Page 1 of The Breakaway

Chapter

One

October 1994

I shotup from the metal bench, screaming at the top of my lungs with the rest of the fans in the ice rink. The roar of the crowd surged, a symphony of cheers, stomping feet, and clanging cowbells reverberating in my chest.

“Sharla! Did you see that?" Crystal shook my shoulders, nearly spilling my Coke. "I can't believe he made it!" She adjusted her toque, her pink-tinged hair flicking out over her neck and ears.

I laughed, replaying the last thirty seconds like a highlight reel. Logan was a damn good winger, but I’d never seen him pull something like that before. The blue and gold UVC jerseys blurred into a streak as Logan darted through them like a fox in a henhouse in his number eighteen jersey.

"I swear he caught the puck mid-air!" Maddie's dark brown eyes were wide as she leaned in. Her breath smelled faintly of mint gum.

I wanted to pinch myself. Logan had just scored the winning goal in the last minute of the third period against the number one college team in the country.

"Eat that, TV announcers." Crystal held up her middle finger, and I grabbed her hand, laughing.

“TV announcers? Just lumping them all together?” Maddie laughed, sweeping her dark curls over her shoulder.

I snorted. "There are professors here!"

Crystal shook her head, the tiny jewel in her nose sparkling. "I don't care. Everyone underestimated Outlaws hockey. Do you remember how much crap Logan had to deal with over the summer?"

I blew out a breath. Yes, I absolutely remembered. Logan had been in the pissiest mood ever between July and August.

I would never say it out loud, but I couldn’t actually blame the analysts for not believing in this team. With a complete overhaul of the coaching staff and losing three of their top players in the draft, they didn’t have much to go off of. Truly, if I were going to blame anybody, it would be our neighbour to the south. All those American schools headhunting with deeper pockets than Canadian universities. It wasn’t really a fair playing field.

Logan had given up three other offers by choosing to stay in Calgary, and at least part of that was because of me. He swore I wasn’t the only reason. Otherwise, I never could’ve lived with myself.

But I had two years left before I graduated with my Bachelor of Music degree, majoring in violin performance. Then, I could take that skill anywhere, and I planned to. Logan was headed for the NHL—I was sure of it—and I would be there right by his side.

"Come on." I grabbed onto Crystal and Maddie and rushed to the stairs to try and beat the rest of the crowd. We weren’tcompletely successful, but at least we were heading in the opposite direction.

Logan and I had a secret meeting place. We discovered it the first year he started on the Outlaws, and so far, it still seemed to be our little secret. Well, except that Crystal and Maddie always tagged along with me.

We climbed the stairs and exited to the hall that led to the main lobby then cruised around the corner and headed down. This stairwell didn’t seem to lead anywhere specific. It was probably only used for janitorial and maintenance staff. There was a door at the bottom, but a passageway behind the stairs led to a little storage area accessible to the locker rooms.

Of course, I never went into the locker room itself, but before Logan would get in the shower, he always came out to give me a quick kiss after the game. I took up my post, still flushed from the excitement.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, Logan opened the door, bringing shouts and laughter on the air with him. He still wore his maroon and gold jersey.

He darted toward me, scooping me up into his arms. "Baby, did you see that?"

"I saw. It was amazing."

"We won."

"I know." I kissed him, then laughed as he buried his face in my neck. I used to complain about his post-game sweaty hair, but now, I loved that I was the first thing he wanted to see after things went well or poorly. Whether he was angry or elated, I was his person.

He exhaled and slowly lowered me back to the ground. "Logan, seriously, that shot. I don’t even know where that came from?—"

"I was trying to deke left, but then the puck caught something on the ice and popped up, and my stick was just there, you know?"

"You were basically playing lacrosse," Crystal interjected.

Logan looked up. "Oh hey, ladies."

Crystal and Maddie laughed and waved. "Amazing game," Maddie said.

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