I watched in horror as all hell broke loose on the ice.

Atlas punched Davidson, which led to Davidson's teammate getting involved, followed by our guys. Soon, a full-blown brawl broke out between the two teams. Everyone in the audience stood to get a better glimpse of the action. Some looked worried, while others seemed to be enjoying the show.

As the referees and the linesmen got involved, most of the players stopped and stepped back, but Atlas and Davidson were still going at it. My heart almost stopped when I caught a glimpse of the blood on the ice.

Kris and Ethan pulled Atlas back, holding him with all their might. But the more they pulled him back, the more he tried to launch himself at Davidson, who was grinning like a madman despite the blood running down his nose. He said something that enraged Atlas even more, and he almost broke free from Kris and Ethan.

The coach had to step in to finally drag him away from the scene. Atlas was thrown out of the game, while it resumed as if nothing had happened. As if Davidson didn't have a huge ass bandage on his face.

When the audience settled down as well, I had no other option but to take my seat. However, my eyes kept drifting in the direction of the bench, where I could see Coach yelling at Atlas while he held an ice pack against his cheek.

He did not look like he regretted the fight at all.

The game ended with the Warriors winning, much to everyone's disappointment. When I looked at the bench, Atlas was already gone. With a sigh, I followed the crowd to the exit, joining Veena and Noor as we headed to the locker room to wait for the guys. Tyler and Mark were already inside the locker room as usual.

None of us spoke a word, the weight of the fight and the loss heavy in the air around us. As we turned a corner in the hallway to the locker rooms, roaring, boisterous laughter reached my ears. It was the Warriors celebrating their victory.

My expression morphed into displeasure.

Veena nudged me with her elbow, signaling me to keep moving. The last thing we needed right now was another grapple. Ignoring them, we kept walking past, trying to go unnoticed.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen.

"Yo, sweetcheeks!"

I froze at the familiar loud voice before increasing my pace. I didn't want to face Davidson, but my attempt to escape failed when his towering body blocked my path.

"Not so fast," he said, leaning against the wall and throwing me a malicious grin.

My body tensed as he leaned in closer to me, the hair on my neck standing up straight.

"Tell your boy-toy to stay away. Next time it'll be worse," he whispered. A chill ran down my spine. With one hard look, he brushed past me, deliberately bumping my shoulder.

"That asshole!" Noor fumed as she glared at his back before turning to me, her expression soft again. "Are you okay?"

I nodded, plastering a small smile. "I'm fine."

I was not fine. His threat had done its job, and now my mind was spiraling out of control. I needed to warn Atlas.

Just as we reached the Eagles' locker room, the door flung open and a fuming Tyler stomped out.

"Did you see Davidson?" he asked.

"Yeah. On the way here," Noor said with disdain. "God, I hate that man."

Before the last word was out of her mouth, Tyler pushed past us.

"Woah, woah! Wait!" I stood in front of him and placed my hands on his shoulders. "What's going on?"

Tyler's eyes flickered down at me, and he pursed his lips before looking away. When he refused to speak—or look at me, for that matter—I pressed on. "Tyler. What is it?"

He remained silent for another beat, sighing when he saw I wasn't backing down.

"That son of a bitch. He... he said something. About you," he said, arms crossed. "It was bad, Evie. I don't blame Atlas for breaking his teeth. I would have done worse."

"What did he say?" I asked, my voice calm despite the turmoil swirling inside me.

Tyler bit his lip, his expression turning troubled. "He said"—he shut his eyes—"to Atlas that if you cannot tame your bitch, send her to me. I'll..." Tyler shook his head, refusing to finish his sentence.

He didn't have to. Each one of us knew what followed after that.

Noor gasped, while Veena's eyes widened in equal parts rage and horror. "That bastard!" Veena exclaimed.

Tyler tried to push past me again, but the three of us held him in place. "Let me go! I'm gonna break his jaw!"

"And that will achieve what?" I yelled. "You will be charged for assault and probably break some bones too because that guy is a psycho."

"So what? You're just going to let him spew all this nonsense?" The look on Tyler's face broke something in my heart. I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed him tight.

Tyler and I had bonded over the fact that we both came from broken families. Even though our circumstances were different, we were the same troubled kids who had no one. And maybe that's why we'd found each other. He understood me in ways no one could ever do. He was my family now. The thought of Davidson doing something to him chilled me to the bones.

When I didn't let up, Tyler finally caved and hugged me back with a deep sigh. "Just know that I'm not happy with you," he grumbled.

I smiled and looked up at him. "I can live with that."

Tyler scoffed, grumbling some more under his breath.

"You know how the brains of guys like Davidson work. He just wants to stir up trouble and get attention. Didn't you see what happened on the ice? He got what he wanted and we lost. We don't need any more fights or injuries," I said.

Tyler didn't say anything further. He still had a pensive expression on his face, but he didn't look murderous anymore. I squeezed him one more time, wordlessly conveying my love for him before letting him go.

"I need to go see Atlas. To see... to tell him about Davidson," I said to no one in particular and hoped they didn't pick up on my fumble.

"Atlas already left," Tyler informed.

"He what?"

He nodded. "He was thrown out of the game for what happened with Davidson. They checked him for injuries and once the final buzzer went off, he left."

Fear and panic unfurled in my gut, spreading until it had my heart in a vice. Atlas was injured. Davidson was after him. What if he cornered him again? We were in the same hotel after all. It was plausible.

The logical side of my brain reasoned that it wouldn't happen. Atlas had left a long time ago and Davidson was probably still here with his friends, but the anxious part of it didn't want to listen to reason. It just wanted to see Atlas.

