Blood soaked the front of his jersey, and someone from medical was holding a towel to his face, but Cote kept shoving the guy away. He walked through the gate, throwing his helmet at the wall as he stomped to the locker room to get checked out.
Whistles were blowing, and punches were still being thrown. Seeing mild-mannered Cote losing his cool had sparked something in the Sunburst team, and now others were jumping the boards to tackle Barracuda players, who were pinning Wolf and Hayes to the ice.
It was an absolute brawl. Jett knew he should be out there, but they neededsomeoneto play the damn game after the dust settled. Powerslooked to the bench, and Bracken shook his head, stopping him from getting in on the action for a second time.
Players were slowly being separated, collected and herded to the box. Fans were cheering the spectacle so loudly that Jett put his helmet back on just to have an excuse to cover his ears.
Wolf was fighting the refs as they pushed him to the gate, andstillchirping at Campanelli, who was dripping blood all over himself.
“He should have kept his fucking head up!” Wolf hollered, charging through the staff to get to the locker room.
Everyone who had been fighting was sent to the bin, which looked ridiculous as more guys were piled inside. The announcer was having a field day as he watched the chaos unfold, and by the time everything was sorted, Campanelli was being shoved in too, with a towel stuck to his face.
The penalties were called, and Toronto ended up on the power play. Jett looked to Adams to see how the lines would get moved around with half their team in the bin, but then Cote strode past the bench, shoving his new helmet on as he hit the ice.
He turned to look at Jett and Bracken, the stitches sticking out on his dark skin like a beacon. Campanelli’s stick had hit him on the left side of his mouth, cutting through his top and bottom lip in a jagged line.
“Let’s fucking go,” Cote snapped at them, and they scrambled after their feisty rookie.
Jett had spotted what tooth was half-missing—the one between the incisor and canine. He had to be in an incredible amount of pain.
“Isn’t your face numb?” Bracken asked as they met Porter and Ross on the ice for the power play.
Cote scoffed. “Fuck that. I got stitched up without it, so I could come back out.”
Bracken’s eyebrow shot up, and he looked to Jett for help, like he would be able to understand their rookie more easily because they were close to the same age.
Jett shook his head and they got into position, but he didn’t miss Cote’s cringe when he had to force his mouthguard past his injured lips and over his tooth.
They weren’t able to do dick-all on the power play. Cote was playing injured, and the Barracudas were too fired up after their captain got thecrap beaten out of him. Beauregarde was back to tailing him, and although Jett hadn’t given up, he had a feeling this game wasn’t going to end with a win.
Wolf had been ejected from the game, and they were only twelve minutes into the opening period. That was a long time to go without their best defenceman against a team like Florida.
When the period ended with Toronto having the only point, Jett wasn’t surprised. A lot of energy had been wasted on fights, and every guy on and off the ice was tired. The fifteen-minute intermission was going to feel like a seven-day vacation.
Jett headed for the locker room, taking his helmet off to shake out his hair as he hit the entrance of the tunnel.
“Jett Fraser, how are you feeling after your long absence from the game?”
Oh,fuckthis.
No one had a chance to grab him before he went to the screen, where a social media girl, Stephanie Berry, stood holding a mic out for him. He put on his most flattering mask and leaned in to speak.
“I’m feeling great. The fights were awesome, and the fans here are electric. I know they don’t like seeing us score, but I love how passionate they are.”
Stephanie smiled, and he knew she was about to go in for the kill.
“You had to be shocked after what happened last time you played. You certainly looked like it on the camera.”
Jett could hear Harrison and Coach objecting to the interview, but Jett had this. He shifted his expression to one of innocent confusion, blinking rapidly in surprise. “Shocked about the fights?” He put every ounce of charm he had inside his words. “I don’t think it counts as a good game unless Wolfy spends half his ice time in the bin. Fights are why people love hockey.”
He was being streamed live to the Jumbotron, and he could hear people cheering in agreement with his words.
“I was referring to your last interview when you were asked about your brother.”
More confused blinking. More awkward smiles.
“Oh, you guys are still talking about that?” Jett laughed, and he could see Stephanie’s expression pinch with frustration. “Sure, it surprised me, but that was two weeks ago. And here I was excited because I thought we were going to talk about the fights and setting the tone here in your beautiful, sunny city.”
