She gasped.
“I’ve got you, sweetie,” I whispered.
Ah, shit, you can’t call her that. Don’t fucking say that ever again. She’s not sweetie. She’s a damn liar. Great in bed, sure, but she’s a liar.
I had never had a collision like this before.
My job and my nighttime fun coming together.
I worked my ass off to keep those two as separate as possible.
But now Madison or Grace, whatever the hell her name was… she ruined it.
I skated past the bench and looked back at Coach and Alonso.
“I’ve got it,” I called out. “I bumped into her and I think her camera broke. Going to check her hand to make sure she’s not cut.”
I then looked forward and hurried off the ice with Madison at my side.
I moved quickly enough that nobody could say a word to me.
“Wow,” she said to me. “You’re my fucking hero now, Maverick.”
“Don’t cop an attitude with me,” I said. “I’m not the one throwing out fake names.”
“Oh, please,” she said. “You knew what it was.”
“Yeah, I did,” I said. “I invented the rules. I didn’t realize we’d be using fake names.”
“Will you let the damn fake name thing go?” Madison snapped at me as we walked down the hallway.
I realized I was still holding her close to me.
Holding her hand with my right hand.
My left hand around her hip.
I broke away from her. “You want me to forget that you lied to me?”
“Boo-hoo,” she said. “It’s not like we’re getting married, right? And also, Grace is my middle name.”
“Why didn’t you use your first name? Is that your thing? You like to fuck guys using a different name? Do you hate yourself or something?”
The words poured out of my mouth.
Then they stopped.
Because Madison slapped me across the face.
It was a hell of a slap.
I saw stars for a few seconds.
“Was that for the camera?” I asked.
“No,” Madison said. “That was for calling me a liar.”
“Which you are,” I said.