Page 45 of The Penalty

“It’s like saying peachy, but I don’t like peaches.”

“Sure, I guess that makes sense.” He nods and pats my helmet with his glove.

I hit his ass with my hockey stick as he gets ready for the puck drop. The next four minutes and thirty-seven seconds are a blur of guilt, shame, anxiety, and sadness.

I don’t think I can see him anymore. I can’t risk my spot on this team.

And it breaks my fucking heart.

FOURTEEN

RHYS

We are drunk as fuck. Winning against the Olympians is a huge deal. They are our biggest rivals, aside from the Monsters. The guys keep giving me drinks and clapping me on the back, congratulating me for the win. I should be having a good time with my teammates but all I can think about is Teddy’s face when I scored that last goal on him. I shouldn’t feel bad. He wouldn’t feel bad if he’d blocked the goal, so why the fuck am I like this?

The guys are pairing up with puck bunnies and I’m one of the few left.

Wolfe, one of our captains, comes over holding out his fist. “Great fucking game.”

“Thank you.” My words slur a little.

“You not gonna talk to any of the puck bunnies?” Wolfe brings his drink to his lips looking me over.

“Most of them are…” I trail off, not needing him to suspect I’m not into women or worse, I’m thinking about Teddy.

“Paired off. You’re right.” Wolfe glances around. “There are a few stragglers. I’m shocked you’re not more popular tonight.”

I shrug, not wanting to admit I’ve been too absent minded thinking about Teddy all night. “It just hasn’t happened.”

“There are a couple in the kitchen. They were doing body shots.” Wolfe grabs my arm and drags me there. “Told you,” he whisper-yells when we come upon a group of teammates and bunnies doing body shots off a girl laid across the counter.

Is this whisper-yell habit a goalie thing?

Ridgeway bends over, licking the salt off her stomach then without using his hands he picks up the shot glass from between her breasts and tips his head back to swallow it. Not missing a beat he takes the lime out of her mouth. He steps back with a grin. “Fuck.”

“Who’s next?” the girl laying on the counter asks. “Do you want to do one, Wolfe?”

Archangel, our other captain, cuts through the crowd. “What’s going on?”

“I was helping, Godfrey. Calm your dick,” Wolfe snaps.

Archangel glares at him, and I’m not sure what I’m missing between them, but they’ve been strained all season. I’m going to have to ask someone else on the team to see if they know what’s going on.

“Who’s next then?”

Wolfe shoves me forward.

“No,” I say, trying to make up an excuse but coming up blank.

“What’s wrong, Wolfe?” the bunny whines.

He puts on a smile. “Nothing at all, sunshine. Angel here is just trying to make me watch my alcohol.” He winks at her.

She giggles, thankfully fully distracted by the captains.

I slip out of the room, way too fuzzy to deal with any of this.

I can’t stop myself any longer. I pull out my phone to text Teddy.

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