“I want Niko ready to scoop the puck, but I’m aiming for you,” Callahan said, locking eyes with August. “Once I win the draw, Neeks will crash the net—they’ll be watching for Gusty to apply pressure, so we’ll catch them off guard. Be ready for the pass and bury the puck.”
Before the game, a reporter had asked Callahan if moving August to forward was just a way to make room on the ice for the faster, lighter Niko, but it wasn’t, and Coach knew what he was doing. August might’ve been one of the bigger guys on the roster, but he could move when he needed to, and he’d spent countless hours honing a shot that could rocket past a goalie before they registered the release.
The whistle blew, and both teams closed in for the face-off. Just like they’d predicted, the Barbarians stacked their defence around Niko to cut off his movement, but August got Barzetti lined up beside him, and damn, the guy was a brick wall on skates.
The puck dropped, and in an instant, August exploded backward into his sweet spot, quicker than Barzetti could react. Callahan won the draw and sent the puck right where he wanted it—to August. Before the Barbarians could regroup, August already had it on his stick in one smooth catch, and then used the release that his team had been banking on.
The puck sliced through the air and snapped into the top corner over the goalie’s left shoulder, and the red light flared.
There was no goal horn for them on enemy ice, but it didn’t matter. August’s teammates crashed into him, shouting, laughing, and pounding him on the back as sticks rattled against the boards. Even over the boos and groans of the home crowd, the sound of victory was loud.
August left the pile of sweaty teammates to bump fists with the guys on the bench, who were looking at him…differently. And it wasn’t until August was sitting and wiping his visor off that he realized the headache that had been torturing him for weeks had settled into a pain he could barely register.
Thank fuck.
“You’re on afucking heater, Snow.”
“Good job, Gusty.”
“That was a sick shot, man.”
Everyone seemed excited, but they still had two more periods to get through, and they only had a one-point lead. August wasn’t going to jinx himself by thinking they had the game in the bag until they made it to the last thirty seconds with no chance of a Barbarian comeback.
Niko walked through the gate and shut it roughly. He had been playing with an attitude all night, and August was getting tired of dealing with his temper tantrums.
“I said I was sorry about leaving the hotel room without telling you,” he shouted over the music. “You don’t have to be scared every time I disappear, Neeks.”
Granted, August had scaredhimselfwhen he came to his senses in Quinn’s room with no recollection of how he got there, but he was working on it.
“I need to talk to you about something after the game,” August added, tentatively extending the olive branch. “Please, stop being mad at me? We’re kicking ass here, so let’s turn the frown upside down.”
Niko’s nose crinkled, and although his eyes didn’t leave the ice while he watched the next face-off, his voice was lacking the biting tone he’d been using all night. “You’re so goddamn old.Turn the frown upside down?What are you, an elementary school teacher?”
Niko was spicy tonight, and August was starting to think that he wasn’t the only one who needed to make a sex pact with someone.
He swung his arm over Niko’s shoulders and shook him. “Trust me, you’ll like hearing about my woes this time. I’m pretty sure I’ve lost my mind.”
That earned him his friend’s full attention, but it was time for them to go back out, so August knocked Niko’s helmet around and jumped the wall before there was retaliation.
Bradshaw slid him the puck on his way to the bench, and August snatched it in mid-stride, breaking into the Barbarians’ zone with both speed and intimidation, careful not to get called for being offside.
The defence closed in fast with two big bodies ready to pin him, but August flicked the puck backward without looking, trusting his instincts and the sound of Niko’s skates cutting the ice behind him.
“Fuck!”
The frustratedbark from the Barbarian defenceman made August grin. They both knew what that pass meant. It meant Niko already had the puck and was flying down the sheet with the kind of speed that could rival Jett Fraser on a good night.
The Barbarians scrambled to recover, their formation unravelling as desperation took over. Their sticks clashed, and skates carved deep lines in the ice in a last-ditch effort to stop what everyone in the arena could see coming, but August and Callahan used their bulk to keep them back, clearing the way.
The goalie dropped low, trying to read Niko’s angle, but he feinted left and snapped the shot high, catching the top corner before anyone could blink.
The red light flared again.
August was burning with adrenaline as he slowed to a stop, watching Niko punch the air in triumph. The sound in the arena fractured between cheers and boos while August joined their third celebration of the night, bumping gloves with Niko.
“Nice pass,” Niko panted, grinning as sweat dripped from his hairline.
August smirked. “Nice finish.”
