Dirty Hit

Chapter 6: Hayden

Roman checks me into the boards so hard it knocks the wind out of me and sends me flying across the ice. I hit the ground with a thud and lay there for a second, trying to reinflate my lungs while my teammates yell at him and the coaches blow their whistles.

My ribs throb and that fucker smirks at me before skating away.

"What the fuck was that?" Archer yells at him as he skates over to me, offering me a hand up. "You could have injured Vaughn."

Roman shrugs. "Just showing him how we play."

I brush off his help and push myself back to my feet, glaring at Roman as I get back on track. "Fuck you."

He smirks at me. "You wish."

"Enough," Coach says, skating over to us with a scowl on his face. "This isn't what we need right now. We're getting our asses handed to us every damn night and this is how you act?" He shakes his head. "Get your heads in the goddamn game."

Roman rolls his eyes but doesn't argue as Coach sends us back to center ice. But I can't stop thinking about how much I want to beat the shit out of him.

As we line up for the next drill, I make eye contact with him and give him a smirk. "Hey, 22," I say under my breath.

He glares at me.

"Eat a dick."

His eyes narrow even more. "I'm going to kill you."

"Not before I show you how I play, fucker."

He raises an eyebrow. "Bring it."

And then I'm flying at him, hitting him with everything I've got and sending him sprawling across the ice. He looks stunned for a moment before pushing himself up and charging at me, slamming me back against the boards so hard my teeth rattle.

The coaches yell at us and try to break it up, but I'm not done. Not by a long shot.

My gloves come off and it's only Deck and Archie each grabbing an arm that keep me from beating the shit out of Roman right then and there.

"You want to go?" he asks, glaring at me as he pulls off his own gloves and tosses them on the ice. "Let's go."

"Fuck all the way off," I spit.

He laughs. "Not a chance. This is my team."

But before we can get going, Coach Morin skates over and puts himself between us, his hands outstretched.

"That's enough," he says, looking pissed as hell. "We don't have time for this."

Roman scoffs. "Whatever."

He turns away from me and skates back to center ice while I try to calm myself down. But it's not working.

I'm fucking furious.

After practice, Archer invites me over to play video games with him and a few of the other guys at his house. And even though I'm still pissed as hell, I agree to go. Anything to get my mind off of Roman and how I can't stop picturing the best places to dispose of his body.

As we sit in Archer's living room, playing Call of Duty and talking shit, I realize that this is exactly what I need right now. A chance to relax and unwind before I do something stupid like murder my teammate or track Cassidy down and fuck her until she can't walk straight for a week.

Fuck, I don't think I've ever been this much of a mess before.

Corbin walks over from the kitchen with a beer in each hand and hands me one before sitting down on the couch next to me. "You good?"

I nod, taking a long pull from the bottle. "Yeah."

"Roman's an asshole," he says, shaking his head. "Don't let him get to you."

I scoff. "Too fucking late."

He laughs. "Well, at least you're honest about it."

"RoMo's a dick but he's our dick," Archer says, glancing over at us from his spot on the other couch. "He's just competitive."

Corbin scoffs. "That's putting it lightly."

I laugh and lean back against the couch, feeling better than I have all day. These guys are decent and it was the right move hanging with them today.

Archie's phone goes off and he dives for it like he's Gollum and it's his precious.

"Oh shit, who's the girl?" Corbin asks, leaning forward to see the screen.

Archer grins. "She's hot as fuck."

I raise an eyebrow. "You gonna tell us who she is or just keep staring at her tits all day?"

He laughs, flashing us a picture of a naked chick who's admittedly got a bangin' set of tits. "Just some chick I met last time we were in Vancouver. She keeps sending me nudes. I think she's trying to get me to come back for round two."

Corbin chuckles. "Looks like it's working."

"Fuck yeah," Archer says, grinning as he stares at the picture again. "I'm definitely texting her next road trip up north."

I laugh and lean back on the couch again, feeling better than I have since I got to Seattle. These guys are alright, and even though Roman's a dick, maybe I can make this work.

Now it's my turn for my phone to go off and when I look down, hoping somehow Cassidy's decided to text me, I'm only slightly disappointed when I see it's my brother.

Sawyer: Hope your hotel room has two beds, otherwise you're gonna have to get real comfortable with cuddling.

Hayden: You got your program transfer?

Sawyer: Yep. Just waiting for the official acceptance now.

Hayden: Good. And don't worry about the bed thing. I'll just kick your ass out of it if you get too close.

Sawyer: Asshole.

I laugh and set my phone aside as Archer starts talking about the chick he's been hooking up with in Vancouver and how he thinks she might be a little obsessed with him now.

"She sent me a picture of her holding up a pregnancy test that was positive," he says, shaking his head. "Last time I checked, you can't get knocked up from anal."

Corbin laughs but Archer's drama gives me an idea...

And once it takes root, I know there's not going to be any way to stop myself from making it happen.

A/N: I'm kind of dying over Hayden's bromance with his brother. And what about Hayden's Anchors teammates you've met so far. Any favorites at this point?

If you want to read more of this story before it publishes here, you can get early access over on my Patreon:patreon.com/heatherashleywrites (clickable link's in my bio)