I rose to my feet and a message from Harper flashed across the screen. I needed to get ready to go out on the ice, but I found myself staring at the screen and my eyes absorbed her words.
Harper
I don’t know if that’s a good idea.
Just as I was about to type a response, Wes grabbed my phone from me and pressed the button on the side to lock the screen. My brow furrowed and I glared at him. My lips parted to ask him what the hell he was thinking, but he silenced me as he shouldered past me to put my phone in my bag.
“Coach will literally take that shit from you like we’re in high school and you know it.” He stood back in front of me. “Don’t fuck around and fuck up, Nico.”
As if he heard us talking about him, Coach Anderson walked around the room in his freshly pressed suit, barking orders at everyone. Everyone began to line up and music pounded from the speakers around the arena at the end of the tunnel connected to the locker room.
I stared at my best friend for a moment. “Dude, you’re literally always on his shit list.”
“Yeah, and it’s not a fun place to be, so you’re welcome for me trying to save your ass.”
“Thanks, bro,” I told him as we both got into our respective spots in the line-up. Starting with our goaltenders, everyone started filing down the tunnel and running onto the ice after grabbing our sticks.
The music was loud, the lights were flashing around, and the entire arena was vibrant. It was a palpable energy. One that you could wrap around your fingertips and string around your body. As I skated across the ice, there was an effortless feeling, almost similar to what I’d imagine flying felt like.
Playing professional hockey was a dream I had always dreamt and now that I had it, I was never going to let it slip away. It was the most exhilarating high, no drug or alcohol could ever come close to touching it. It was deep-seated in my veins and it was something I would never be able to flush out. This was my entire identity and I needed to remind myself that.
We all took shots on the goalie and Wes set me up for a few one-timers as we continued our warm-ups. I could allow myself the luxury of fucking around with Harper, but that was all it could ever be. I would never give any of this up for anyone or anything.
Grabbing the puck with the toe of my stick, I skated around, pushing it along as I headed in the direction of the net. My legs were powering through and I deked to the left and then the right before flicking my wrist and sending the puck top shelf from the right side of the crease. Wolfe, our goalie, didn’t have a chance to stop it and he laughed out loud.
“Damn, Cirone.” He shook his head as I slid to a stop near him. “Your wrist shot is nasty. I’m ready to see some snipes.”
“Let’s see what you got,” I told him, smiling as I accepted the challenge. I got back into line and we all started skating in rapid succession, firing shots at Wolfe. I wasn’t sure how many actual shots on goal I had, but there were only a few that Wolfe managed to block.
He was one of the best goaltenders in the league and a vital asset to our team. He was a few years older than some of the newer guys so he was able to show us a thing or two when it came to playing against some of these other players. Wolfe was a good person to have in your back pocket.
As I finished shooting some shots on goal, I hung back, letting some of the other guys work Wolfe a little bit. Wes skated over to me and lingered for a moment before saying anything.
“Harper—she’s that girl you had in the closet at the club, isn’t she?”
Wes’s words completely caught me off guard and I whipped my head over to look at him. “What?”
“I knew she looked familiar, I just couldn’t figure out why.” He paused and smiled. “That explains why you didn’t like me talking about showing her around town.”
We both directed our gazes back to the net as the boys continued their rounds of making shots. Wes and I both needed to jump in, but he had my attention now.
“I saw her over by the net,” Wes said, his voice low. “Are you going to see her again?”
I side-eyed him. “Depends on if she wants to see me or not.”
Wes shrugged. “If you end up passing on her, let me know.”
My jaw clenched and I looked over at him just as he moved closer over to the boards to do some stretching. The last thing I was going to do was let her fall into Wes’s lap. I had a taste of her, but it wasn’t enough. I wanted more—enough to satiate my appetite, and then she could do whatever the hell she wanted.
It didn’t take but a fraction of a second for me to spot her in her position by the goal line. She was standing over there with her camera lined up through the cutout hole, snapping pictures of our team warming up. A smirk pulled on my lips and I lazily skated over to where she was.
As I neared closer, I turned around and skated backward until my back was against the glass. Glancing over my shoulder, I stopped directly in front of the hole, obscuring her view. It was a dick move, but I wasn’t going to let her escape me this easily. I pretended to stretch, even though it was barely a stretch.
“Nico, please move,” she raised her voice from where she was sitting and tapped on the glass behind me.
“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” I yelled back to her as one of the pucks came over to me. I received the pass and slid it back over to Wes who raised an eyebrow at me. “I’m just warming up.”
“Yeah, I bet you fucking are.” She was silent for a breath. “Seriously, I can’t see a thing and my job literally depends on this.”
“Agree to meet me after the game and I’ll leave you alone.”
I heard her exasperated sigh and couldn’t help but smirk. I had her exactly where I wanted her right now and I was successfully getting her to agree with me.
“Fine. Meet me in the media parking lot.”
Without another word, I pushed off the boards and joined the rest of my team as we finished up our warm-ups. I didn’t look back in her direction for the last five minutes that I was on the ice, but I could feel her eyes on me. And that was more than enough.
We finished up and all exited the ice so the Zamboni could cut it again and make it fresh before the game began. The boys were buzzing and everyone was hyped. It wasn’t long before we were back out there, standing as the woman who sang for our team sang the national anthem. We were playing the Firebirds tonight and they were one of our rivals. We had beat them the past three times we played against them and things were getting relatively tense.
As I skated over to my position for the puck drop, her bright blonde hair caught my attention. She was seated to the right of the net and her camera was positioned through the cutout hole in the glass. My mouth spread into a grin as I bent my knees and placed my stick where I needed it to be for the face-off.
This was going to be a fucking fun night.
I battled my opponent for the puck for a fraction of a second before I was able to get it away from him. Flicking my wrist, I passed it over to Wes, who was already waiting, hanging in the defensive zone. He didn’t hesitate to pass it to Mac, who was over on the other side crossing into the neutral zone. The puck was on the ice and the game was on.
We managed to get it into their zone and got two shots on goal, but both were blocked by their goalie. It didn’t take long for my first shift to end and my legs were burning but the adrenaline quickly washed over me. I dropped down onto the bench next to Wes and we both grabbed our bottles and drank from them as we watched the game continue.