Chapter 4 Bleeding through the Heart

Bleeding through the Heart

Dylan’s POV

I heard it and kept skating because it was the only thing I could do. If I should stop and react, I would be handing them exactly what they want, a reason to feel like they got to me. So I pushed my legs harder and kept my eyes on the puck and let everything go behind me where they belonged, even though my heart was beating faster than the drill.

I finished the session with the rest of them, moving through every drill without looking up, or giving anyone the satisfaction of looking at them. When the coach blew the final whistle and the others started walking off toward the tunnel, I stayed back.

I had to practice more because I couldn’t afford to fall apart over a whisper. I walked back to the far end of the rink and started again from the top, running the same drills alone, pushing through the stiffness in my knee.

I was very comfortable playing alone in the rink, I could hear every sound I make come back to me off the walls, the scrape of my blades, and the crack of the puck against the boards.

I was mid-stride, building speed toward the net, when I felt the back of my neck prickle.

I didn’t stop skating but I lost my focus. I took the shot, watched it miss wide, and turned casually like I was just resetting. That’s when I saw Liam standing at the far entrance of the rink, still in his gear, arms loose at his sides. He stood there like how ice is before something cracks it.

I turned back and kept practicing. If he wanted to stand there, and look at me, then fine, I don’t give a fuck about him for now, when the time is right and I put my strategy into place, I will be sending him to hell. I ran the drill again, focused on my footwork, and keeping my shoulders straight.

The only problem I had was that my mind was drifting back to him, and I couldn’t help stealing a glance. I picked up speed, and my skate caught the same bad angle it had the day before. My balance went sideways and I was already bracing myself to hit the floor when a hand closed around my arm and pulled me up.

I straightened up breathing hard. I looked up and Liam was right there. Close enough that I could see the faint line of tension in his jaw. He let go of my arm the moment I was steady.

“You need to work on your left foot,” he said. “You’re dropping your weight too early.”

I scoffed. “I know, you don’t have to tell me”

“You don’t seem to know, if not, you’d have stopped doing it.” He moved around my back without asking permission and reached for my stick, adjusting my grip with two fingers, shifting my hands slightly further apart. “Here, keep it in this position.”

He used his leg to spread mine slowly, I couldn’t say anything and I didn’t know why I let him do that.

He stepped behind me and his hand pressed flat against my upper back, correcting my posture with firmness.

“Your shoulders aren’t straight… You’re hunching your back.” He whispered near my ears. I felt his breath on me and it made a tickling sensation on my neck.

“I’m not…”

“Yes, you are… Just follow my lead.”

I straightened my back, his hands stayed on me and we ran the ice again. He stayed close, moving with me, calling corrections in that same quiet voice that somehow made me weak. At one point I turned too fast and we nearly collided, catching ourselves at the last second, and for a moment we were close enough that I could see the detail in his eyes, and feel his breath against my face in the cold air.

He suddenly stepped back and said, “Do it again.”

I kept practicing and he corrected me whenever I made a mistake until he felt satisfied and it was just the sound of blades on ice and the occasional brush of his hand on my shoulder. My body was tired by the end of practice, but I felt satisfied.

When we finally stopped, I was breathing hard and my earlier frustration had burned off somewhere in the middle of practice.

“Thanks,” I said, and I meant it.

He looked at me for a moment. Then he smirked and he turned and skated toward the exit.

I watched him, he reached the boards, stepped off the ice, and I was already turning away when his voice came back across the rink, low and unhurried.

“Frostbite isn’t a place for you, you need to be careful.“​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​