I just wanted to see Atlas.

"I—I'll head out first. See you back at the hotel," I said and then turned to Veena. "Don't wait for me. I might be late."

And then I bounded towards the exit before I could see their reactions or overthink how weird my behavior looked. I busted through the main gate and was immediately greeted by the sound of traffic and the chilly night air.

The hotel was three blocks away. On an ordinary day under ordinary circumstances, I would walk to save money. But nothing was ordinary today, so I hailed a cab and hopped in.

After fifteen minutes of anxiously bouncing my knee in the cab as it navigated through the traffic, we finally reached the hotel. I shoved some cash in the driver's hands before stumbling out of the cab.

In a blur, I darted across the lobby of the hotel, barely avoiding a couple walking toward the exit, and shoved my way inside the elevator before the doors shut. I received a few glares from people already inside, but I wasn't in a state to apologize. My heart hammered in my chest as the elevator crawled up the floors.

When the elevator stopped at Atlas's floor, I rushed to his room, knocking frantically. That's when my logical side barreled in with full force.

What was I doing?

There was a good chance that Atlas wasn't even in his room. He could be outside with his friends. Or alone somewhere. And even if he was in his room, would he want to see me?

After everything that happened at the rink, what was I going to say to him? He was thrown out of the game and the team lost all because I'd pissed Davidson off, and he was taking his revenge on the guys. I was probably the last person he—

"Dylan, I said I don't want to—"

Atlas stopped mid-sentence when he saw me, one hand on the door and the other holding his phone. "Rosy?"

My breath caught in my throat for two extremely different reasons.

One, Atlas only had a towel wrapped around his waist, and two, he had an ugly, bluish-purple bruise running down his side, disappearing under the towel. A compression bandage was wrapped around the wrist of his hand that was holding his phone. Another one around his ankle. And his face had a few more bruises that splintered my heart into two.

"You have a knack for arriving right when I'm in a towel."

I lifted my eyes to meet his gaze, and the sight of him grinning down at me broke the final bind holding me together. My eyes began to water. A broken whimper left my mouth, and before I knew it, I was bawling my eyes out.

Solid, warm arms wrapped around me and pulled me inside. Atlas pressed a hand on the back of my head, gently stroking my hair as I buried my face in his chest. That broke me even more, and uncontrollable sobs left my mouth, my body shuddering against his. I clung to him, wanting his strong presence to hold me up.

"Shh. It's okay Rosy," he said in the softest tone I had ever heard him use.

I shook my head. "I-It's not. You...you got hurt because of m-me."

He let out a deep sigh. "It wasn't because of you."

"It was! Davidson was after you guys because I punched him yesterday."

"That was a damn good punch!"

I wasn't looking at him, but I could tell he had a heart-melting grin on his face from the mirth in his tone. How could he even smile after being so hurt? I didn't get this man.

"Rosy? Can we sit down? I'm afraid my towel is going to come undone," he said after a beat of silence, and I let out a choked snort.

"It's not like I haven't seen everything there is to see," I said, but I still let him veer me towards the bed to sit down.

Atlas grinned, making a show of adjusting his towel, and then picked up the complementary tissue box from the coffee table near the couch. He handed it to me and I took it with a quiet "thank you."

Atlas sat beside me on the bed as I wiped my tears and blew my nose. "Did you run into Davidson again?" he asked. I sat up straight at the thought of setting Atlas off again. "You did, didn't you?"

I gulped. "He told me to tell you to stay away. Or next time it'll be worse."

When he didn't respond, I peeked up at him to see a tick in his jaw, his eyes blazing with fury. He made a move to stand up and I immediately grabbed his hand. "Don't. You should stay away."

Atlas scowled at me. "That bastard needs to be taught a lesson!"

"And why should you be the one to teach him? Why can't you just let it be?" I scowled back at him. "He has a problem with me. There was no need for you to start a fight with him for—"

"He deserved what he got. You don't know what he said. What he—"

"I know," I said, cutting him off. "I know, and I still feel that you shouldn't have gotten involved."

An abrupt laugh from Atlas took me by surprise. It was dry and lacked humor. He turned to me fully then. "You expect me to just watch when some douche is saying something about you? I won't!"

I opened my mouth to protest, but he cut me off with his question. "Don't you see it, Rosy?" He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "The only reason he said what he said was because he knew I would react. He knew it would push my buttons. Because I—"

My breath hitched as I waited for him to finish the sentence, my heart pounding a mile a minute. The emotions on Atlas' face were so raw and real that if I wasn't sitting down, my knees would buckle under the intensity of his gaze.

"Because I care for you," he finished. "And no matter what you say I won't stop caring. Even if you don't speak to me and want me to stay away, I'll still care for you."

I chuckled; a short, broken sound. My eyes teared up again at the sincerity in words. "Why? You don't have to."

Atlas shrugged. "Maybe because I'm a nice guy like that."

"Sure you are," I said, smiling up at him. I lifted my hand and cupped his cheek, tracing the bruises on his face. Atlas shut his and leaned into my touch with a sigh. "He messed up your pretty face."

"You should see the other guy," he said with a chuckle, eyes dancing with mirth.

We sat like that, staring into each other's eyes, trying to decipher the meaning behind the emotions that we already knew. The air around us crackled with desire, tiny sparks dancing on my fingertips and traveling down my arm.

I don't know who moved first. If it was me who leaned in or it was him who covered the distance.

All I knew was that I was kissing Atlas Griffin, and I didn't want to stop.