Sugar and Ice - RJ Scott Page 0,53

fight, the goal, the hockey gods, I don’t know what it was, but we played like the team we could be, winning the game in the final seconds from a lucky bounce off a Dallas stick into their own net. The hugs were relentless, but as Marco passed me he deliberately dragged his stick on my leg, enough for me to know he was there. I really needed to talk to the guy.

Coach’s assessment of the game was a hell yeah mixed with a that was some dumb fucking luck. Vlad gave a small speech that built on the hell yeah, and then it was cool-down and showers.

By the time we were out in the hall I was exhausted, a little high on the win, worried about the conversation I knew I needed to have with Vlad over what the hell happened with Marco, and not at all looking where I was going.

“Tate?”

I knew that voice, and I stopped dead, lifting my chin and spotting Lacey sitting on a chair outside the dressing room. Some of the other guys came out behind me, but after a glance from me they left, all apart from Vlad who I knew was behind me, but who remained quiet.

“Lacey,” I murmured.

“I miss you.”

Shit. This was the last thing I needed. I thought we’d moved on from being an item. What should I say? Should I be sympathetic, or take a hard line? Was she getting counseling? Did she need my help?

“Lacey—"

She lifted a cat carrier from under the chair, and I could see Obi’s face peering out at me. My chest tightened. Was this some kind of test? A show and tell where she ended up taking Obi away from me. I loved that cat, and she knew that.

“I wanted you to have him; he misses you.”

“Lacey?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, that she was telling me, in a matter-of-fact fashion, that I was able to have Obi back? “For real?” I winced at my own question, aware of the vulnerability in the tone.

“For real, Tate. It’s okay, I’m not here to mess with you. I wanted you to have Obi, and to tell you, I’m seeing a counselor.” She glanced around her to check the corridor, before moving closer to me. I sensed Vlad move nearer to me. “Can I talk to you privately?”

“You can talk in front of Vlad, he’s with me,” I thumbed behind me, and she gave me a soft smile.

“With you?”

“We’re together.”

She smiled then, but the smile was kind of sad. “Good. That’s good.”

“Are you… is there… “

“Anyone? Not right now. I think I need to focus on me. I don’t know what went wrong, but it was a mess from the start.”

Guilt consumed me. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be what you needed me to be,” I offered.

“You’re a good man, Tate, but my head… nothing was right. We weren’t right.”

“No, we weren’t, but I should have—”

“Stop.” She pressed a hand to my chest. “Being seen is what it was all about. The right makeup, the clothes I wore, the way I lived, and the number of followers I had, was everything to me. It was my messed up way of escaping the sadness in my head.”

I took her hand and held it. “I’m sorry.” I knew all about the pressures of expectation.

“You were my brilliance, Tate.” She stopped and bit her lip thoughtfully. “I mean, being with you, it gave me that extra shine. Almost as if I mattered.”

“You do matter,” I said, and grasped her hand. “You mattered to me.”

“And you mattered to me, but not in a healthy way, and I didn’t love you. I wanted to say it face-to-face, I’m sorry.” She leaned closer and whispered. “For the lies.”

“Get away from him, Lacey!” Marco snapped from the corridor to the left, coming into the picture and placing himself solidly between me and Lacey, shoving me back. He had a high temper, and a blooming bruise on his left eye, as well as a cut to his lip that needed looking at. “Leave. Her. Alone.”

Lacey took his arm. “There wasn’t a baby, Marco.”

Shit. Why was she bringing that up now? No one had to know that she’d lied, I would never tell a soul if it meant she could have closure in her own mind.

Marco blinked at her and then me. “What? Don’t lie for him, Lacey, he’s not worth it.”

“I’m not. I wanted to keep Tate, and I lied, I think I was