Crossing the line, I twist to look at the time. 13.408. A grin spreads across my face as I turn to watch him come toward the bench. This man is humble as fuck. There’s no sign of excitement in his smile. He’s practically all business. There’s a soft smile, and a nod of acknowledgement, but otherwise he’s just a humble fucker, thanking those congratulating him.
He doesn’t take a seat next to me. Not that there’s a lot of room, but I could have made space. He sits with Ethan, unsurprisingly. However, my stomach jumps when his eyes meet mine. I smile, inclining my head.“Nice job,”I mouth to him.
His smile climbs a little and he mouths,“Thanks.”
A few more players race, but the top three do not change. Caulder, Jirí, Max. I’m feeling good with those odds. A couple player interviews take place while they switch up the ice for the next competition. I get up, not so subtly watching Caulder talk to Avianna Zayn, the anchor from Sports Spot.
Since I can’t truly hear what he’s saying, I’m just watching his lips move. His sweet, sexy mouth.
After a minute, I turn away and take my seat again. I’mnotstaring. I’m far better than that. I continue to remind myself of this until they have the second event set up. One timers.
This is kind of an accuracy shot. We have nine pucks to shoot from three different spots, passed to us by someone on the sides. The goal is broken up into zones that have tassels hanging down. The top three or four inches is worth four points. Dropping down diagonally toward the bottom of the bars is worth three points. Anywhere in the middle outside of that, is worth two points. Ifthe dividers that separate the sections are hit—one point. Hitting the bumper or missing the goal entirely is zero points. With one minute to take all the shots.
I’m a decent shot, top of the net usually being my preference. Hopefully that works in my favor. There’s a big show of who’s competing in this competition. The first out is Mattias, who scores twenty points. The first person out of the box gets somewhat of a raw deal. He’s the one to beat.
Jirí goes next and earns nineteen points. Then it’s Caulder. I only root for him internally, since I’m competing here too. His first three shots are all fours. Followed by two twos. Four. Then two more twos and a one. He now leads with twenty-three. Fuck yeah, Caulder!
His eyes flicker to mine as he comes back to the bench. I try not to change my expression. Still, Caulder bows his head to break eye contact as he takes a seat.
I’m last. Taking a breath, I decide my strategy is to concentrate on fours while the angle is better. I sink all three. Then move to the center of the circle; three, four, three. Currently tied with Caulder. I’m shit at this next angle though, so there’s a chance that I’ll fail all three. Which I do actually miss two. But I manage a two as well, bringing me to twenty-five. Fuck yeah!
When I turn around, my eyes immediately turn to Caulder’s. It’s magnetic. I can’t stop myself. Our eyes remain locked as I skate toward the bench. He smiles, nods his head. I take that as congratulations.
I get drawn into an interview while the ice is rearranged.
“What was your strategy going into that round?” Avianna asks me, then tilts the mic to me.
“Focusing on the angles I know I can make shots at,” I say, shrugging. “I know my weaknesses and that last angle ismy kryptonite. Knowing your weaknesses is as important as knowing your strengths.”
“Do you feel like this particular skills event was made for you? Your sweet spot is always the top of the net.”
I grin. “Kind of, yeah. When I realized as a teenager that my shots were always swinging high, I decided to concentrate on honing those skills instead of trying to change what I was naturally doing. It’s worked out well for me this far.”
“It certainly has. Congratulations on this round and good luck.”
“Thank you,” I say and turn back to the bench. Once again, my gaze is drawn to Caulder. He’s not looking at me, though. He’s talking to Ethan. That’s fine. I take a seat with Mattias between me and Caulder.
The next challenge is passing, where we’re skating from crease to crease and have forty-five seconds to shoot twelve pucks at a cluster of blocks of different sizes. Each block is worth points, the biggest worth one and the smallest worth three.
This one is more difficult than it appears to be. Mostly because the clock is working against you. Forty-five seconds isn’t long, and you have to get to your target and not only get the shots off quickly, but accurately. I’m happy to be toward the end of the lineup so I can see what strategies others are taking.
I get halfway through and realize I need to pick up the pace getting between pucks. It makes my passes a little sloppy, but I manage to score enough points to put me in second. That is, until Caulder kicks me out of second. And then Link kicks me out of third, so I end up in fourth.
Hardest shot is next. We have two attempts with a puck thirty feet from the goal. There’s a sensor in the puck and other sensors around the goal that read the speed. This is probably one of my favorite events. I love to sling the puck as hard as I can. The power in shooting that puck is a great feeling.
In the end, I’m not fast enough to get beyond the fourth. Which is fine. It’s still good. While the standings aren’t quite telling yet because we’ve all played between two and four skills. It won’t be until the very last one that we truly know who is where.
Up next is stick handling. There are obstacles in the way that you have to go around. Tight together obstacles and wide ones where we skate around them. Bigger blocks that we have to move backwards to get around, and then two bars in an unconnected T and we have to move the puck between the broken part before shooting it into the net and stopping the clock.
I chose to sit this one out. Which means I’m going to take this opportunity to close the distance between me and Caulder until I’m sitting next to him again as those between us get to their feet and take their turns.
The one to watch is Max. The man looks like he’s on rails when he moves around the ice. If there was ever someone who had ice in their blood, it’s Max Latham. He’s ridiculously quick to watch. It’s like the difference between a border collie moving like they’re made of elastic and then the husky who doesn’t give a fuck.
Max is the border collie. He’s just magic to watch fly through the course flawlessly. Effortlessly good. After seeing him in this event, I decide that if he can make it through the obstacle course, he’s going to be the one to beat. His range in skills is intense.
“Damn,” Link says next to me. “Max is a beast.”
I chuckle. “Couldn’t say it better myself.”
