Mason-fucking-Hall. If I never had to see that douchebag again, it would be too soon. Yet here he was, on my ice, coming at me like he had something I couldn’t take.

My focus narrowed to the puck, the movement of his feet, the angle he held his stick at. The noise of the rink faded to the sound of my breath within my helmet.

Hall shot.

I reached out glove-side.

He looked at me with expectation.

I obliged, dropping the puck from where I’d caught it in my glove.

Not today, fucker.

A save had never felt so good.

Maybe I was an asshole, but damn it felt good to watch his shoulders drop as he skated to the back of the line. Double as good when I caught Pepper watching.

Just add immature to the asshole label.

Coach had brought up four players from the minors as a try-out of sorts. He hadn’t been joking when he’d fired Crosby over a week ago.

But as much as I hated Crosby, I would have gladly traded Hall to have him back. The guy was entitled, lazy, and cocky as fuck. And if he didn’t stop sitting in Pepper’s office every chance he got, I was going to shove his stick so far up his ass that—

Thwap!

I knocked another shot to the ground from Minor League Number Two and prepped for Number Three to skate forward.

And so it went for the next hour, adding in a scrimmage or two.

The prospects weren’t bad, but they weren’t ready for the NHL, either. Then again, someone had taken a chance on me once, too.

“Damn,” Connor muttered as we walked toward the locker room. “If that’s what we have to work with…”

“Then we’ll have to make it work,” I said with way more certainty than I felt.

We pushed through the locker room doors, I took my seat on the bench and began to unclip my leg pads. The prospects were grouped on the bench nearest the door—the only one with empty lockers.

“Look how cute they are, all wide-eyed with wonder,” Lukas cooed. “Like their first time at Disneyland.”

I stifled a laugh and shook my head. They did look a little like that, to be honest. Sometimes it was hard to remember that while I was doing everything I could to be at the top of my game, there had been a time where I wasn’t even in the locker room.

“How’d you guys feel?” I threw out the olive branch.

“Amazing and really nervous,” Number Three answered.

“Yeah, I feel you on the nerves,” Two added.

“No reason to feel nervous, boys,” Hall answered like he had any idea what the fuck he was talking about. “Just do your best so you know you left it all out there on the ice. That’s what Coach Harris really cares about.” He gave them a superior nod, and I just about laughed.

“Must be nice to have the inside track, Hall,” Four commented with a hefty dose of sarcasm.

Huh. I liked that one.

“Well, I mean, I did date Pepper in high school, until our dreams took us different directions.”

My head turned so slowly it felt scripted, and it was all I could do not to drop my jaw. Holy shit was that the most interview-prepped answer ever.

“Gentry, those were some great saves today,” Bentley called out.

“Thanks,” I answered, catching the subtle shake of his head as he glanced between Hall and me.

Yeah, I knew I had to play it cool around this asshole.

“True. You’re a pretty decent goalie, Gentry,” Hall added in.

Do not react. Do not react. Do. Not...fuck it.

“Stopped every shot you put up,” I fired back.

His jaw flexed. Ha.

“So, you and Pepper going to reignite that spark?” Number Two asked.

Yep, Number Four was my pick so far.

Hall gave a little smirk that made me want to throw my cup at him, but I managed to put my gear in my locker. “I can’t see why we wouldn’t. We spend a lot of time together when I’m here. I know she wants to, and to be honest...that flame never quite died out. You know?”

Every muscle in my body locked as the prospects all gave him the good ‘ol boy shoulder nudge. Had Pepper said something to him about getting back together?

No way. Sure, they’d been together in high school, loved by the press, but he’d walked away from her. She’d never go back to him.

“Can’t blame you, she’s hot,” Number Three added.

I finished dressing, trying my damnedest to ignore them.

“Fuck yeah, she is.”

I didn’t even look to see who that one was.

Bentley nudged Lukas out of the way and sat next to me.

“Don’t let them get to you,” he whispered, bracing his elbows on his knees.

“Kind of hard not to,” I admitted through clenched teeth, tying my shoes.

“Yeah, I get that; but, the minute you let on that Pepper means more to you than a friend, Hall will smell it from a mile away.”

“She always been that good-looking?” One of the prospects asked.

I saw Hall shrug out of the corner of my eye. “She’s always been pretty, but man the last four and a half years have been good to her, and that’s not even counting what’s going on under her clothes.”

My fists clenched. Pepper was mine. Not his. And she sure as hell wasn’t fodder for some cock-measuring convo in the damned locker room.

“Gentry,” Bentley warned.

“Why don’t you shut the fuck up, Hall?” I snapped.

“And here we go,” Bentley muttered, sitting to his full height.

“Whoa, look who’s a little touchy about Pepper.” Hall smirked, then looked around the locker room to see who else was watching. “Look, I know Dad—I mean, Coach Harris, of course—assigned you as her unofficial cockblocker, and I appreciate that. Really, I do—”

Ahh, so he wanted to be the big man in the locker room. I’ve got you pegged, asshole.

