When I don’t respond, Chris nudges me in the side. It’s very unusual for a coach to come out to watch someone into person without knowing if it’s worth their time or not. I guess I just kind of expected him to do some digging rather than just take me at my word, whether he loves me or not doesn’t matter. This ishisteam, he shouldn’t be blindly trusting me on this. Even though we both know I’m the furthest thing from clueless when it comes to hockey.
“August Write, Lucas St. James, Joshua Miller, Nicholas Blair, and Johnny Davis. The boys usually play on one line together but Tony will switch things up if the other team gets too used to how they play” I explain. “I’ve worked with them for a couple months now, but they still have some work to do. They’re stuck in their ways, like to revert to the same couple moves when under pressure, but I’m slowly breaking that nasty nasty habit of theirs.” I never take my eyes off the game, trying my hardest to make notes for our next practice.
I’ve missed so much already, I need to catch up to keep these boys on top of their game.
“She’s definitely related to you” I hear Leo say to Chris, “you both like breaking people.”
“Difference is she does it for their benefit, I do it cause the guys on the team are asshole” Chris grumbles.
I snort, I’m not used to hearing about the dictator version of my brother. I’m so used to him being soft and kind with me that I can’t imagine him any other way.
Everyones attention gets brought to the ice when Blair makes a break for the other teams net, he swerves between their players, just like I taught him.
Leo leans over his knees, trying to get a better look at Blair as he absolutely obliterates the other team. “You trained him well, kid.”
Blair takes a shot, and it slides right between the goalies legs. The crowd goes fucking crazy, cheering him on as he joins the team in celebration. Everyone pats him on the helmet and they begin to skate back to centre ice for the face off.
Blair points up at the stands to me, nodding his head once before taking his position and fighting for the puck again.
My heart warms, even when I’m not on the bench with them, they still include me. This team may be a bunch of idiots, but they’remyidiots.
The game continues, each team fighting back and forth for power, one goal after another. Everyone is on the edge of their seats, waiting to see how the game will end.
The other team is aggressive, doling out nasty hits and trying to sneak illegal moves when the refs aren’t looking. We’re struggling to stay on our feet, but we’re keeping up the best we can.
The boys are holding their own.
Miller get’s hit from behind, going down for a moment before he pops back up and skates towards the guy that hit him. They exchange a few words before Miller takes a swing at him.
My hands fly up to my face and a gasp escapes me. Miller is not one to get violent, let alone throw the first punch, so when the ref throws him in the penalty box I can’t help but jump out of my seat and run down to the bench.
Security doesn’t even try to stop me, they know who I am and wouldn’t dare risk pissing Tony off. I breeze by the away team bench and stop right behind where Miller is sitting in time-out. When I knock on the glass, his head whips around and he faces me, “what the hell happened?” I question.
“Said some nasty shit” he says through the glass between us.
“Keep your head straight, they’re going to say shit to get you riled up. They’re only goal is to get you guys in shit so they can get one over on us. You’re better than that Miller, c’mon.”
His eyes drift to the floor, “they said something about you.”
My stomach drops, “what the fuck did they say?” Miller refuses to look at me, he stays silent. I bang on the glass to get his attention, “speak.”
“He said that you’re just part of the team cause you have tits and an ass, that you’re nothing more than something pretty for us to look at.”
Heat and anger fill my stomach, that stupid piece of shit. “How did he even know who to talk about?” I demand.
“He recognized you in the stands when Blair pointed to you. I just couldn’t sit back and let that happen, I’m sorry.” Millers stupid, big puppy dog eyes are killing me.
“It’s okay, just try to keep it together.”
* * *
We won. The other team tried their fucking best but even after all the stupid shit they pulled, the boys managed to get it together and make me proud.
I stayed long after everyone else to hammer out some of the details about being the owner of the Livler arena now. It’s fucking crazy to me that I have full ownership.
I walk into the change room that’s attached to Tony’s office, I left my stuff in there before the game and I want to grab it before I head home to celebrate with the guys.
Lucas is waiting for me though.
