Chapter 3Caught by the Hockey Captain

What surprised me even more was that Nathan had actually taken my online scolding to heart.

Balance the team, stamp out the bullying.

Before dinner, Coach Dawson came to inspect the rink, and Tiffany gathered a few cheerleaders around him, playing cute and fishing for credit.

"Coach, setting up for the party today was so exhausting. Some of the support staff didn't just refuse to help, they slacked off the whole time." Tiffany raised her voice on purpose and shot me a sideways look.

Coach Dawson frowned and turned to me. "Quinn, what's going on with you?"

Before I could get a word out, Nathan skated straight over from the ice.

"Old Dawson, if your eyes are going bad, go get some glasses." Nathan leaned on his stick with one hand, his gaze ice-cold.

"Quinn hauls the whole team's gear by herself. She clears the rink, she washes the jerseys."

"Meanwhile some people don't do a lick of real work and just run their little cliques at the rink all day. This is a place to play hockey, not a reality show. Quit putting on an act."

He turned and fixed his eyes on Tiffany. "If I catch you pulling your little stunts and getting in the team's way again, you're out of this rink tomorrow."

Tiffany's face flushed crimson in an instant, tears welling in her eyes, and she covered her face and ran off.

Nathan's outburst left Coach Dawson with no way to save face. He pointed at him for a long moment without managing to get out a single word.

I stood in the corner, staring at Nathan in shock.

He'd actually noticed the most insignificant nobody on the team.

And he was standing up for me.

No, more like... he was defending the order of his team, but along the way he'd pulled me out of the mud too.

He'd just been too obsessed with hockey itself before, and forgotten everything else.

Now that "Master" had spoken, he carried it out swiftly and decisively.

Back home that night, the moment I logged on, a message from Nathan came in, fishing for praise.

"Master, I gotta say, you read things dead-on. How'd you know there was bullying on my team? I cleaned up the whole locker-room culture today! Made that troublemaking cheer captain cry."

The corners of my mouth lifted before I could stop them, and my fingers tapped at the keys.

"Guess you did one decent thing."

He shot back instantly. "You bet! I also helped out that girl who does our laundry. Her hands are all frostbitten. Turns out she's been getting bullied every day and never said a word. Looks like a total pushover."

My heart skipped a beat.

Right after, Nathan sent a voice message, his voice carrying that trademark swagger of his and a faint, hard-to-catch frustration.

"But hey, Master, do you think she even appreciates it? I helped her today and she didn't say a single thank-you, just stared at me with those big eyes. Am I a ghost or something, that scary?"

Listening to his breathy little complaint, I burst out laughing.

All the exhaustion I'd built up over the day vanished.

I typed out a line. "Maybe she thinks you've got a rotten temper and she's afraid to talk to you. Go easy on her from now on."

Nathan sent an eye-roll sticker.

"There are only two kinds of people I'm ever nice to in this life: my parents, and you, Master. Everyone else doesn't rate."

Looking at that cocky declaration on the screen, I touched my burning cheek.

This silly guy. If he knew the Master he worshipped every day was the very pushover he looked down on...

I couldn't imagine the look on his face.