“But what’s the point of me even trying to go to a twenty-one-and-up martini bar? Did you forget I’m only twenty? Only a few more months, but who’s counting?”
Simon’s smile spread across his lips quickly as he stated very matter-of-factly, “Because it’s my party and I rented the place out—my money, my rules, and one of those is that you’re coming. And that’s final! Simon says, after all, dear.” He winked at me before laughing at himself.
I checked out Simon’s amazing job with my polish and smirked. “Well, I guess I have plans Wednesday night then.”
Brayden
I laced up my skates in the vacant locker room, thankful that no one else had shown up so I could have a little bit of private rink time before practice started in an hour. The ice was freshly cleaned and smooth under my blades.
It had been such a hard couple of years and I had no idea what I was doing. Being a player for my dream team was shocking, trying to take care of my sister was trying, dealing with my mother’s death was not happening, and hating my father for being locked up was enraging. Everything rolled up into me loving the moments when someone pissed me off enough in the rink so I could knock the shit out of them and get rid of some of my pent up aggression.
Myla begged me to go talk to someone, which I knew would be for the best, but tough guy hockey players don’t go to shrinks, and they sure as shit don’t let people know they have feelings and emotions—a sign of weakness that would get my ass handed to me by even my own teammates.
I slammed my skates into the ice, marking and cutting it up. The cool air whisked by as the silence sank into my skin. Being alone was all too bittersweet; thoughts and questions boiled up from the darkest pits and I hated every minute of it, but then there were those quick moments of clarity and peace where I finally felt like I was the man my mother would be proud of and the role model my sister deserved.
One of the rink doors banged, pulling me away from my thoughts, and I growled when Gavin skated into my view. His cocky ass leer made me want to deck him, but he hadn’t pushed me far enough to justify kicking his ass—yet.
“Hey, Cox. Trying to get in some extra skating practice so you stop looking like a damn ballerina out here?”
“Shut the hell up, Hayes. Don’t you have another hour of kissing coach’s ass before you start getting annoying?”
“Fuck you. That’s no way to talk to your captain.”
I flipped him off while bowing to him. “As you wish, your captain-ness.”
“Jerk,” he muttered under his breath.
It took everything in my power to not lay him out right there, but I wanted to keep my job and assaulting a teammate was frowned upon to say the least—let alone the captain and the fucking coach’s son.
For the rest of the hour we practiced short stops and skating backward in complete silence. I really couldn’t put my finger on it; I knew I hated Gavin, but I had no idea why. It wasn’t that he was the coach’s son; my father had also been a famous player back in the day. We both deserved to be there—he was one hell of a good player—but there was just something about him.
The hour went by and then it was time to actually practice. The rest of the team joined Gavin and me on the ice and it was business as usual. Even with all the sharp-tongued comments and obvious bad blood between Gavin and me, we were good at being teammates when it was all said and done. One thing I could really give both of us credit for was leaving most of our baggage off the ice.
Myla
“Girls!” I blew my whistle as loud as I could to get the elementary school-aged girls to pay attention to me. “Girls, come on over here. We’re going to practice skating backward today.”
The ten tiny graceless kids shuffled their way over to me. It was adorable watching them waddle and try their best to be elegant. I was lucky; this group of peewees was way better behaved than the group I was in at their age. We used to make our coach’s life a living nightmare, always getting hurt, never listening, trying to do moves that were way over our heads—I couldn’t believe Mrs. Riley didn’t give up on us after one week.
“Ok, Jess, you’re up first.” It was completely wrong, but I totally played favorites when it came to my kids, and Jessica Schwendeman was absolutely stealing my heart.
Her light brown hair was braided into two fish bones that ran all the way down her back, she had the cutest pink glasses, and her sweaters always matched them in some way. She had a drive and determination that was unseen in most adults. I could just tell that this little lady was going to really make something of herself; if it wasn’t on the ice, it would be in the boardroom.
Her little fingers gripped mine. “But, Coach Myla, I’ve never skated backward before.”
I held her hand a little tighter. “That’s why I am going to teach you.”
“Coach?” Jess asked as I started to slowly push her backward.
“Yeah sweetie?” She was being a trooper, but I could see in her eyes how terrified she was.
Her cheeks turned a deeper shade as she bit her bottom lip. “Um, is it true that your brother plays for the Otters?”
She looked down at our skates.
“Yes, my brother is Brayden Cox. He plays right wing.” Her crooked grin grew as crimson took over her entire face, moved down her neck, and even covered her ears. “Do you like hockey?”
She nodded her head feverishly. “I wanted to play hockey, but my mom said I would get hurt so I had to do this instead.”
