Chapter 16 Chapter Sixteen
Danny POV
The voices of my team mates fooling around echoed in the locker room–laughter, trash talk, the metallic clang of equipment being tossed into bags.
I kept my head down, heading straight for my locker, but I should've known better than to think I could slip by unnoticed.
"Well, well, well," Ethan's voice rang out, dripping with amusement.
"Look who finally decided to rejoin us."
I didn't look up, just yanked open my locker and started pulling off my gear. My phone sat on the top shelf, the screen just as dark as when I walked in.
No new messages.
My stomach twisted.
"Captain's got priorities," one of the Booker twins—Jake, probably—called out from across the room.
"And apparently those priorities include abandoning practice for his girlfriend." he teased
"She's not—" I stopped myself, jaw clenching.
Right.
She was supposed to be my girlfriend, that's what I'd told everyone.
"She needed help."
"I bet she did," Dylan said with a suggestive waggle of his eyebrows, and several guys laughed.
I slammed my locker harder than necessary.
"Shut up, Dylan."
"Whoa, touchy." Dylan held up his hands in mock surrender.
"Just saying, man. It must be nice having a girl who shows up at practice just to see you."
Except that wasn't why Vanessa had come, she'd come because I'd left my wallet at her place and she was trying to be helpful.
I had wanted it to be for more than just that but I was used to disappointment by now.
"She didn't look so good though," Henry, our goalie, said, his tone more serious.
"When she left, I mean. Is everything okay?"
I grabbed my phone, checking it again even though I knew there was nothing there.
"She's fine."
"Didn't look fine to me," Marco's voice cut through the chatter like a knife, and the room went quiet.
I turned slowly to face him, he was leaning against the wall near the showers, his arms crossed over his chest, a familiar smirk playing at his lips.
There was something else in his eyes—something sharp and calculating that made my hackles rise.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, keeping my voice level.
Marco shrugged, pushing off the wall.
"Just an observation. Your girl looked like she was about to pass out. What she couldn't stand the stench of us hockey players” he drawled, chuckling to himself like he'd just said something funny.
The other guys shifted uncomfortably, they could sense it too—the edge in Marco's tone.
It had been like this for a while now, Marco and I in the same room inevitably charged the air with tension.
"She was fine," I repeated, more firmly this time.
"Was she?" Marco took a step closer.
“ Even if she wasn't I'm not sure how you could fix that” I said simply and he shrugged
"I'm just saying what everyone's thinking for your own good" Marco continued, his voice deceptively casual. “
“ Vanessa Williams doesn't fit in our world, Danny. She's too... out of place. Girls like her don't stick around guys like us.”
"Girls like her?" I repeated, my voice dangerously quiet.
"You know what I mean." Marco's smirk widened.
"Scholarship kids, honor students, probably never had to ask anyone for anything in her life. What's she doing slumming it with a bunch of dumb hockey players?”
The room went dead silent and my hands curled into fists.
"Watch it, Marco.” I hissed and he shrugged
“ No offence, I'm just offering insight. A frigid lay can't be doing you any good” he muttered and I crossed the space between us in three strides, getting right in Marco's face.
"Say that again. I dare you."
“ Come on man, you can't seriously be that mad over the ice princess” he mumbled and something inside me snapped.
I shoved him hard, and Marco stumbled back, his smirk finally faltering. He recovered quickly though, squaring his shoulders like he was ready to fight.
"Danny, don't—" Ethan started, but I wasn't listening.
"You don't know anything about her," I growled, advancing on Marco again.
"You don't know what she's like and you don't know how she got here, and you sure as hell don't get to talk about her like that." I roared and Marco scoffed
“All this fuss for the ice princess, she must be quite the catch” he mumbled.
My vision turned red and I lunged for him, before I could land a punch, strong hands grabbed my arms, hauling me backward.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Jake Booker's voice was in my ear, firm and steady.
"Not worth it, Cap."
"Let me go," I snarled, still straining against their grip.
"No can do," Dylan said from my other side.
Together, the twins muscled me toward the corner of the locker room, away from Marco and the rest of the team.
Marco straightened his shirt, that infuriating smirk back in place.
“Touched a nerve, did I?"
