Page 142 of Body Check

They bumped knuckles and yes, Gavin thought ruefully, if the cameras caught that, the press and fans would certainly be speculating about what that meant for the team.

Ahh well, they’d make their official announcement soon enough.

“So,” Gavin said a few minutes later as he watched Rafael Moon wheel around the net, collecting the puck and shooting it to Graham. He fired it toward the goal, where it pinged off the post. “What do you think of Moon so far?”

Finn looked at the Jumbotron and squinted. “Uhh, well, he’s only played two periods so far …”

Gavin laughed. “I know. Just curious about your initial impression.”

Finn shrugged. “He’s got good size. Great reach. He takes up a lot of space which should make him hard to play against. I think he’s got a good edge to his game. I liked the hits he’s thrown, and he’s been blocking shots really well so far.”

“Agreed,” Gavin said.

“His positioning is shit right now,” Finn said, wincing when the play swept around the net and Moon was left in an awkward position, scrambling to catch up. “But we’ll see if it’s a matter of acclimating to the new system or if he needs to do some work on that. Either way …”

“It’s probably fixable,” Gavin said, watching as Moon headed for the bench, his shift over.

He sat next to Mouse, ducking his head to listen to him speak. At 6’3” tall, Mickey Krause wasn’t asmallguy, but compared to Moon, he looked tiny.

They’d be an interesting pairing, that was for damn sure.

THIRTY-THREE

“Uh, I didn’t order this,” Dakota said later that evening, frowning at the pale green liquid inside the shot glass the white-haired bartender slid across the scarred wooden surface to him.

“I know. It’s from the gentleman at the end of the bar,” the man said, his Irish accent threading through his words. “A green tea shot.”

Dakota glanced over, half-expecting to see Gavin, but was surprised to see his twin instead. Thad winked, held up his glass, toasting him.

“Thanks,” he mouthed, tilted his head toward Gavin, who was deep in conversation with Connor and Jesse.

Dakota smiled and nodded, tipping back the shot. He didn’t really drink much alcohol, but the Harriers had managed to squeak in an overtime win with a spectacular comeback, and itwasNew Year’s Eve, so he’d make an exception tonight.

Other than being green in color, nothing about the shot resembled green tea at all. It was fruity and sort of sweet-sour.Not Dakota’s preference, and he had to chase it with a healthy swallow of water, but he appreciated the gesture.

He nodded again to Thad, then turned back to face the crowd.

The pub had been rented out for the night and was packed with hockey players, support staff, and their dates. His sister and brother-in-law were even somewhere in the mix. It was an informal New Year’s Eve celebration, and half of the people there wore party hats, beads, and silly glasses.

Dakota straightened the black and gold hat on his own head and wondered where Gavin had disappeared to. Jesse and Connor were lost in their own little bubble, kissing as they swayed to the music on the jukebox.

A quick glance around showed Gavin now holding court with some of the guys from the team, along with Finn. Everyone was laughing and Gavin appeared in his element, talking animatedly about something—no doubt hockey related because these guys never seemed to turn that off.

A moment later, Gavin caught his eye and grinned, motioning for him to come over. “Hey, Dakota! Come here for a sec!”

So Dakota went. He stepped close to Gavin, assuming he was about to announce their relationship, but unsure of exactly how he planned to proceed.

Gavin immediately wrapped an arm around his waist, pulling him and laying a smacking kiss on his lips. Dakota laughed against his mouth as a huge whoop went up from the crowd along with Kady’s shout of “Surprise!”

Everyone burst into laughter and when Dakota turned to look at him, the Belarusian netminder was grinning, visibly delighted with himself.

“Good surprise!” he said, patting Dakota’s shoulder and nearly knocking him down with the force of his excitement. “Happy surprise.”

“For me too,” Dakota said, though that made a little frown appear on Kady’s forehead like he didn’t quite know what he meant. “I didn’t like Gavin much when we first met,” he explained.

The kid was picking up English quickly, but it could still be a challenge for him sometimes.

“Ahh,” Kady said. “I like Mandy from first moment we meet.” He hugged his girlfriend to his side, and she beamed.

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