Page 50 of Never Bet Against A Hockey Player

Fourteen

Lachlan

Irode the high of my date with Dhara all the way to our away game.

Both Gavin and Dhara had lit up at that arcade. Their smiles and laughter had come so easily, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

We were playing against the Arctic Wolves tonight, a pretty solid team in the league. It would be a close game but those were the best. The kind that pushed us the hardest.

The cold air felt good against my skin as I skated down the ice. The right winger flung me the puck, and I guided it with my stick just as one of their forwards came at me. At the last moment, I fired a pass to the right wing, smirking at the forward’s string of curses. August caught it easily before snapping it past their goalie, sailing it right into the back of the net.

The buzzer sounded, music blaring overhead as that old euphoria washed over me.

It was a feeling I’d missed after switching teams. Here, there weren’t the same expectations. The Narwhals had too much history, and I was right to choose to walk away when I did.

“You’re still the same fuck up with a new team, Evans?” I didn’t even know the alpha’s name other than he was a dick. I ignored him. Apparently, that was enough to put a target on my back.

The next time I was carrying the puck, somebody slammed into my side and sent me flying into the glass. The crowd audibly gasped before the refs were even involved.

By then, my team was ready. Gloves were coming off, and fists were flying.

It was moments like this that did more for team building than Coach could ever recreate. I was officially part of the Renegades. They didn’t take the opposing team’s bullshit lightly and were ready to defend me without hesitation.

That was true sportsmanship.

Somehow, we got through the rest of the period without any more penalties on our side. The Arctic Wolves were out for blood, pulling out all the stops to make sure they won.

With the number of penalties they had, you could hear their coach raging from across the rink.

After the second intermission, Coach leaned in, "They've got penalty minutes stacked against them. We’re up on the scoreboard, so stay disciplined. The juniors are watching tonight, and we’re going to show them exactly what this team is made of and what they have to look forward to. Show them that men like Evans don’t rise to the challenge.”

“Yeah, Evans. Way to keep a cool head out there,” Fairgrave said.

I almost felt guilty for not saying anything. It wasn’t about me keeping control. It was the fact that I was still riding the high of bringing my omega and her brother out of their shells that I couldn’t be bothered by the trash talk and egos out there.

Conrad and August looked at me, both barely containing their laughter. They knew exactly what had me in such a good mood.

The Arctic Wolves coach must have ripped them a new one to get them back in line because the third period was downright civil.

The jabs still came, of course. Anytime the asshole thought my team was far enough away not to hear. He seemed to hate that I didn’t react.

All deltas were volatile, right? Stupid bullshit stereotypes.

It wasn’t just him joining in now. His teammates shouted curses about “Narwhal trash” toward me and especially toward Conrad. We were the easiest targets.

With a few blocked hits they wanted someone to blame. That or they wanted to paint us as the problem and not our team.

Never mind that the assholes that ruined the Narwhals reputation had been taken care of and banned from the entire AHA league.

We kept it together the rest of the game, proving with our skills that we were the better team instead of having to prove it with our fists.

It was much more satisfying anyway.

Coach sent the first line back out near the end of the game. It was our time to shine and win this for our team.

Within seconds I stole the puck from the exact asshole who’d been taunting me earlier.

“What the fuck, Evans?” he screamed before racing after me down the ice. I could hear the scrape of his blades behind me, but we were too far ahead at that point.