"Marco, shut the hell up," Dylan snapped, surprising me.
"You're being an asshole."
The twins dragged me into the hallway outside the locker room before I could break out of their hold. The door swung shut behind us, muffling the voices inside.
"Let. Me. Go," I ground out.
"Not until you calm down," Jake said firmly.
I wrenched free of their grip, pacing the narrow hallway like a caged animal. My heart was pounding, adrenaline flooding my system the same way it did during a game.
"What the hell was that?" Dylan demanded.
"You almost threw down with Marco in the middle of the locker room."
"He was talking about Vanessa—"
"We know what he was talking about," Jake interrupted.
"We were there. But Danny, you can't lose your shit like that. Not now."
"Why not?" I shot back.
"He had no right—"
"Because the championship is in two days!" Henry's voice rose, his usual easy-going demeanor replaced with something harsher
"You get into a fight, you get suspended and you miss the game. Coach will bench you so fast your heads gonna spin” he muttered and I paused,his words cutting through my anger like ice water.
He was kind of right; this was a game we'd been training for since freshman year. The game scouts were coming to watch, so this could change everything.
"You think we don't get it?" Jake said, his voice softer now. "You care about her. We can see that. But Marco's baiting you, man. He wants you to lose control. Don't give him the satisfaction."
I dragged a hand through my damp hair, reality crashing back over me. They were right. Of course they were right.
“ Thanks man” I muttered and he shrugged
“ It's fine, we get why you're angry at him, I can't believe he said that," Dylan muttered.
"Marco's been weird lately," Jake said with a shrug.
"Ever since you and Vanessa started dating. I don't know what his problem is, but don't let him get in your head."
I nodded slowly, the fight draining out of me.
"Yeah. Okay."
"Good," Jake said.
"Now go home. Cool off. We'll handle Marco."
I didn't argue. I grabbed my bag from my locker, ignoring the stares from my teammates, and headed for the parking lot. It was a bit colder today.I tossed my bag in the backseat and slid behind the wheel, but I didn't start the engine.
Instead, I pulled out my phone again but still nothing from Vanessa– the silence was pretty self explanatory.
She needed space.
I opened my photos, scrolling back without really thinking about what I was looking for.
Last week's party. Past the start of the semester. Past summer break. All the way back to freshman year.
There.
My thumb hovered over a photo I hadn't looked at in months—maybe years. It was from October of our freshman year, right after midterms. Vanessa and I were sitting on the quad, textbooks spread around us.
We were supposed to be studying but the photo showed we were doing something more. We were both laughing at something—I couldn't even remember what anymore.
She looked so young– so happy.
Her wild ginger hair was caught in the breeze, her green eyes bright with laughter but it was the image of me that left me feeling more surprised. I was looking at Vanessa ... like she was the only thing in the world that mattered.
I swiped to the next photo. This one was from the same day, I think. Vanessa had stolen my phone to take a selfie.
Her face filled most of the frame, that mischievous smile I had not realized I loved so much curving her lips.
I was visible in the background, lunging to grab the phone back, my expression caught somewhere between exasperation and adoration.
I remembered that day so clearly now, we'd been studying for an exam and Vanessa had been stressed like she always got like that before big tests.
So I'd made stupid jokes, did terrible impersonations of our professor, anything to make her laugh and when she did it was like someone let butterflies into my chest.
I should have known then, should have recognized the feeling for what it was.
Love.
I'd been in love with her since that stupid afternoon, maybe even before. But I'd been too young and too stupid, to cherish it.
So I'd lost everything.
I closed the photos app, my chest tight.
What was she doing right now? Was she okay? Was she thinking about me the way I couldn't stop thinking about her?
My phone buzzed, and my heart leapt. But it was just Dylan in the team group chat.
Marco left. The coast is clear if you want to come back.
I didn't want to come back, I wanted to drive to Vanessa's apartment, to knock on her door and tell her everything I should have said three years ago.
I wanted to explain about Sophia, about that night, about how I'd been drugged and manipulated and I'd spent the last three years hating myself for something I didn't even do.
But she'd asked for space.
So instead, I started the car and headed home, my phone clutched in my hand like a lifeline.
I'd give her space.
But I wasn't giving up on us