The Devil You Know: Devington Devils Hockey Romance by Daphne Slade

Author:Daphne Slade [Slade, Daphne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-06-09T16:00:00+00:00

Today, I end up leaving for practice at the same time as Reid and Cole.

“Someone is getting a late start. You finally find the magical unicorn who was good enough to keep you from practice?” Reid teases.

I keep a straight face, but inside my stomach drops a little. This thing between Grace and me is going to be harder to keep secret than I thought.

“It’s Saturday, I’m allowed to sleep in at least once.”

“Oh man, we’re screwed if Noah’s already slacking off. Do I need to get you an alarm clock?”

“Won’t happen again. From now on, I promise to continue making the rest of you slackers look bad.”

Reid laughs and punches me in the arm.

“Hey, if I literally walk through the front door ahead of you maybe Coach will go easy on me,” he says, walking faster.

I leave it alone, mostly because Cole is watching me a little too closely. Depending on how you interpret his look, he can seem either calm and serenely indifferent, or unsettlingly perceptive. Today, I note the latter.

“What?” I finally say with a sigh.

He just continues to walk in silence for a bit, staring ahead. After a few steps, he finally looks at me with a hint of an empathetic smile. “I just hope you know what you’re doing.”

“And what does that mean?”

“We both want the NHL, you probably more than any of us. You’re entitled to have a life, just…don’t slip up with this, Noah.”

I should have known he’d be the one to figure it out about me and Grace. His ability to play defense, noting where the puck is before it even gets there, only proves how observant he is elsewhere in life.

I walk in silence with him for a bit. “How did you know?”

A wry smile comes to his lips. “Matt told me last night that Grace finally dumped him. Lucky for you he didn’t put it together with that idiotic dare you took him up on. Yet.”

Both of them being defensemen, and Cole being the candidate least likely to give him shit for it, it’s no wonder Matt confided in Cole.

“How was he?”

He slides his eyes to me. “I guess we’ll find out.”

“Shit,” I say.

Cole claps his hand on my shoulder. “Just keep feigning ignorance. Hopefully, you’re a good actor.”

We reach the arena and head straight for the locker rooms to get changed. Thankfully, Matt isn’t there yet. Maybe I can get dressed and out on the ice before he arrives.

I’m in my gear but have yet to put my skates on when he finally does roll in. My instinct is to avert my gaze, but I’m smart enough to curb that reflex and instead give him an idle look before calmly returning to my skates.

His eyes are focused on me, narrowed with suspicion and contempt. “You got anything you want to confess?”

I finish lacing up the first skate. Mostly to calm my nerves before responding. “Such as?”

“Drop it, Noah, I know you somehow got Grace talking and asking about you since school began.

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