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And not enough.
She had two more weeks on her contract.
I needed her here.
But I needed her gone more.
McKay blew the whistle, signaling my shift change. I skated over to the bench and watched the next line take the ice.
“You’re skating like shit, Captain.”
Ron, who had been on my shift, slid onto the bench next to me. We were both panting, as we squeezed water into our mouths.
“Fuck you,” I said, and spat the water next to his skates.
“Maybe you need to spend some time with your girlfriend. See if she can’t teach an old dog some new tricks.”
The anger started in the vicinity of my toes. A tingle of impatience and annoyance gathered speed and hit my chest. This fucking guy… this fucking guy had been a problem since the minute he was traded to Portland. I’d done everything I could to incorporate him into the team, but he wanted to sit on the bench and spit venom into every ear he could find.
I wasn’t the team fighter. Not even close. That was Skalsberg. We sent our Viking out on the ice to right wrongs and exact retribution. My job was to keep a cool head at all times. It’s what the team expected of me. Needed from me.
But I was ready to make an exception for this guy.
“The fuck you say?” I growled at him.
“You heard me,” he said, his voice low, his head turned in my direction. “But you better do it fast too. I heard she got a call from Montreal. What do you think they want?”
I whirled on him with fire in my eyes.
“Hey, man,” Ron lifted his gloves. “I’m just telling you what I heard.”
No one gossiped more than hockey players in a locker room. But I hated that I didn’t know that. That I wasn’t her very first call. If it was about another job, she must be excited as fuck and I had to find out from Ron?
I hated that as much or more than I hated Ron.
But maybe it wasn’t true? Half the shit the guys talked about in the locker room was nonsense.
“I don’t know what the fuck happened between you two,” Ron said. “But it’s damn clear you didn’t take my advice. You’ve been moping around this whole week like a dog who lost his favorite toy and the skater lady wouldn’t look at you if you were on fire. Now, on top of being distracted, you’re skating like an AHL player at best.”
I shook my head to clear away the buzzing. “I’m going to fuck you up, Ron.”
“You going to fight the whole team? Because I’m not the only one who’s noticed.”
Bullshit. No one noticed. We’d been so careful. So careful it was killing me.
I stood up and towered over the old veteran. “Get up.”
Ron shook his head. “Punching me is not going to fix your problem.”
“Well, we’re going to try it and find out.”
He sighed like a man who knew he had no choice. No choice but to put up or shut up. I was about to drop my gloves when Coach blew the whistle.
I turned my head then, distracted by Coach, and Ron sucker punched me.
Right under the chin, I went down like a fucking log. Falling back on my ass onto the bench and rolling off.
It was not graceful.
