Page 68 of Breakaway

“Because he’s the best player on the team,” Jase’s dad said dryly. “They gotta stay on him or they know he’ll score.”

Pride swelled in her, so big and warm she thought she might burst. That was her man down there. He loved her. She loved him.

Then Jase was smashed into the boards in a glass-shuddering, bone-jarring, head-shaking body check. Remi slid to the edge of her seat, trying to see if he was okay, while her heart went into a brief arrhythmia.

The crowd all yelled, demanding a penalty.

“That was a good check,” Doug said to her. “There shouldn’t be a penalty.”

Like hell there shouldn’t! Whoever had done that to Jase should be kicked out of the game! But there was no penalty despite the crowd’s loud protests. Jase skated off to the bench, straightening his helmet.

Remi pressed a hand to her stomach and saw Laura’s glance at her.

“Don’t worry,” Laura said. “He’s tough. That’s just part of the game.”

Remi turned to her. “How could you watch that when he was little? You must have been so scared he’d get hurt.”

“Yes, I was. Terrified. Every single game.” Laura shook her head, mouth still lifted into a smile, eyes on the game. “When they’re really young, of course, there is no body checking. But then they get older and the game gets a lot more physical. But there was no way I could stop any of the boys from playing. They loved it so much. Jase especially needed to play hockey.”

Remi nodded, now aware of Jase’s AHDH. Sports were agreat way for kids to learn self-discipline and focus and he’d told her how good hockey had been for him.

And then Phoenix scored.

Although they were in the midst of a Wolves crowd, Laura and Doug cheered the goal because Tag had scored it.

Remi nibbled her lip as they announced the goal. “What does that mean when they say assisted by?” she asked Doug.

“Carver passed it to Romanov, who passed it to Tag,” he explained. “So they get credit for assisting with the goal.”

She’d seen all those stats—goals, assists and a whole lot more she couldn’t figure out - GP, PIM, +/-, PP. ABCDEFG. Whatever.

The crowd was momentarily subdued by the goal, but the Wolves came back strong and peppered the Coyotes’ goaltender with a series of hard, fast shots that had everyone in the arena screaming and groaning in unison.

“Damn!” Remi cried when another shot missed, her hands in fists. Oops. She slanted a grimace at Laura. Laura just grinned. And then one of the Stars got the puck and shot it all the way down the ice.

“Icing,” Laura announced.

“What does that mean?”

The whistle blew. “If a player shoots the puck all the way down the ice and a player from the other team touches it first, it’s icing.”

Remi nodded. Okay.

The puck was brought back to the Coyotes’ end for another face off. Jase skated around on one foot, then the other, waiting for the ref to crouch with the puck. Remi admired his grace on skates. She’d learned to skate as a little girl, but had never been so confident or graceful as he was and she could only admire the incredible skill it took to move that fast, stop that quickly, turn that sharply on those two razor-thin blades. Amazing.

The first period ended with the score one-nothing for Phoenix. “Going to get beers,” Matt announced, standing up. “Remi, can I bring you one?”

“You’re not old enough to drink here.” Doug pushed his sonback down into his seat.

Matt grinned sheepishly. “I could get away with it.”

He probably could. He certainly looked older than nineteen with his massive size.

“I’ll bring her a drink.” Logan gave his brother a punch as he passed by him. Matt punched him back. Remi had to laugh. “Wanna come for a walk with me, Remi?”

The flirtatious gleam in his eye sizzled over her skin. “No thanks,” she said with a smile and a shake of her head.

“Damn.”

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