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Coach leaned on the desk. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen anger flash in his eyes, but this time I thought I saw hatred too. “Someone has to do their job properly. And it seems to me that Number Eleven might be someone’s teacher’s pet.” He narrowed his eyes at me and his mouth drew to a smirk under his mustache.
I pressed my lips together, to stop myself from firing Coach right there on the spot. He couldn’t know for sure that Gunnar and I had been fooling around, but by his comment, he was definitely suspicious. “If that’s what the owner wants, that’s what we will do.” My hands were balled into fists so tightly that my fingernails left crescent-shaped marks in the palms of my hands. “But don’t you dare go over my head again.”
Coach left without saying anything further. For the first time in my job, I felt inadequate and disrespected. As soon as the door closed behind him, I flicked the lock and slumped to the floor, my head falling to my knees, and let myself sob.
I had everything I’d ever wanted and I’d never been more miserable.
EIGHTEEN
GUNNAR
It wasthe first crisp fall morning and I pulled on a hoodie for my walk to practice. My body was tired and my mind was fuzzy from not sleeping well, but as soon as I stepped on the ice, the fog cleared.
Smitty and Hammer skated lazily around the ice, chatting together, while I took the time to stretch by the boards. By the time Colton stepped onto the ice behind Mike, I had started warming up my slap shot.
“Why couldn’t you have done that last night?” Colton skidded to a stop beside me.
I passed the puck to him. “Why didn’t you?”
He flicked the puck back to me, but I was ready for it, and the crack of my shot echoed through the rink as the puck burst into the back of the net. Colton gave me a playful shove. “Maybe you just need to get mad.” His smile was wry as he skated away and I couldn’t help but smile too. He wasn’t being a dick. He was being a captain.
“Hey, Captain,” I shouted. “Let’s try the play from the video.”
Colton grinned, and his blades ripped through the ice as he skated past me and rounded the net. The timing had to be perfect, but we’d watched the replay so many times and knew exactly how to do it. I backhanded the puck to him as he turned, and with his momentum, he stepped forward at the perfect moment, executing a hard shot and raising the puck slightly, delivering it into the net.
I raised my hands above my head. “On the first try!”
He plucked the puck from the net with the blade of his stick and passed it to me. “Nice timing.”
“Nice shot.” I raised my glove and fist bumped him. “Wanna see if Smitty can do it?”
Colton glanced to the bench where Coach was huddled with his assistant and some of the trainers. “Smitty,” he shouted and waved for him to join us at the blue line.
We were engrossed in perfecting the play, and the whole team had joined in. We’d since expanded the play into an impromptu shinny game. I wasn’t sure why Coach hadn’t started the practice, but I didn’t care. It felt like we were juniors again, messing around and having fun. The guys that had been at Colton’s brunch got the play faster than those who hadn’t studied it, but by the time Coach blew the whistle, we had all nailed it nine times out of ten.
As we approached the bench, Coach started clapping. “Nice work. What are you boys calling that one?”
Colton looked at me and I shrugged.
“The Perfect Play,” Colton shouted.
That’s when I knew that Colton and I were good. He’d named the play after me and my stupid nickname.
“I like it.” Coach gave a rare smile.
Coach had the trainers and assistant coach run drills for the next two hours. By the time he was done, our water bottles were all empty and Hammer had thrown up all over the boards. Colton and I were leaning on the boards, both of us panting like dogs in the heat of summer. Smitty glided beside us. “I think I might die,” he groaned as he rested his hands on his knees in an attempt to catch his breath.
“Now that I have your attention, I want you to know that there have been some changes.”
Smitty looked at me and mouthed, “What the fuck?”
Everleigh had promised that there wouldn’t be any changes until after the first month of games, so I wasn’t too worried.
We all skated in closer to Coach and the training team. “We’ve got a new player coming in. We’re still working out the details so I can’t tell you who it is yet. But he’s going to be a right winger on the first line.”
I tilted my head and wondered if I’d heard right. I was right winger on the first line. Colton glanced at me, then turned his focus back to Coach, who continued shouting out his changes. Once I realized that it was me and Smitty who were on the chopping block, I felt like I was in shock. The stands around me became a blur and I steadied myself by leaning on the boards.
“You alright, Mr. Perfect?” Colton asked.