“—even though you didn’t quite succeed, given the pictures I saw of her and Crosby.”

Wait. What?

“First,” I started, leaning toward him. “You’re not a Shark, so let me fill you in. We don’t talk about women we care about in the locker room. Second, you’re sure it was Pepper in that picture?”

He scoffed, and rage coiled in my muscles. Lethal. Ready.

“Okay, well, first, I’ve pretty much got my spot on lockdown. Sorry boys,” he said to the other prospects before looking back at me. “And second, hell yes, I know that’s my woman in that picture. I’d know those tits any—”

One second I was seething on the bench.

The next, I was on top of Hall, sending us both careening into the wide lockers.

“Holy shit!” I vaguely heard the commotion behind us but gave zero fucks as I pushed my forearm against the base of Hall’s throat.

His eyes flared wide with fear and surprise.

“You don’t talk about your teammates that way, jackass. And that’s what Pepper is. She’s our statistician. She’s not up for discussion. Not now. Not ever. She’s a Shark. You’re not.” I pressed a little further, making sure he got my point.

When his face turned a shade of purple, I let up, standing slowly and stepping back over the bench.

Hall stumbled to his feet, rubbing his throat.

“Gentry,” Gage rumbled behind me, loud enough only for me to hear.

“For fuck’s sake!” Hall barked. “When Coach hears about this—”

Gage stepped to my left, parallel with me. “He’ll do exactly nothing. Because I don’t care who your dad is, kid, or who you slept with in high school; there are hundreds of defensemen who can fill that position. There’s only one Gentry.”

But what Gage didn’t know was that it had jack and shit to do with me.

There was only one Pepper.

Slam.

Slam.

Slam.

I sent my fist into the punching bag again and again. Growing up, I’d handled my anger through physical activity, knowing that no good came of leaving that kind of energy to fester. I’d had the punching bag installed in my guest room a month after moving in, seeing as Seattle had a shortage of barns in need of repair.

“Eric?” Pepper’s voice stopped me in my tracks.

I gripped the bag to halt its slight motion, and the shadows from the late afternoon sun stilled on the hardwood.

“Hey,” I said over my shoulder, taking off my gloves.

“Want to tell me what happened in the locker room?” she asked, walking past me to lean against the wall. She had on jeans and a long-sleeved baseball tee with Deadpool on the front.

Damn, my girl made it look good...if she was actually my girl.

“Want to tell me how you know what happened in the locker room?” I ran my fingers over my beard.

She arched an eyebrow and raised her chin. God, I loved that she was so much smaller than I was but fucking fearless.

“Chloe. Bentley told her, and she told me.”

“He thinks I show my hand every time I get defensive of you.”

“Do you?”

“Yes,” I answered truthfully. “I couldn’t stand there and listen to the prodigal son talk about how he’s next in line for the defensive throne and getting you back.”

Her lips parted. “I didn’t know...about the last part.”

“Is it true?”

“Which?” She brushed her hair back behind her ears. This time the tips were dyed teal.

“Did you tell him you wanted to get back together with him?” I folded my arms across my chest, bracing for her answer.

“Why the hell would you even think something like that?” she fired back.

“Oh, I don’t know. Because you two are hockey royalty with a history? Because that was the first question the press asked when he came back to Seattle? Because he fucking said you did?”

“And you believed him?”

“I don’t know.”

Her head jerked as if I’d struck her. “Are you serious?”

“Pepper, I have everything on the line. Everything. And you’re worth it. I am crazy about you, and I can’t even tell the guys in the locker room that you’re mine. Then this guy shows up, shouts to the world that you’re getting back with him, and I should have to listen to it? We’re complicated. I know that. I know it would be easier for you to go back to Hall, rather than be with someone you have to sneak around with, but that asshole can’t even tell you apart from Ivy in that picture!”

A slow smile spread across her face until she was flat-out grinning at me.

“What?”

“You’re jealous.”

I blinked. I’d never had anyone to be jealous over before. No one I cared about walking out. But just the thought of Pepper leaving me created a black hole of nausea in my stomach.

“I’m jealous,” I admitted.

“You want to claim me, you said?” Her eyes sparkled with mischief.

“Hell yes, I do.”

“Then claim me.”

I was across the room in a heartbeat. My tongue in her mouth, her hands on my ass, her back against the wall as I rocked against her. The kiss was primal, more dominant than any I’d ever given her.

She tilted her head, and I kissed her deeper, stroking my tongue against hers until she was breathless, panting against my lips.

“Iron Man,” she said, pulling back with her hands on my cheeks.

“Pepper?”

She looked me in the eyes, and I swear my soul fell into hers.

“I choose you. I will never choose Mason. Never. I’m not getting back together with him, and I would sure as hell never leave you for him. I. Choose. You.”

Relief rushed through my veins, nearly as strong as the lust that was overtaking my brain.

“Good. Because I choose you, too.”