Four Inches Away

Four Inches Away
Chapter 137

Jett’s POV

I threw my stick down onto the hard ice, my jaw clenched, and I stalked toward the bench outside the rink. 

People would think the thrill of a small victory would calm my anger down a little bit. 

But it didn’t. 

Because even though we did win, that guy still kept getting on my nerves. It was incredibly frustrating. 

I sat on the bench, seething as I ignored the wary glances sent my way. I even noticed the way the coach looked at me for a moment before he continued whatever it was he was saying to the player he was speaking to. 

I wasn’t even surprised when he started moving toward me and dropped right down on the bench, his gaze on the remaining players gliding on the ice. “You okay, boy?” he asked after a few moments. 

“Do I look okay to you?” There was no use hiding the bite in my tone when literally everyone here could see that I was mad. 

A light chuckle slipped out of him, surprising me for a second and causing me to glance at him. “Guess I shouldn’t have asked, then.” He leaned back, shifting his eyes to me now. 

“Maybe you shouldn’t have,” I muttered under my breath, only making his smile widen as he silently shook his head. 

“He’s only trying to get under your skin, boy.”

My gaze immediately darted to the motherfucker, narrowing on him. “Well congratu-fucking-lations to him. It’s working.” 

The coach shook his head again, leaning to rest his hands on his knees as he shifted closer. “Son, you do know you’re not supposed to give a damn about him, right?” 

I slowly turned to look at him again. “You came here to play. And you’re fucking good at it, and that’s why blondie boy over there isn’t too happy about it.” 

I lifted a brow at him, my eyes drifting over him as he kept on going. “So please, do your best to ignore him and focus on the game. This anger of yours could lead to some terrible mistakes, and we don’t want that, alright?” He nodded, clapping one of his hands on my shoulder. He didn’t even wait for a response before he got up and left. 

It wasn’t long after the coach finished speaking to me that a few guys came up to me, asking me if I could reduce my roughness on the ice, while some—who must have probably been on my team—told me to chill out and ignore the guy like the coach had said, as we had won the practice match. 

After practice and all the confrontation they had given me, I couldn’t see myself speaking to anyone there. So I just decided to go back to my room and cool my head off. 

But as I got into the quiet corners of my room and away from all the distractions, there was nothing to take my attention away from Kimberly. If I was being honest, there was nothing that could take my attention from her. Even as I was on the ice, she lingered in the corners of my mind. Hell, she was even the reason I was playing “too harsh.” 

My chest heaved with a low sigh as I ran a hand down my face, my gaze fixed on the ceiling above me. 

Fuck. I wonder what she’s doing now? 

Is she also thinking of me? 

My eyes flickered around as the thoughts kept coming in. 

Does she even think of me? Or… has she moved on already? 

She couldn’t possibly. Right? 

I shook my head immediately, not being able to deal with the mere idea. Then I rolled to my side, picking up my phone from where it lay beside me. 

My thumb swiped across the screen, pulling up Mitchell’s DMs. 

I’ve been expecting a call or a text from her for a while now, but I guess nothing has happened. Or maybe something did happen and she just forgot to tell me. I really did hope it was the latter, because my mind and my heart couldn’t take much more of this. 

I immediately texted her, and it took a few minutes before she finally replied. I had texted her, “Hey. How’re you doing?” 

But she already knew why I had reached out to her and told me that she still hadn’t heard from Kim. 

My vision blurred, my jaw tightening as I threw my phone across the room. "Goddammit," I cursed, running my hands through my hair. 

Why?!

I gritted my teeth, bringing down whatever the hell I could get my hands on. 

Why?!!

I turned and froze immediately when I saw my reflection in the mirror, staring back at me with bloodshot eyes. 

I slowly walked toward the mirror, with my chest heaving slightly and my tousled hair. Then I slowly reached for it before deciding against it. 

"Fuck, I need a drink,” I muttered, moving towards my cupboard and grabbing the first shirt I laid my hands on. I threw it on and headed to the bar. 

I was already out of the building and mentally deciding how many bottles of alcohol I needed right now when I crashed into something hard. 

My brows pinched together as I realized that it was a someone and not something. With a frown and a barely held-together temper, I took in the person before me, instantly recognizing him as one of my team players. 

It was that same guy that had introduced himself to me earlier at the rink. 

"Oh, I’m so, so sorry,” he immediately apologized as I still eyed him skeptically. “It’s just that I’ve been wanting to talk to you, and before I got the chance, you left the rink. And now that I saw you, I thought I’d seize the opportunity but…” he paused, clamping his lips shut before speaking again with an awkward laugh. 

“I guess I was too fast.” 

I blinked at him slowly. And again. Then slowly, I slid my hands into my pocket, watching him with a calmness that betrayed the ticking in my jaw. 

I stood watching him get uncomfortable beneath my gaze. “I just wanted to apologize about the other team’s backlash,” he went on, obviously realizing that I didn’t have the time for this. He ran his hand through his hair awkwardly as he added, “I could tell you didn’t like that.” 

I rolled my eyes with an annoyed sigh before moving to walk away. 

Of course it was obvious that I didn’t like that. This guy was just looking for any opportunity to talk to me. And right on cue, confirming my thoughts, he fell into step beside me, asking, “Will it be wrong if I want to know where you're going?” 

I didn’t reply. 

I didn’t want to. 

This guy had literally been on my neck since we met. Wasn’t he aware that some people didn’t come here to make friends? All we wanted was to win and get the fuck out of here. 

“No answer.” He nodded, still walking beside me. “I guess I’ll take that as a yes.” 

“If you’re taking that as a yes, then why are you still here?” I didn’t hide the annoyance in my tone. 

“Because…” he trailed off like he was searching for the right word. “I guess you can say I’m persistent.” 

“And annoying too,” I said as we took a turn. Soon, I realized that this guy was actually serious about not going anywhere, so I finally gave in. 

I turned my gaze to him, and he flashed me a small smile. “At least if you’re staying, respect my personal space and stay at least four inches away from me, will you?” 

His brows shot up in surprise just before another small smile tugged at his lips, and he raised his arms in a gesture of mock surrender, taking a few steps back. “Whatever you say, big man.” 

Surprisingly he did as I asked and didn’t ask me any more stupid questions or try to make conversation until we got to the bar. 

I ordered a lot of drinks to a private room, and he tagged along.
It was extremely annoying. I told him that if he was staying, he’d have to get his own drinks because I wasn’t spending a penny on him. He didn’t seem to mind. He just got himself a drink and sat with me.

What was even more unsettling was that he still didn’t try to talk to me. If I’m being honest, I loved it, but it did feel a bit unfair to him. So I did the one thing I wouldn’t have seen myself doing half an hour ago. 

I started a conversation. 

I rolled my shoulders, leaning back on the sofa as I looked anywhere but at him. “So…” I swirled the glass of wine in my hand. “How were you able to get into the team?”