CHAPTER 003: ANOTHER LEISTER!?

NOAH’S POV

“Where are you, Birdy?”

“I need my lucky charm.”

The messages kept dropping onto my screen, stacking on top of the four he’d already sent in six minutes.

I stirred the electrolyte packet into his water bottle at the counter, watching the powder spin into a cloudy blue funnel.

Three days since I’d screamed at him at the arena entrance, since I watched him look at me with genuine confusion about what exactly he was doing wrong.

Yet I was his lucky charm.

Idiot.

But God so help me, I loved it.

That’s why I was here at his practice, because he had an international tournament coming up, playing errand girl for the man who announced his engagement on national television.

Shouldn’t Rosalind be the one mixing this? He’d chosen her after all.

I capped the bottle hard enough that it hissed, grabbed my bag, and headed for the rink. I was still scrolling his messages when I hit the locker room hallway, and my foot caught a duffel bag jutting out from under a bench.

I was certain I’d slam my jaw on the ground.

Then a hand closed around my upper arm and hauled me upright in one motion, no strain at all, almost like I weighed nothing.

“Careful.”

A voice floated lowly at me, rough at the edges.

I turned, and looked up. Towering over me was a man with dark, unruly hair and striking green eyes.

A silver ring cut through one eyebrow, more hoops climbed one ear, and black ink crawled up one side of his ribs disappeared beneath the waistband of his pants.

His grip didn’t leave my arm right away.

“Are you trying to get your skull cracked?” He snickered. “There are faster ways to do that.”

My jaws clenched, jerking his hands off my arm.

“You could try not leaving your bag in the middle of the hallway.”

“It’s not mine.”

“Oh. How convenient. You could have at least helped whoever it’s for to take it away.”

“Someone else’s carelessness isn’t my problem.” He fired back. Then his eyes dragged once down the jersey I was wearing, and I saw a flicker of amusement in his eyes before they vanished.

“Cute jersey by the way.”

Normally I’d say thank you because it was a compliment—except he hadn’t even tried to hide the mockery behind his tone. Then he stepped closer to me, giving me a good whiff of his cologne.

“You might want to throw it out, it’s faded.”

“Excuse me!?” I frowned. “That is none of your business.”

His gaze lingered on mine for a split second, and then a small smirk widened a corner of his lips.

Like he was doing whatever this was on purpose. Then he brushed past me, walking away.

I didn’t even know who he was and I really wanted to punch him already.

Who even was he? I knew all of Luca’s teammates by heart and I could swear I had never seen this arrogant, rude yet kind of ridiculously good looking one before.

With a deep exhale, I walked back to the boards. The arena was empty except for the team, and I found my usual spot, set Luca’s water where he’d see it and sat.

“Move your feet!” Coach Reyes’s voice cracked across the ice. “I don’t need a bunch of fat asses playing like it’s still the parade! You want to keep that trophy? you skate like somebody is trying to steal it from you!”

Their blades cut the ice rapidly, spraying whites behind them while sticks cracked against sticks. Somewhere, a puck rang off the board hard enough that I felt the vibration in my own teeth.

Right in the middle of the ice was Luca—looking great, and focused. The kind of focus that put the championship in his hands. I felt my heart thud once at the thought of him.

Then the whistle shattered the air.

“Number Nineteen! Get in here!”

A player peeled off from the far end, blades throwing up a wall of ice as he stopped, and my stomach dropped clean through the bleachers when the helmet turned enough for me to catch the jaw underneath.

Him—again.

He glided to a stop directly across from Luca, and I watched Luca’s body shift totally.

His shoulders locked, spine went rigid and his grip on his stick tightened so hard I could almost hear the creak from his leather gloves. I had never seen him look at another human being like that—not a rival, an ex, no one.

This was—strange.

Coach Reyes dropped the puck between them, stepped back and blew into his whistle.

Nineteen got to it first with a flick of the wrist, with barely any movement at all and then he was gone.

