“I got it,” Sawyer says from my other side.
“Thank fuck.” I slide back from the puck, gesture for him to go ahead. My body is not made for copious amounts of slap shots.
I’m all about finesse.
Except when it comes to women.
I eject that thought from my brain and focus on the reason I’m here. To practice. To try new things. To feel the cool air on my face and the sting of my stick vibrating against my palms when Aiden passes me a puck and I catch it sharply on the blade.
And all the while Smitty’s voice booms out, demanding more shots, dishing out more shit.
So, I decide to dish some back.
“Yo, Smitty!” I shout.
“Whatcha want, Ricktastic?”
Christ. That’s even worse than Ricky.
I bite back my shudder, call forth the one thing that can shut the big, bearded defenseman up, and shout across the ice, “Hey, Sawyer!”
He pauses mid-shot. “Yeah?”
“Want to know what I heard about wombats the other day?” I yell it to him, but I’m watching Smitty.
And there it is.
Fear creeping into the big man’s face.
“Yeah!” Sawyer shouts back.
“No!” Smitty cries at the same time.
“Definitely yes,” Aiden chimes in as he stickhandles by me.
“No!” Smitty cries again.
“One hundred fucking percent yes.” Ryan grins as he flicks a puck up into the air and catches it.
“Just shoot the puck, assholes!” Smitty shouts.
Gray grins. “You heard him.”
Aiden smirks…then lets the puck fly.
It sails through the air, almost faster than my eye can track…and smacks Smitty right in the ass.
“Ow, fuckers!” he yells, falling to the ice and clutching his ass cheek.
We all bust up laughing and then because we’re the way we are, we don’t let up. We’re not shooting to hurt, but we’re lofting pucks at him, peppering him as he struggles up to his feet.
Then he’s skating toward us, and we split up, rushing away from him, generally acting like a bunch of idiots playing tag.
Not for long, thankfully.
Because then we’re sprawled out on the ice, panting and laughing and talking more shit.
“Come on, dumbasses,” Aiden says, grunting as he pushes to his skates. “Time to get out of here.”
