Page 3 of Arctic Titans of Northwood U: Volume 2

As I examined him, knowing where Spencer was headed, my best friend sealed my fate. “Avery Collins.” He nodded to reaffirm his decision. “That’s who you need to take out on a date.”

Fuck. I had no excuses. “He hates my guts,” I said.

“Perfect,” Cole said, clapping his hands together. “When has that ever stopped you?”

“It’ll be more of a challenge,” Spencer said.

And I knew it was the sort of challenge that I craved. I liked winning. Sue me. I liked it more than anything. And if I got his number and scored a date that wasn’t a total flop, then it would be a victory for the ages.

I sighed. “That guy’s a robot. A psycho, probably.” I’d found myself inadvertently in his arms, although not particularly romantically, more than a few times. I knew what sort of roughness I was getting into.

Cole shrugged. “Why does it matter? We’re gonna win anyway. Right, Cap?”

Spencer lifted one knowing finger. “You can’t pull out, Gray. What’s done is done.”

I forced a calm wave to pass through me. It was the same thing I did out on the ice to focus on solutions, rather than get dragged into battles. “I’ve got nothing to worry about.” And I meant it. I was about to take this team to the greatness it hadn’t seen in years.

Spencer disappeared for a minute, then returned with three more beers. “Let’s drink on it.” He raised his cup between the two of us and I mimicked his solemn expression as we sealed the dare by draining our cups. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, laughed at the childishness of the whole thing, and scanned the room again.

Avery Collins.

I ran a mental checklist on him. Of all the whispers I’d picked up through my friends, anything regarding him was the quietest. I knew he had been with a guy last year and I knew he was single. If he was on any dates recently, the word didn’t reach me.

I had no idea what he did this summer or if he was pursuing anyone privately. What I did know was not comforting. Scoring a date with him would be a real challenge. But if I was right, it would never have to come to that.

So why wasn’t I satisfied with that? Why did I feel like winning the next game was going to lose me something I had never had?

The sneakiest idea crossed my mind and I banished it as quickly as it had arrived. It was a ridiculous thought. I would never jeopardize my integrity and the benefit of my team for something as silly as a boyish dare. Not even if it gave me a good reason to walk up to Avery Collins.

Chapter Two

AVERY

The tension was palpable. Every muscle in my body burned. My mouth was dry. I held my breath while the crowd’s cheers and boos increased. As the final minutes counted down, I was ready for a tie.

Heading for me was their captain, Grayson Reed. He sent the puck viciously to the left Breaker and attempted to avoid me. His eyes on the puck betrayed him. He was going to bait and switch, then take the puck. And as he neared me, he lifted his gaze in a surprise move. He looked right into my eyes as our bodies collided and I carried him off toward the boards. I slammed into him, holding him just long enough that he had no chance of retrieving his momentum and his position.

We were locked. “Ah, fuck,” he scoffed as he crashed. “That’s…rough.” But in the next heartbeat, I was turning away from him. I watched Beckett snatch the puck from their left player and Caden blazed after him.

It was possible that every last person who filled this rink, including all the Arctic Titans, Blizzard Breakers, Coach Murray, and Beckett Partridge himself, were shocked at that moment. Even I could hardly believe it. The two played off each other almost like they had been hockey partners for ages.

My heart stopped as we all froze and watched the last seconds tick away. The puck flew between their goalie’s skates.

Since Beckett had taken over the captaincy following Riley’s graduation, we had been on a losing streak. It wasn’t the guy’s fault. He had been overwhelmed with the weight of the responsibility — a thing I never would have wished to have placed on my shoulders. And if that wasn’t enough, one of our finest players had decided to protest Beckett’s captaincy by making himself pretty useless out here.

The team had been forced to make an impromptu intervention for Beckett and Caden a while back. We’d given them an ultimatum. Either they would cooperate, or they would both be off the team. We couldn’t afford a losing streak because of the discord within the team.

And for a change, we finally won. Traditionally, we kicked the Breakers’ butts every season. They were a good team but never great. Last year, they had upped their game but still fell short of taking us down. This season, however, was a whole different story. Their freshly appointed captain, a sophomore student with his eyes on the prize, had shaken things up for the Breakers. Where Beckett Partridge struggled to keep the team together, Grayson Reed seemed to easily weave all his teammates into a single-minded focus on the ice, following their coach’s direction to a dot and winning two friendly matches against us. Not the third, though.

Our luck was turning around. I could feel it.

Madness consumed the rink. Nobody had expected this victory, and even Beckett shouted and cheered from the top of his lungs.

I scanned the ice. Ahead of me, my Titans celebrated. A tickle of joy passed through me. My face was hard as stone, but I knew that my eyes twinkled. The corners of my lips quivered as my friend and our goalie, Sawyer Price, skated over and clasped my shoulder. “Look at you. You’re positively ecstatic.”

“Am I?” My eyebrows rose as I pulled my helmet off.

“No.” Sawyer threw his head back and laughed out loud. I wasn’t sure why. He tended to laugh at most things when talking to me. I had learned quickly that he wasn’t mocking me, just having fun. The truth was, all the guys were quick to laugh, and the jokes seemed to fly over my head — or, more likely, weren’t very funny.