When it’s my shift again, I trade off with Elijah. “Good work, rookie.”
My skates glide across the ice and my concentration is sharp going into the second period.
Before Princeton’s center can react, I win the face-off and avoid their defense by flicking the puck right to Theo.
No lie, I feel so great because I kissed Maya at the house party Saturday night. God, that kiss. It’s a miracle I’m able to split my focus from the memory to play the game.
Every other second, I’m reliving the night in my head from the moment I thought she was about to strip in front of the guys to carrying her over my shoulder to my room.
To watching her take off her brother’s jersey for me.
To seeing her inmyshirt.
To the moment I claimed her mouth in that hot as hell kiss.
My grin is unstoppable. I pick up the pass Theo whips my way, closing in on the net. Keller used to be the only player fast enough to match our star right wing, but I’ve proved since freshman year I’m just as good on the forward line.
The goalie shifts, giving me an opening. He’s expecting me to pass to Madden racing in on my other side. We don’t call him Mad Man Graves for nothing. He’s a skilled winger, yet it’s his wild energy that commands the opposing team’s attention on the ice.
Seizing the opportunity to use Madden as a decoy, I angle as if I’m preparing to pass to him, then flick the puck off with awrist shot. It sails across the ice and skips into the air, passing into the net over the goalie’s stick to light up the lamp.
Score, baby.
I hope a clip of that makes it to social media so Maya can see it since she’s not here. She texted me early this morning when she left for her family’s home in New Hampshire.
“Nice play.” I high five Madden.
His stare remains trained on the net. A muscle in his jaw jumps. I recognize the hungry expression as the burning desire to be the one on the offensive line scoring the goals.
The beauty of hockey is that it’s not like most other team sports. Everyone on the team has a job, but any of us can take over the tasks of all the positions to support each other for every play. Whatever it takes to get the puck to our teammates and into the other team’s net. Madden’s still learning that.
“Don’t worry, man. Coach sees how hard you’re working. He’ll keep shifting you around the lines to find the sweet spot. This isn’t your only shot.”
Theo skates up on Madden’s other side, clapping him on the back. “Good hustle, Graves.” He snorts. “I think you scared the piss out of their goalie.”
The comment gets a satisfied smirk from Madden as we return to the red line.
Princeton’s forward wins the face-off, shouldering past me hard enough to make me struggle to keep my balance. I take off after the guy while he looks for his teammates. Noah checks one of their wingers against the boards once he has the puck and Brody moves in when the Princeton player tries to throw a punch that Noah dodges.
The refs miss it.
I clench my jaw and come at their center to steal possession back when he reaches the loose puck first. He’s just out of my range when he takes a shot on the net, cursing when he misses.
Reeves edges out of the crease to get the puck and two of Princeton’s guys go for him while he’s not looking. One barrels into him from behind with a sloppy check and trips, taking Cam down to the ice with him.
Oh, fuck no.
There are plenty of unspoken rules in hockey. The most important of all is simple:nevertouch the goalie.
Even with all the padding he wears, the landing is awkward. He doesn’t move for a beat, but it’s a split second too long in my book.
All of us react in a flash, gloves flying off and fists grabbing jerseys to yank the Princeton player away from Cameron while our teammates yell from the bench. The center slams into my side, struggling with me.
Adrenaline pumps through my veins as we all scuffle, elbows getting in cheap shots on both sides. It takes everything in me not to smash my fist into the forward’s face.
The refs blow whistles and work to break it up, one wrestling me away from Princeton’s center with the beady eyes.
“It was a clean hit!” Beady Eyes keeps shouting.
