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“After nine.”
“Shit,” I mumbled and shoved forward, then tripped a little over my feet. There was no time for a shower. I would have to go stinking like vodka and bar sweat. As it was, Coach Hill would already rip me a new asshole. I’d never been on the receiving end of one of his very detailed lectures or his anger, but I’d seen guys who had, and it wasn’t pretty.
“Wy?” She held out a hand to me, and I grabbed it, kissing the back before giving her a smile.
“I gotta go. Talk later, Mom.” I left her standing in the doorway between the bathroom and my bedroom as I rushed out of there and down the stairs.
Joseph was waiting near the bottom step and his eyes danced in amusement as he held up a set of keys. “Come on, superstar. You’re late.” He shoved the keys into my hand, and I glanced down at the Lamborghini logo hanging from the ring. “I remember what it’s like to be young, but you gotta keep up with practice. Take the Urus.”
I stared at the keys. “Are you sure? I can take the bus.”
He snorted. “Practice will be over before you get there. Go on. Bring Atlas home with you, though, will ya? His car needed an oil change, so I dropped him off this morning.” He patted my shoulder and walked past me with the calmness I craved. For a criminal defense attorney, he was relaxed and took life as it came. So different from his son. Although, I supposed being a partner at a law firm helped with that. He let other people do the job and reaped the benefits of being a manager more than anything.
Shaking my head, I rushed through a small corridor past the kitchen and into the garage. While Joseph had a huge garage behind the house for his collection of cars, the Lamborghini Urus Performante he’d loaned me was in this one, and the sight of it made me stop and stare. I’d been in the back a couple of times with Mom, but I’d never driven the car, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about being in the driver’s seat. Bright yellow and black, the vehicle had black rims and looked more like a race car, and it must’ve cost him a fortune.
Taking a deep breath, I stalked forward. I didn’t have time to overthink anything right now. I rushed to grab my gear. Being an hour late meant Coach Hill was already going to smack me over the head and who knew what else, and I didn’t want to risk getting kicked off the team.
On the drive to the college, I prayed that a cop wouldn’t pull me over because there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that I would get a DWI, even now. My head was wobbly and my stomach curdled, but I managed to get to the rink without bumping into any trouble—luckily.
I grabbed my shit and ran into the building, then rushed to the locker room. I changed as quickly as I could, getting dressed in my uniform, then slid on my skates. By the time I walked onto the ice, I was panting.
Coach Hill was in the center of the rink, shouting something I couldn’t hear as the boys did laps, which meant he was pissed. I’d been here long enough to see him hand out punishments a few times, but I’d never seen him have thewhole teamskate laps.
He pointed in my direction as soon as his gaze landed on me, and then he jabbed his finger at the ice next to him. Wincing, I glided over, stopping right in front of him.
Coach Hill’s jaw was tight and his eyes were wild. He stared, more ice than what was in this rink shining in his gaze, and I thought I would freeze to death from the simple look. Crossing his arms over his muscular chest, he grunted. “Where were you, Finch?”
I winced and glanced around at the other guys. They didn’t look any better than me, their faces pale and their movements sluggish. The only ones who appeared in better spirits were Atlas, Boss, and Thane, but I distinctly remembered Thane brushing off more drinks after his first. He was smart, and I should’ve been more like him.
“Finch!” Coach’s harsh, screechy tone had me cringing as my head throbbed.
“I slept in, Coach.”
“Slept in?” His jaw turned to steel. “You do realize you’re captain, don’t you?”
I nodded, shame heating my cheeks. “Yes, Coach. It won’t happen again. I promise. My phone died.”
The grunt he responded with came out more as an angry chuckle. “You think I haven’t heard that excuse about fifteen times today, boy?”
Coach Hill wasn’t much older than me, probably in his late thirties, so hearing him call meboywas strange. From what I’d heard, he was a former New Gothenburg Blizzard, a powerhouse who’d had a successful career ahead of him until he’d shattered his knee, which had ended his future as a pro. That was a few years back and now he tortured up-and-coming people.
He poked my chest. “If you want to make pro, Finch, you need to do the work. I’ve got high hopes for you. I was the one who got the school to bring you here. I was the one who went to a couple of friends on the Blizzards and showed them what you’ve got, and now they’ll be watching you when the games start.” He grabbed my face in his hand and squeezed my cheeks. I’d never met a coach so touchy, but there was nothing kind about it. He shoved, pushed, and poked, and while he wasn’t abusive, he knew how to make us feel guilty. “Don’t think I’m going to be nice to you because you’re good. You gotta work hard like everyone else. Capisce?”
I nodded, which was hard to do with his fingers gripping my face. “Yes, Coach Hill.”
He grumbled something low and let me go. He waved his hand toward the rink. “Go join your teammates. You’re all doing a hundred and fifty laps.”
“Coach—”
He sliced his hand through the air, nearly knocking me in the jaw as he did. “I don’t want to hear arguing, Finch. We should be practicing for our first game, but instead I’m punishing you like children. That’s onyou. As captain, it was your job to control your team, not encourage them to get knock-down, drag-out fucking drunk.” His gaze narrowed on me. “Don’t think I didn’t hear what you all did. Frosteson told me.”
Of course he fucking did. I shot Atlas a glare over my shoulder, but I got a smug grin in return.Asshole.If he thought that would win brownie points with the team, he was wrong, but right now he was too busy trying to fuck me over. He could’ve woken me up this morning, but he hadn’t done that, either, which didn’t surprise me.
“Go!” Coach’s hard tone punched me into high gear, and I skated to join the line of my teammates as they slid across the ice. They were circling the rink.
Thane glanced at me over his shoulder and gave me a sad smile, and I sent one back at him. He shouldn’t have been punished for what we—I—did, and it was harder on him because he had the heavy goalie equipment attached, making him slower than everyone else.
Atlas came skating up beside me, his grin feral and mean. “See what you did, Birdy? You got us into trouble.”
