“Shit, I should have stayed in Germany,” Carlsson snaps.
“Dana, everyone here worked so hard.” Ellie clutches her arms around herself. “I can’t believe you’d do this to all the players, the fans. That’s not what hockey is about.”
“Oh, fuck off, Ellie,” Dana sneers. “Considering you’re fucking one of my players, you don’t get to have the moral high ground.”
The room explodes.
“I fucking knew it!” Eddie snarls. “That’s how you got the A, Sullivan! You’re her little fucktoy. Or is she your little puck slut?”
My fist hits his nose with a crunch. Blood spurts. He goes down hard.
Bramms moves, but I growl—and he freezes.
The Finn gives me a look I can’t read.
“So she gets to play house with some fake-ass player and then peace out? Nah.” Eddie coughs blood. “No thanks.”
I knee him in the jaw. “Fucker.”
“I’m…” Ellie is teary. “I’m really sorry. I’m so sorry. And I didn’t have any intention of quitting. The NHL just thought that you all deserve a real coach, especially since you all started winning games.”
Dana has a sour look on her face.
“We wanted you,” Cookie says in a small voice.
“I didn’t,” Eddie mutters.
I kick him.
“Stop hurting my player,” Ellie snaps. Eyes flashing, she turns on me. “Fuck you, Fletcher. You’re a liar. You took a spot from someone more deserving. There are people who work their entire lives to make it to the NHL.”
“I could say the same thing about you,” I roar at her. “You’re not a real coach—you’re a preschool teacher playing grown-up.”
“I never lied about my qualifications,” she screams at me.
“No, but you made us all believe in you. If you’re not going to fight for your job, then why should anyone believe you’re going to fight for us?”
“Stop making this about me,” Ellie screeches. “You snuck in here and pretended to be part of this team, pretended to care.”
“I do care.”
“Liar. You’re just here to steal from Dana and get your dick wet. You were planning on leaving after this game, weren’t you?”
The room stills.
“Weren’t you?” Her eyes flash. “You were going to leave us all high and dry.”
“What does it matter?” I’m up in her face. “You just said I didn’t deserve to be here, that I was stealing someone’s spot, so what does it matter if now I’m about to leave? You just said I wasn’t important to the team. Or…” I circle her. “Are you mad I fucked you and lied about it?”
“I don’t need whatever the fuck is happening here,” Dana cuts in. “You can have your little girlfriend-boyfriend spat—not on my property. And the NHL doesn’t get to tell me what I do with my team, Ellie. I don’t care what your father thinks,” she sneers then turns to sweep her gaze over the team. “Ellie will be at practice, and so will all of you, if you want to get paid,” Dana warns.
“But you.” She points at me. “You need to clean out your locker. You’re done.”
31
ELLIE
“Inever should have taken that coaching job,” I sob to Harlowe. “My dad was right—I’m not an NHL coach.”
