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However, the rest of the guys did what I expected them to do, they turned it into a competition. They all ditched the sticks, and by the time Romeo pulled out a ring they were going top speed.
The song ended and they came skating up, a little winded, but almost all of them were smiling.
“Grab your sticks, we’re doing it one more time,” I said. I pulled the puck out of my pocket and dropped it on the ice. “This time it’s a passing drill.”
The guys lined up. Dillon took the puck. I gave the signal and Donny hit play again. They looked freaking amazing out on the ice.
I sat back, reveled in my victory and sang along with Taylor.
* * *
Dillon
“Cap, a second?”
Coach was on the edge of the rink, his hands tucked into the pockets of his joggers. Next to him, Gary, our offensive coach, looked like he’d eaten something sour.
Fucking Novek. He must have skated off the ice and gone right to their office like a tattletale.
I skated over. “What’s up?”
Coach nodded with his chin toward the ice. “What do you think of her?”
Now, that was not an easy answer. I had many thoughts about Liv.
In fact, I jerked off in the shower this morning to thoughts of Liv.
That was not something to be shared with the coach.
“I mean, seriously, Taylor Swift dance routines?” Gary said. “Anton didn’t do this shit.”
Anton was a bitter old man who wouldn’t know fun unless it came at the bottom of a bottle of booze.
“It’s unorthodox, but the guys are having fun,” I said, leaning against the boards.
“Not all of them,” Coach said. “Novek is not happy, and I don’t need to tell you that we need Novek to be happy.”
What we needed was for Novek to grow up, but I wasn’t going to say that. Not in front of Gary.
“I told you, you couldn’t bring all that equality bullshit onto an NHL team,” Gary said.
“Equality isn’t bullshit. It’s something to strive for. She’s not asking to make the team, Gary,” I said. “She’s making us better skaters.”
Even I could admit as silly as that routine was, it had been hard. Once she threw the puck on the ice, it was obvious how improved footwork would help.
On the ice, Liv was skating in front of the rookie, facing him as she easily glided backwards on the ice. Doing that thing that figure skaters did, like they could rotate their heads one hundred and eighty degrees to make sure the ice was clear behind them.
He was holding up fingers and she was shaking him off, until finally, she tilted back her head in laughter.
That wasn’t jealousy, making me grind my teeth. No way. Did she have to smile at him like that? Like with her whole mouth?
Together they skated over to me. Liv looked like her gray eyes were lit from the inside.
“We’re going to race,” she said.
“Race?” Gary snorted.
“Yeah, I heard she beat you, Cap,” the rookie said. “So I thought I’d teach her a lesson about respecting her elders.”
