Page 179 of Monstrous Serpent

“Fuck yeah, we do.”

We head back to the bench, but Coach Nieminen waves off the change. Guess he’s keeping us out to finish this.

Western Michigan wins the face-off this time, and their center immediately dumps the puck into our zone. Their left winger chases it down behind the net, Doyle one step behind. Neither of them gets it in time, and it wraps around to my side.

Twenty-eight shoves me and reaches for the puck.

I pin him on the boards, but he manages to poke the puck out, and their defenseman gets it.

Fuck.

He takes a shot. I glide into the shooting lane, using my body to try to block it, but it gets through, just under my knee.

Novotny gets his stick on it.

Of course, twenty-eight gets the rebound, and I want to wipe that goddamn grin off his face. Luckily, I don’t have to because when the motherfucker passes, Ryan intercepts.

“Aw, that sucks.”

He growls and takes off, chasing down our defenseman. But I stay on him, pushing him wide.

And holy shit, Ryan’s on a breakaway.

“Go!”

Ryan shifts his weight to the glove side, and their goalie drops into a butterfly. But then my teammate pulls the puck to his backhand and roofs it.

“Holy fucking shit!” My smile is so big my cheeks hurt. “Goal!”

I skate over to my teammate, who’s now got an arm wrapped around his husband. Too bad. I crash into them from behind. “Save the foreplay for later, assholes!”

Connor glares, his upper lip twitching.

“Move your goddamn asses! You didn’t win shit yet!” Nieminen barks from the bench.

I pat both of their helmets, then skate away, jumping off the ice to head to the locker room before overtime. I drop down next to Doyle and pull my helmet off. “I need a nap.”

He rests his head back, closing his eyes. “You and me both. How’s the back holding up?”

“Stiff, but okay.”

I take off my gloves and put them on the bench next to me, then catch the goddamn tattoo on my wrist.

Doyle snorts. “Still can’t believe you got that.”

“Ugh, how many times do I have to tell you it wasn't my choice.”

Atlas and Hunter took me to get my first tattoo for Valentine’s Day. Something to match theirs. I spent the whole ride thinking about which character I wanted and settled on Sandy Cheeks. She’s tough, capable, and doesn't take shit from anyone.

But nooo.

Those two assholes blindfolded me. Told me they were picking.

Which is how I fucking ended up with Squidward.

And not one where he is smiling.

Nope.