Fake Engaged to My Hockey Rival

Lanaya

e blood, crushed ice,

led lik

f reason, her skates carving parallel gashes into the

d a neon threat: Tho

the second period, and the missed opportun

cut through the deafening roar

harp, satisfying snap. For a fraction of a second, vict

adow droppe

ick H

that particular drag and reset of a body that had been moving at full speed and then simply stopped. She almost didn't look up. When she did, he was already wa

being on a hockey rink, something that looked almost like recognition before it curdled into something harder. Then his grey-blu

low, rough rasp that scrap

, Hay

ke

ted right, then dropp

ashed out, hooking her ankle

boards, the impact rattling her teeth, sending a s

the whistle.

her ears. Maverick was already skati

," she

e-off. The puck found her stick agai

to go around him. She dropped her shoulder and plowed st

sh

e horn blared so loud the ic

-

rough the mass of blue and silver jerseys and skated stra

she sneered over the c

ed in his jaw

tilting her head up to glare at him. "But you wouldn't

g with the sharp scent of his sweat. "You celebrate in my

shoved him hard in the ches

She didn't wait to

ya s

ught him flush across the

e's whistl

Both of yo

decisions. Lanaya dropped onto the wooden bench, her c

r slammed shu

as the cramped space allowed. He stared straight ahead at the ice

retched tight

untress?" His tone was

s money, Reaper?" she shot

Eight years, and your trash talk

for you. You're no

h a punch t

was ch

ince her brother died and took everything good in her life with him.

number stitched on his c

umber off,"

ivate, the expression of a man who had been tending a grave for years without being asked to, without being thanked, w

N

deserve t

t friend. The

o call him that the d

ing utterly broken flickering beneath

as a lethal, quiet rasp. "You think I don'

You s

weaponize another word. 4-4. A tie. N

, desperate to get out of his orbit. But Maverick moved f

" she

performance. Just the raw expression of a decisi

so low only she could hear it. "Abo

like a blade b

ck said it - careful, watching, already braced for her reaction - told her enough. Whatever the offer was, it h

een waiting patiently

is shoulder, forcing past him. She hit the ice fast, desp

k mouth of the tunnel. Hard and absol

from me, Lanaya. And I