Page 6 of Offside Angle

She waits until most of us are half-dressed before she speaks, her voice calm and clear enough to cut through the chatter.

“Quick announcement,” she says, tablet in hand. “I’ve hired a photographer and videographer to help cover the playoff run. Behind-the-scenes content, player profiles, social media packages — the works. He’ll be starting with us the day before playoffs begin. You’ll meet him then.”

Most of the room reacts with varying degrees of interest. Cole immediately perks up, already probably planning content. Jace looks nervous. Nico mutters something about not wanting to look stupid on camera.

I mostly tune it out.

We already have Cole posting TikToks every other day like it’s his full-time job. Between his chaos and the media stuff we deal with, one more person with a camera doesn’t feel like a big deal. I pull my practice jersey over my head, already thinking about how I’m going to survive today’s skate.

Zara finishes her announcement and heads out, leaving the room to dissolve back into its loud, messy energy.

I sit down on the bench to lace up my skates, rubbing a hand over my face.

The door to the locker room slams open so hard it bounces off the wall.

Elias barrels into the room at full hurricane force, curls wild under his helmet, eyes bright and far too awake for this early in the morning. He’s already dressed and ready to go, radiating that feral, high-octane energy he gets when he’s locked in on something. The rest of us are still half-dressed and dragging ourselves around in various stages of death, while Elias appears to be running on espresso and victory.

“I figured it out!” he announces loudly, voice carrying over the entire room.

Everyone stops what they’re doing and stares at him.

Cole raises an eyebrow from where he’s taping his stick. “Figured what out, curls?”

Elias stops in the middle of the room, wearing the triumphant grin of a man who just solved world hunger. “My best man speech.”

Cole snorts so hard he almost drops his tape. “You’ve been working on that for weeks and you’re just now figuring it out?”

“Had a breakthrough this morning,” Elias says. He looks far too pleased with himself.

Cole leans back against his stall, arms crossed, clearly entertained. “So let’s hear it then.”

Elias’s grin turns wicked. “Nope.”

The room collectively groans. I shake my head, fighting the fog in my brain, and mutter loud enough for everyone to hear, “Tease.”

Elias points at me like I’ve just given him the best compliment of his life, then skates off toward the tunnel without another word, laughing under his breath.

Cole watches him go. “He’s way too happy for someone who just refused to share his speech. I’m gonna have to beat it out of him later.”

I chuckle despite how tired I am and finish lacing up my skates. The locker room slowly settles back into its usual pre-practice rhythm, but the energy has shifted lighter. Elias has a way of dragging everyone along whether they want to or not.

I push myself to my feet, already dreading how heavy my legs feel, and follow the rest of them out toward the ice.

The second my skates hit the ice, something in me finally wakes up.

The cold air cuts through the fog in my head. My legs remember what they’re supposed to do. The exhaustion doesn’t disappear, but it gets pushed back under the familiar rhythm of blades on ice and sticks clashing. By the third lap of warm-ups I’m moving like myself again — sharp, quick, reading the play before it fully develops.

Damian stands behind the bench, arms crossed, watching everything with that sharp, assessing stare. When I blow past Cole on a defensive rep and cleanly strip the puck, he gives me one short nod. It’s small. Almost nothing.

But I catch it.

Good.

Like I passed some invisible test.

I almost roll my eyes. This is my fourth season with the Reapers. Damian knows damn well that being tired has never stopped me before. I’ve played through worse. The nod is more about him making sure I’m locked in than anything else.

On the other side of the ice, Elias and Cole are in full chaos mode.