last thing I needed was to be worried about what happened to her while I was out on the ice trying not to let my team down. I needed her there. I needed her to ward off the shitty glare Archer tried to shoot me.

  She was my good luck charm.