Icebreaker dkbk

Chapter 6

THE LAST THREE weeks have been some of the most stressful of my life.

Shoto Todoroki —God, even his name sounds dick-ish—ran his mouth off to anyone who would listen. Including his coach, who told our coach, who then threatened to start tearing off limbs if someone didn't explain to him what the hell was going on.

I've spent more time getting screamed at with the team than I have playing hockey with them recently. The guys who trashed the rink were on the UCLA hockey team, our closest rival college. Shoto wasn't fully lying; the girl is pregnant, but it has nothing to do with Dabi.

The poor kid didn't know anything about it; he thought he'd been hooking up with someone's girlfriend. She blamed him when her older brother found out, and she panicked. I suppose it was easier to blame a stranger, and I doubt she expected him to drive over here and fuck up our arena.

Dabi has aged about ten years since this started. The relief on his face when we told him the real story was unbelievable. Faulkner and I had a meeting with the UCLA coach and captain, and they were able to tell us the full story. I've known Cory, the captain, for years and he was as pissed about this as I am.

I felt like Dr. Phil giving the results of a paternity test, well, Jerry Springer is more accurate for this bunch. Safe to say, we're all on thin ice with Faulkner. He said the next person to do something irresponsible will get benched for the rest of the season. He said he didn't care about our post-college prospects; he'd forfeit every game until we learned how to behave.

I'm on my best behavior for the rest of the year because I'm not sure Vancouver will still want me if I get expelled or delimbed, and there is no fucking way I'm going back to Colorado after I leave this place.

Is it a cliché being a guy who grew up with immense privilege and also having daddy issues? Yes. But in my defense, my dad is a massive jackass. I'm pretty sure he didn't get hugged enough as a child and now he's making it my and my sister's problem.

Luckily, I managed to move a thousand miles away, but poor Sasha is still stuck with him since she's only sixteen. Even when she turns eighteen, I doubt he'll let her leave. She'll be stuck being an underappreciated, overworked skiing prodigy.

Dad is prepared to throw money at every coach in the northern hemisphere, if it means Sash gets to be the next Lindsey Vonn. Ideally without the injuries, but I'm not sure he's concerned about her safety anyway; he just wants her to win.

Thankfully, he hates hockey. Careless, violent sport for people who lack discipline and crave chaos, he says. It was Mom who signed me up for Mr. H's team all those years ago. She was pregnant with Sasha at the time and needed something that would tire out her energetic five-year-old.

I didn't take to skiing like my dad had hoped, and I can proudly say I've been disappointing him every day since. He wouldn't even be surprised if I told him what has been going on recently, but it would involve answering his calls, and that isn't something I tend to do.

Plus, he'd only find a way for it to be my fault.

The intensity of Tenya's stare feels like it's burning into my skin, which jolts me from my thoughts.

Annoying him is my favorite thing to do, and it makes me realize why Sero likes being an asshole so much. Ten keeps dropping things on the floor, banging his phone against the TV remote to make a clanging noise, and after about ten minutes of getting no response, he's started coughing loudly.

I keep my eyes on the TV and smother the urge to smirk. Dabi is about to nail another case when Denki elbows me in the side. "Tenya is trying to get your attention. Are you ignoring him on purpose?"