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“Rhodes.”
Heads turn my way in the locker room. I toss my phone in my bag and follow the general manager—the guy who usually doesn’t step foot down here on game day—out into the hall.
“What do you know about Knox Whiteshaw?” he asks me in a low voice.
I frown. “What do you want to know, sir?”
He makes a vague motion.
“He’s an excellent center. We played together in Crown Point.” I pause. “Is Dawes out?”
The GM scowls. “That’s above your paygrade.”
Okay, fine. “Well, if I may be so bold… Knox would make an excellent addition to the team. His personality would mesh well with Church. And the rest of the guys tend to fall in line with him.”
He gives me an appraising look. “Okay. Thanks, Rhodes. Keep playing the way you are, yeah?”
“Yes, sir.”
I go back in the locker room and smile to myself. If Knox joins the Colorado Titans, then my year will be fuckingmade.
Church is sitting next to my cubby when I get back. He raises his eyebrows, but I shake my head. He stands and gathers us around, giving a hyped-up speech that has all of us refocused. We head out of the locker room as a group, and I’m the third one on the ice after Church and Lawson, the other d-man. Haverhill, our goalie, follows close behind.
Melody sits between Willow and Aspen. Violet’s on the other side of Aspen. The guys frame them in. Well, except for Knox. He’s sitting behind Melody, leaning down and talking in her ear. Her gaze is on the ice, but she nods along with whatever he’s saying.
Of the four women, Melody isn’t exactly who I thought Knox would befriend.
He sort of burned a bridge with Willow, and therefore Violet. He never thought twice about getting to know Aspen.
It’s just weird.
Melody smiles when I stop in front of them.
“Next goal is for you,” I tell her.
Her smile widens into a full-blown grin.
And that’s what I do. I don’t know if it’s the feeling of my girl cheering for me or the adrenaline of what we went through after the last game.After. I’d left mid-game when I’d noticed them all gone.
I had to pay a hefty fine to the team, but they didn’t suspend me once they found out what had happened. So all’s well that ends well.
An LA player checks me into the glass. The hit is hard enough to rattle my skull in my helmet, but he’s gone before I can shove him away.
It’s a big fat sign to keep my head in the game,noton solving Melody’s mysteries.
Of which she has quite a few.
I glance over just in time to see her, Violet, and Greyson heading up the aisle.
“Rhodes!” Coach screams.
The puck goes sailing past me.
For fuck’s sake.
I chase after it, barely managing to gain control before an LA player tries to crash into me. I hop over his flailing stick and pass it fast to Church. Church gives it to Lawson in the center, and I coast down toward the LA goalie.
It comes to me. It’s perfectly placed, somehow gliding between an LA player’s legs, and I shoot before the puck has time to stop. It sails right over the goalie’s shoulder and into the net.
