“And you’ve always lost.”
I mutter a curse.
Ellie drops the puck, and I fight Carlsson for it. “No!” Ellie blows her whistle again, right in my ear. “I don’t need you to do it perfectly, but I do need you to try. Be the butterfly.” She holds out her hand. “Give me the puck. Again.”
I don’t hand it to her. Instead, hauling back my stick, I slam it to the glass. It cracks in a spiderweb.
“Go get the puck.” Ellie sets her jaw.
“Get it yourself.”
“Fletcher, I’m going to count to three. One, two… three…”
I don’t move.
“That’s it. Go sit in time-out.”
“Time-out? We have a game. I have to practice,” I scoff.
“Fifteen-minute time-out. You’re having big feelings, and you need to do some deep breathing.”
“I don’t have to. I’m not a child,” I snarl at her.
“Cookie, come play center for this drill.”
I’m furious. “I played forty-seven minutes last game. Cookie didn’t play shit. He can’t have my spot.”
“I told you to go to time-out. Can you do it yourself, or do I need to help you?” Ellie says simply.
I stare down at her, throw my stick on the ground, and cross my arms. “Go on, make me.”
My teammates watch us.
The Finn looks disgusted. Fuck him—he eats rotten fish he digs up on a beach.
I hear Ren in his heavy goalie gear leave the net. “Yankee,” he warns.
I sit down on the ice.
“You can take yourself off the ice, or I’m going to pick you up.” Ellie hands Bramms her gloves and stick.
I smirk up at her. “More of your preschool shit?”
She rolls up her sleeves. She’s going to try to push me. I dig my skate into the ice as she grabs my shoulders.
But instead of pushing or pulling, she crouches down and hooks her elbows under my arms.
She’s not—there’s no way. I have a foot and a hundred pounds on her. There’s no fucking—
She tips me over and picks me up. My helmet pops off my head, clatters to the ice as she deadlifts me over her shoulder.
“What the fuck!” I curse.
Ren is howling with laughter like a bobcat, slapping his leg. Even Zayne snickers as Ellie slowly skates toward the door to the penalty box.
I could struggle and fight her and topple us both on the ice, but she’s not wearing a helmet or padding like I am, and I don’t want to hurt her. Mainly because Ren might hurt me, not because I care about Ellie.
So I freeze as she mortifyingly slowly skates across the ice, carrying me.
