Chapter 43 · The Only Door That Counts

I hit the tunnel door with both hands and it didn't move. Torin was already standing in it, shoulder against the frame, tape still wound around two of his knuckles from the game.

"Get out of my way."

"One game down." He didn't move. "Six to go. That's the part you keep forgetting."

The tunnel smelled like ice and rubber and his sweat, sharp under the fluorescent hum, and the cold coming off the rink behind us hit different than the heat coming off him. He'd stripped the jersey, just the compression shirt now, dark with sweat down the spine, and I could see his pulse going in his throat, still fast from the third period.

"Cho has the trigger now," I said. "Not me. Not you. So whatever you think you're blocking, it isn't that."

"I'm not blocking a trigger." His eyes went down to my mouth and stayed there half a second too long before he dragged them back up. "I'm blocking you walking out of this building to go ask questions you already know the answer to."