“Well, if I have to…”
CHAPTER 30
Wednesday evening at practice, Damon glared at the idiots on the ice not listening to his instructions.
Steve and Ed kept snipping at each other. Will seemed lost in thought, clearly not concentrating on the puck. And Ted and Lee continued to argue over which line they thought they belonged on, not to mention the rest of the guys too busy razzing each other than focusing on drills.
“Hey, numbnuts, listen up,” he growled, not happy himself since Marlie had yelled at him earlier. Through no fault of his own, he’d accidentally used all the hot water in the shower after a grueling workout, not realizing she’d wanted a quick shower before heading to basketball practice.
To his credit, he’d been apologetic but not overly so, not wanting to set a bad precedent early on in their relationship. His mother might walk all over his father, but Damon wasn’t going to be so easy with Marlie.
Except she’d torn into him with icy words, and he felt awful because she was working her ass off at school—finals week—and dealing with a basketball loss from the night before.
And then he’d gone and used up all the hot water.
“Will, over here,” he barked. “The rest of you, on me.”
Everyone stopped and skated over to him. “I need to work with our goalie for a bit. Ed, have the group run some one-on-one drills. Defense, get your stick all over your opponents’. Check, don’t slash. And offense, use your body to get the defense out of the way, not just your stick. Work on fundamentals, guys.”
They scattered, but before Will could take off, Damon grabbed his stick. “Uh-uh. Not you. Lee, I want three half-laps.” The Mav’s goalie wasn’t half bad. “Start with zipper drills. Keep that chest forward. Then hinge and shuffle. And lastly, get into your butterfly, then push and chest save. If moving to the blocker side, make sure to project out and over the puck. Same when you go to your glove side. Any questions?” Basic enough goalie drills that would keep him busy while Damon talked to Will.
“I’m good.” Lee skated off to the far goal and got started.
Damon was careful to move slowly on the ice. His knee was sore after the workout Morgan had put him through yesterday. His low-angle butterfly mobility and slideboard drills today added to the strain, but he felt stronger, so he sucked up the pain and dealt with it.
Now alone with Will, he dropped his stick. “What the fuck is going on? Where’s your head, man?”
“What? I missed a few shots. So what?”
“You’re not the same focused player I saw on Sunday when we beat the Yetis. What’s up with you?”
Will drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I had an argument today. I’m still pissed.”
“What did Jeff do?”
Will flushed. “Huh?”
“Oh please. This has lover’s spat written all over it. Just make up, bone, and get your head back in the game. Want me to talk to Jeff for you?”
“Hell no.” Will grunted. “Great pep talk, coach.”
“You know, I already got big old heap of Reynolds sarcasm earlier. I don’t need more of it.”
“Yeah?”
“Your sister may look like an angel, but trust me, she’s not.”
That cheered the guy up. He did stick work while Lee finished his drills. Then Will helped with some slap shots while Damon coached Lee on how to protect the goal.
All in all, the practice went well, and Damon helped correct a few weak spots he’d noticed Sunday.
But he continued to feel unsettled on his way back to Marlie’s house. It wasn’t as if he’d tried to use all the hot water. Who the hell had only enough hot water for one shower at a time anyway?
Because they’d been showering together, he hadn’t noticed the lack. Until today.
On the way home—and damn if he didn’t consider living with Marlie his “home”—Damon tried to figure out the right way to deal with her. Though they’d had a little fight the other night, when she complained about him spending too much money on her, the hot water thing seemed more serious.
He didn’t like her mad at him. And it had been his fault, though he hadn’t meant to inconvenience her, and especially not now with her dealing with a lot of stress.
