Page 99 of No Pucks

“If I let you off tomorrow, does that mean I can keep you up later?” he asks slyly.

I raise my brows. “Does that mean I’m going to lose my spot?”

“You’re not losing that spot. You’ve earned it more than a few times over.” He slides a hand under the back of my shirt, brushing his fingers over my skin.

“Then why am I still doing double practice?!” I act annoyed, but I’m not really. I like the extra time with him.

“I want you to be better. I’m always going to want you to be better, but more than that, I want you to be happy.”

“I am happy.”

“With hockey or with me?” he asks.

“Both. For the first time in a long time, I’m enjoying hockey again.” It crept up slowly, and I hadn’t realized it until I said it out loud. “I’ve been enjoying it for a while.”

He smiles, and he doesn’t fight it anymore. It stretches across his face, reaching even his dark eyes. “I feel like I’m a part of that, and it makes me happy.”

“You are, and our winning streak doesn’t hurt either. The only game we’ve lost recently was to the Monsters.”

“We play them again next week, so we have a chance to change that.”

“We’re going to slaughter them.”

THIRTY-ONE

LOGAN

“Can I punch him?”

“No.”

“At least I’m asking,” I mutter, taking a seat to unlace my skates.

Anthony laughs, and the whole team looks. “What?”

“You’re laughing…” Savage side-eyes me. “He losing it?” he leans over to whisper.

“I’m not losing it.”

“I was whispering. You shouldn’t be able to hear me.”

“You’re six-six, Savage. It’s impossible for you to whisper.” Anthony shakes his head. “It’s not that big of a deal. Calm down.”

“Coach, not to contradict you in front of the team, but you’ve never once laughed in front of us. Some of us were starting to think you’re depressed,” Wolfe says.

“I’m not depressed. I’m serious.”

I can’t help but laugh.

Anthony glares in my direction but doesn’t say anything.

“We’re glad you’re not depressed and also not a cyborg,” Archangel adds. “We were concerned.”

“All of you need to get off the internet—” Anthony pinches the bridge of his nose. “—before you guys keep me on a damn tangent for this entire break.”

“Mental health is important.” Archangel throws his hands up.

“That’s not what I’m saying…” Anthony looks at the ceiling. “We have twenty minutes left in this game. We are down by one goal. I don’t just want to tie this. We need to get two goals and prevent them from scoring. This isn’t the position I wanted to be in, but we’ve been in worse and come back. We’ve done a good job of fighting back, but we need to stop giving them time in the box. Keep it clean. We need to take advantage of as many power plays as possible and be smart with the puck…”

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