Skating so fast, cutting hard toward the net with Luca a full stride behind him. Both of them—their skates scraped up more ice than I’d ever seen.

Luca closed the gap right as nineteen planted his shoulder and drove him straight into the boards.

“Oh, God!” I gasped, my hands flying to my mouth.

The sound cracked through the whole arena. Luca hit the ice on his back, and nineteen was already sliding the puck past the goalie like he almost didn’t cost Luca a shoulder.

“That’s a penalty in a real game, Nineteen!” Coach was already skating toward them, whistle screeching twice with anger. “You want to end up in the box every shift, keep it up!”

I hadn’t even realized when I’d sprung up from the seats, down the stairs and my sneakers hitting the rubber matting at the bench.

Luca skated over, breathing hard with his jaws clenched tightly—I grabbed him by the shoulders.

“Who is that?” My hands started moving over his body, checking him, his ribs, the back of his head and anywhere that might be hiding something worse than it looked.

“A new recruit.” Luca groaned slightly.

I’d watched enough games to know it was normal to get hit, but this was—

Almost personal.

“Is that why he’s trying to maim you!?”

He didn’t answer that. He was staring past me, out at the ice and something was moving under his skin that I had never seen there before, not even on his worse days.

“I’m fine.” He said, which wasn’t anything close to an answer to what I’d asked.

“Luca, get in here!” Coach yelled, already waving him back.

I watched him go, my stomach was in my throat now.

He lined across from nineteen a second time. Coach dropped the puck and barely got his hand back before nineteen hit Luca with his helmet so hard he went down flat on his back, skates flying out from under him and his own helmet cracking against the ice.

Luca ripped his helmet off before he’d even finished sliding.

I watched him clench his hands into fist. Fuck,

“Luca!” I hurried toward the glass, with both hands slapping against it.

He came up swinging, closing the distance in two strides and drove nineteen down onto the ice,and got two solid punches in before nineteen even raised a hand to block.

For full three seconds, nineteen just took every hit.

Then he moved.

He caught Luca’s next swing mid-air, twisted and use the moment to flip them—and suddenly Luca was on his back with nineteen straddling his chest, throwing punches that landed directly on his face with an ugly sound I felt in my back teeth.

I didn’t think –I was over the wall, skidding across the ice in sneakers, and I grabbed his arm right as it cocked back for another hit, both hands closing around his wrist.

“GET OFF HIM!” My voice tore raw out of me. “Get off—stop, stop!”

Then he stopped.

Not because of me. My grip barely had a chance against the size of his forearm—I knew even as I held on.

He stopped because he turned his head and looked at me, and for a couple seconds, neither of us moved.

His chest heaved under mine where I had grabbed a fistful of his jersey. Those green eyes held mine like I was the only person in the room, and for one disorienting second, I forgot to be afraid of him.

Luca used the opportunity and shoved nineteen off him, hard enough that his shoulder hit the ice.

My grip slipped off him and I grabbed Luca into me instead, his whole body shook under my hands. Blood dripped from a cut over his eyebrow and down the side of his face.

“You think you’re tough, huh?” Luca spat toward him, chest heaving and his voice cracked with more rage.

“Touch me again and I’ll put you in the boards myself, Kade.”

Kade.

The rest of the team was closing in now, dropping their sticks and Coach was shouting somewhere. Kade pushed himself up slowly, and yanked off his helmet.

He dragged the back of his glove across his split lip, smearing blood along his jaw without bothering to wipe it clean.

He smirked.

“It’s good to see you’ve grown some balls, brother.”

Brother?

“Leister!” Coach’s voice cracked across the ice. My eyes wouldn’t leave Kade. He was Luca’s brother!??

Kade climbed to his feet like none of this had cost him anything at all. His eyes found mine over Luca’s shoulder, taking their time.

“See you around.” He turned, then glanced over his shoulders.

“Birdy.”