Secret Obsession: A Dark Hockey Romance (Hockey Gods)

“You okay?”

Vi’s frozen in the middle of the room, staring at her phone. She looks over at me and shakes her head slowly. “Um… Willow’s gone.”

“Gone where?”

Her gaze goes from still to panicked in a second, and she lifts her phone to her ear. Calling her best friend, then.

The girls showing up was certainly a surprise, but one I definitely didn’t mind. We have to be at the rink in fifteen minutes, and Vi’s only half dressed. Not that I’m any better.

I finish the buttons on my shirt and loop my tie around my neck.

“I think she shut her phone off,” she whispers, worry cracking her voice. She turns to face me. “I don’t—”

“Hey, hey.” I wrap my arms around her, my lips automatically finding her neck. Just under her ear. “I’ll go check with Miles. Maybe he knows something.”

She exhales, relaxing into me. “Okay. I’m going to grab Aspen, see if Willow texted her anything.”

“Good idea.” I release her, then duck back in and steal a kiss. Because I can, and because an hour with her before the game just wasn’t enough.

“Tell Steele to meet me at Miles’ room.”

She nods. She quickly pulls her dress back on, shifting so I can zip up the back, and we head out together. She goes in one direction, and I move in the other.

Immediately, my attention snaps to clear focus. Willow running away after driving for-fucking-ever to get here? It seems like too big of a deal. And weird timing.

I draw closer to Miles’ room, and the sound of crashing greets me. It continues, followed by swearing.

Uh-oh.

“Hey,” Steele says, jogging toward me. “What’s going on?”

I hook my thumb at Miles’ door, letting him experience the cacophony of noise for himself. Steele’s brows shoot up.

“Do you have a key to his room? Or should we take our chances knocking?”

“I do,” Knox calls. He’s coming from the opposite direction, although he’s fucking strolling. And he doesn’t look very put out, until he comes to a stop in front of the door. “Jesus, what the fuck is he doing?”

He produces a key card and swipes it. The little light turns green, and Knox shoves the door open.

Inside is total destruction, but we file inside anyway. Knox stares at his brother, who seems like he doesn’t even realize we’re here.

Fuck that.

The bed is off its frame, the desk cracked with the chair on top of it. The lamps that they keep bolted to the nightstands—for good reason—are broken. It’s only then that I spot his hockey stick, in pieces, on the floor at his feet.

Seems he swung it like a bat. Hard, too, because goalie sticks don’t break very easily.

“Miles,” Knox calls.

“Fuck off,” Miles snarls.

I shake my head. Miles has a blade in his hand, and he stabs at the sheets. There’s already drops of blood on it, vibrant against the white linens.

Enough is fucking enough.

I march forward and grab him from behind. Knox leaps with me, prying the folding knife from his brother’s hand. And Steele is on his other side, pinning his other arm back. Together, we slam him against the wall.

“Just stop.” I lean into his spine. “Relax. Talk to us.”

“She fucking left.”

Well, that much I knew.

“Okay…” Knox’s brows furrow. “Why? Where’d she go?”

“I don’t fucking know where she went, she took my phone—”

“So that tracker is useless?” I guess.

He struggles against us, and Knox nods to me and Steele. We release him and hop back just as his fists go flying.

I duck and shove him back again.

Tough love time.

I wrap my hand around his throat and force him to look at me. “Dude. Suck it up. Your girl left you? You can get her back. There’s always a fucking way, and I don’t really want to hear your griping or self-pity that it isn’t. This reaction? This anger?” I gesture to the room. “Use that in our game.”

Miles shoves me away. “Asshole.”

“Whatever you say, buttercup,” I snap back. “This is our future on the line. You want to run off after her without any clue where she went? Know that you’ll never play on our team again.”

He goes still.

Knox and Steele glance over, too.

But whatever, I fucking mean it. “She left of her own free will?” I confirm.

He hesitates, then nods.

“She wasn’t kidnapped by her psycho stalker. She’s not in danger. Wherever she went, it probably wasn’t far because Violet and Aspen drove with her. And they’re still here.”

That sinks into his thick skull.

He nods slowly, sagging back against the wall. I straighten his shirt, which he had managed to put on before completely destroying his room, and tie his tie. I snatch his one remaining stick and put it in his hands.

“Okay,” I say. “Let’s go play some fucking hockey.”