Chapter 2
1184 Words
Chapter 2
Eli's pov
If I thought yesterday was bad, today was worse. Noah wasn’t hitting me anymore, that should have been good but it wasn’t.
I knew Noah Carter was staring at me before I even looked up. You can feel it when someone hates you that intensely, it presses against your skin like heat, or maybe that was just Noah.
I kept my head down while I unlaced my skate guards, pretending not to notice him leaning against the locker room entrance with that lazy posture that made every coach in the state forgive his attitude.
“Didn’t know they let corpses skate now,” he said.
I shoved my guards into my bag harder than necessary. “Didn’t know assholes got early access to the rink.” I said before I could stop the words from getting out, my stomach churned as I said those words, it was supposed to be an inside thought but I had blurted it out.
A couple teammates snorted nearby but Noah just grinned and it pissed me off more than when he actually insulted me.
Coach blew the whistle before either of us could say more, “On the ice now, Move.”
Practice started today brutally, Coach had us running battle drills before sunrise because apparently suffering built character.
My legs already felt dead from my shift last night, but I forced myself through every sprint anyway. I wasn’t losing my scholarship because I got tired, not when this was my only shot.
I thought Noah would play dirty against me like he did yesterday, But today, during line rotations, he was doing this thing where he brushed his shoulder against mine every time he skated past.
I shoved him instinctively the next time he tried doing that.
He barely reacted, “Easy, transfer,” he said quietly.
I skated off before I answered, then a few minutes later, I blocked one of his shots during scrimmage.
“Nice save, Eli.” His tone made something tighten unpleasantly in my stomach. I hated that my name sounded different in his mouth.
Coach barked at us to reset the drill, but Noah kept staring while he skated backward into position, his dark eyes were fixed directly on me like he was waiting for something.
When I glared, the smile on his face grew wider.
"Asshole!" I cursed under my breath.
During water break, I bent over the bench trying to catch my breath when someone tapped my stick against the floor twice.
I looked up to see Noah standing beside me.
“Your edge work sucks when you’re tired,” he said.
“Thanks, Coach.” I replied sarcastically.
“You keep leaning too hard on your left skate.”
I frowned because… he was right, then he leaned closer.
“You compensate when your ankle hurts.”
My stomach dropped. How the hell did he know about that?! Nobody here knew about my ankle.
I straightened immediately. “Mind your business.”
Noah’s eyes flicked downward briefly, toward my ankle tape beneath the pads then back to my face.
“You should retape before second period drills,” he said softly.
I just stared at him without responding
“You’re fast when you’re pissed,” he started but i was tired of having him around this long, especially when the memory of him brushing his hardness against me yesterday came up.
“Get lost, Kane.” I said with all the irritation that I could muster.
“Not until you tell me why.” he replied.
I arched my brow at him, “Why what?” I snapped.
“Why you keep looking at me like you want to kill me.” His eyes dropped to my mouth for half a second. “Or something else.”
My stomach flipped, and I hated it, “You’re imagining things, Kane.”
“Am I?” He leaned in, not all the way though but enough that I could feel his breath against my cheek. “Because every time I get close, you don’t move away.”
I shoved him back before I could think about it. His back hit a locker with a metallic clang.
“Get off me.” I said in a shaky breath, sweat already breaking our across my forehead.
His grin was infuriating. “Make me.”
Before I could, Coach’s voice echoed down the hall. Noah stepped back like nothing had happened, grabbing his bag like he hadn’t just had me two seconds from losing my mind.
******
I spent the whole ride home replaying what had happened. I told myself it was a game, he probably did this to everyone else.
I let out a huge sigh before opening my gear bag. I found a piece of notebook paper sitting on top of my gloves.
"What is this?" I asked no one in particular and scrunched my face as I picked the paper up. On it were just two words written in messy handwriting: Stop pretending.
The frown on my face deepened. I paid no mind to it and just crumpled the paper before throwing it out the window.
The next day of practice was way worse.
We were doing one-on-ones, and Noah was behind me before I could react. His chest brushed my back, then he breathed down my ear.
“You’re thinking about the note, aren't you?” he murmured. “Admit it.”
"So it was you?" I said angrily, “I don’t care about your stupid note.”
“Liar.” His hand brushed mine as we both reached for the puck. He didn’t pull away. “Tell me I’m wrong, Eli.”
I slammed the puck past him and scored.
The net rattled, then the team cheered but Noah just laughed.
"What the hell was funny to him?!" I intoned internally.
“See?” he said, skating past me slow enough that his shoulder dragged down my arm. “You play better when you’re mad at me.”
I was mad. God, he was right, I was so mad at him! Why was he always trying to get under my skin?!
At the end of practice, Coach blew the whistle and we were both skating toward the bench.
Noah slowed beside me, his knee bumping into mine.
“Tell me I’m wrong,” he said again.
My grip on the stick tightened until my knuckles hurt. I couldn’t answer him, If I opened my mouth I’d say something I couldn’t take back.
He came up closer to me again, this time I couldn’t move away from him, so we stood like that, breathing the same cold air with our faces just inches apart.
He parted his mouth like he was about to say something, instead he leaned into me.
"I wonder how you'd look like with me deep inside of you."
My heart was pounding so loud I was s
ure he could hear it, "Get...get back, Kane." I stuttered heavily, my legs were beginning to shake and I knew he could see it.
- Writer
