Page 383 of Power Play

Charm knew.

I pressed my glove against my chest until the ache became part of the adrenaline, then turned away from the empty place I kept trying to find her and let my team drag me toward the bench.

She wasn’t there, and I was still having the best game of my life. Both truths would have to survive each other.

By the time I sat on the locker-room bench with a towel around my waist, the final horn had been over for twenty-three minutes, but I could still hear it inside my skull. Music shook the walls while beer sprayed across the room despite Waters threatening murder if alcohol got near the equipment.

Gray stood on the center bench wearing compression shorts and one skate, conducting the room with a broken stick.

“Four to fucking three!” he shouted. “Minnesota came into our house, sat at our table, breathed our air, and left with one big fucking L.”

“They didn’t stand a chance,” Hollis said while buttoning his shirt.

“They received a step-by-step guide on how to play hockey correctly.”

Keller threw a roll of tape at Gray’s head. “Put pants on.”

“My body is part of the celebration.”

“Your body is a disciplinary hearing.”

I pulled my dress shirt over my shoulders and began buttoning it. My suit hung inside my stall, protected from whatever bullshit was happening behind me.

Hollis dropped onto the bench beside mine and nudged my knee with his. “Hell of a game.”

“You handed me the first one.”

“I expect financial compensation when you’re rich.”

“You’ll get a gift card.”

“To where?”

“Somewhere disappointing.”

He grinned. A bruise darkened his jaw from a hit in the second period, and one knuckle had split open despite his insistence that he hadn’t thrown a punch.

“You played out of your fucking mind tonight.”

“I played hockey.”

“No, you were different.”

I reached for my tie. “You becoming philosophical?”

“Only when somebody else might buy the drinks.”

“What was different?”

Hollis stretched his legs in front of him. “During the first period, you played angry. In the second, you played mean. By the third, you looked like somebody removed the part of your brain responsible for self-preservation.”

“Sounds efficient.”

“It was terrifying.”

“That’s why they call me the Knife.”

He studied my face. “Whatever happened to it worked.”