“You guys don’t get to decide that.” Coach’s voice is sharp. Angry.
“But we just did,” Nolan says.
Coach glares at all of us. “It doesn’t work like that.” Then he storms out. He slams the door behind him.
The room is silent for a moment.
Then Rowan walks to his locker and starts getting dressed anyway.
“You’re really doing this?” I ask.
“Yeah. I am. If Coach benches me again, at least I tried.”
We all suit up and head out to the ice.
Coach is waiting with his arms crossed and face red.
“Melrose. Off my ice.”
“No,” Rowan says calmly.
“Excuse me?”
“I said no, Coach. The team voted me back. I’m playing.”
“This is my team. I make the decisions.”
“Then make the right one,” Callum says.
Coach looks at all of us. There’s an echo of agreement through all of us.
He shakes his head. “Fine. But you’re on probation. One mistake and you’re done. Understood?”
“Yes, Coach.”
“And Brixton?”
Callum looks up. “Yeah?”
“You’re captain now. Congratulations. Don’t screw it up.”
Callum grins, looking over at me and Jax. Then he winks at Rowan. “Wouldn’t dream of it, Coach.”
Practice is brutal. Coach rides us hard. He makes us run drills until we’re gasping.
But it works. The flow is better. Rowan at center makes everything click. Passes connect. Plays work. We actually look like a team again.
By the end of practice, I’m exhausted but satisfied.
Jax leaves early. He doesn’t say goodbye. He just grabs his bag and walks out.
Callum and I exchange looks in the locker room when he’s gone.
“Does Tiger sleep in your bed?” Callum asks quietly.
I shake my head. “Not once.”
He looks at me. Thinking. Processing.
