Five goals was… insane.
It was great for all St. Trewery fans, yet I couldn’t help but wonder if they’d still be so happy about Reece’s performance if they knewwhyhe was able to do all this. Alright, they probably didn’t give any fucks because all that mattered was the team’s win.
“Since when do you care about Ming?” I asked, hoping it was going to prevent me from having to talk about Reece and his behavior.
“I don’t,” she replied, sounding a bit panicky. “We’re friends, is all. I don’t want myfriendto get hurt.”
I laughed. “He plays ice hockey, my love. He’s going to get hurt.”
Her head snapped over to me. “Really?”
Rina wassonot an ice hockey person, it was obvious. But it was just about time that I finally had someone to watch my fiancé’s games with… other than my family, of course. She’d have to learn the rules of the game, but I could teach her.
Just not today.
“Rina, this isn’t your first game. You’ve seen how violent it can get out there,” I said, tapping my fingers on my thighs.
“Yes, but I thought that was just a one-time thing,” sheadmitted, to which I instantly tilted my head at her. “I mean, seriously, Brooke… If it was reallythatviolent and dangerous, surely you wouldn’t want your boyfriend to be a hockey player, right? That’d be stupid. What if he gets seriously injured or evendieson the ice?”
I shrugged. “Serious injuries happen all the time, death not so much. Besides, who am I to tell myfiancéwhat he can and cannot do? It’s his passion.”
“You think differently because you grew up with hockey players all around you.” She looked back toward the ice, and if I had to guess, her eyes were glued on Ming, not the puck. “You’re used to the violence.”
“It’s really not that bad,” I told her, resting my head on her shoulder. “Reece’s brother once broke his arm during a game. It healed. Getting that injury looked worse than it actually was. You’ll get used to it.”
“Mhm…”
A smirk pulled on the corner of my lips. “But it’s not like it should matter to you, right? Ming isjustafriend.”
Rina shot up from her seat and made her way back to the boards to get away from me. “What? Yes. You’re right. Just a friend.” She pointed toward Ming who was currently getting pushed against the boards while Crews, one of the opponents, was continuously beating the poor guy. The refs tried to pull Crews away and de-escalate the situation, but it took them a hot second. “What did the guy do that for?! Ming didn’t do shit!”
“It’s just how it is.”
“But that’s not fair! Crews should get fired or… or blocked for the game. Whatever it’s called.”
My lips pressed into a thin line as I tried not to laugh. “He’s getting a penalty, and our team’s going into Power Play for the time being.”
“What’s a penalty? And what’s a Power Play?”
Oh, Jesus… This was going to be one long game.
They won. Of course they won today.
Reece could barely find the strength to be happy about placing first earlier, which I assumed was a mixture of being devastated about his father dying and because he just didn’t care about figure skating as much as I had. I thought he was going to be at least a little excited about winning his game and scoring the most goalseverin a single game… but his face was blank the entire time.
Reece was off the ice almost the second the timer ran out, he didn’t celebrate with his team, didn’t wait for anyone—not even Ming. I wasn’t sure if he’d show up for any interviews, but if I had to guess, he wasn’t going to talk toanyonetonight.
“I’ll go find Reece, okay? I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said as I hugged my best friend goodbye before rushing toward the locker room. Was I supposed to be inside the locker room? No, but that never stopped me before.
As I stood in front of the locker room door, I looked around myself to make sure that nobody could see me before I snuck right into the room. The team was still on the ice anyway, so I knew it was just Reece in there which meant knocking wasn’t necessary.
Reece wasn’t by his cubby, but I could hear the water running, so on my way to the shower room, I went.
“Reece?” I called as I rounded the corner to the showers. “Please tell me you’re alone in there.” In theory, I knew he was alone, seeing as everyone else was still celebrating on the ice, but I preferred to receive a definite answer.
“I am,” he answered, and I could swear there was a hint of amusement in his voice.
With his confirmation, I walked into the shower room and looked around to locate my fiancé. He was tall enough to look over the shower stalls, which was quite fortunate for me right now.
