Page 109 of Puck Lust

The other will leave here Stanley Cup champion hopefuls.

No fucking way is that not gonna be us.

There’s a minute and twelve seconds left in the game.

The New York Renegades have been relentless for the whole game, and we’ve been battling for the past three periods. Now we’re in a dead heat. They just switched out their goalie, smug as hell thinking they’ve got us beat.

O’Callahan has been a goddamn thorn in my side tonight,on top of every one of my plays. He thinks he’s got me figured out. They all do.

But I still have moves they’ve never seen. And now it’s time to bust them out and take the win.

They can’t rattle me. Hell, I’ve been through the fucking ringer and come out so much stronger. The first few weeks of fallout after my press conference sucked. There were people who sympathized with me and there were vindictive fucks who decided I got my chance unfairly and should be punished.

I lost some endorsement deals just like Rex warned me I might.

But I did something good for another person, saved a life, and that means more to me than a paycheck for promoting fucking energy drinks.

Not many people like to talk about the positives, just the negatives. I guess that’s an occupational hazard when you’re in the public eye. People want to tear you down more than build you up if they think you got unfair advantages.

I’d argue that I suffered way more disadvantages than not, but some people are just narrow-minded, even after you acknowledge and apologize for your mistakes.

I know I’ll never change their minds.

But I’ll survive. I always do.

And there were still plenty of people who stuck by my side throughout this whole ordeal, which I’ll always be grateful for.

Jeremy stayed with me at my place for as long as he could, but with my travel schedule, it became too much to handle. Sam helped out as much as he could, but we knew he needed a stable place to live with people who were solely focused on him.

His social worker came through a couple of months ago, finding him great foster parents to live with. As the only kid in the house, he gets all their attention. The foster mom alsohappens to be a child psychologist, so she’s been helping him work through his past issues. I wish I’d had someone to talk to when I was his age, but my goal now is making sure he has what he needs to accomplish his goals.

I see him as much as I can and bring him to games when we’re playing at home.

He and his foster parents are here tonight, watching from one of the luxury boxes with Sam, Brixton, and Carter’s family. Of course, Gran is with them. Love that woman.

Her not-so-low-key obsession with me is fucking adorable.

My eyes sweep across the ice.

The Renegades defense closes in on me…fast.

With forty-five seconds to go, there’s no time for mistakes or second chances.

Everything rides on these next plays.

Yells and catcalls deafen me, my old fans booing every time my stick hits the puck. They can’t distract me, though. Not tonight.

Out of the corner of my eye, I find Carter. He’s focused, ready, and waiting.

I’ve had plenty of opportunities to steal the fame and the glory during my career, but somewhere along the way, I realized that it’s better to share the success instead of yank it away from everyone else. I don’t want to be an island anymore. These guys, this team, Oakland management and coaches, they’ve all been here for me through everything, my biggest cheerleaders. A collective rock I swore I’d never need. They never missed an opportunity to defend me to anyone who launched a character attack. They are my found family, the ones I trust, the ones I want in my life.

Carter is the biggest supporter of them all.

And tonight I want to seehimgo down in a blaze of glory.

The defense collapses on me as I cross the blue line. Theirsticks battle mine in an attempt to steal the puck, but I’m too quick for them. I fake a shot then pass the puck to Carter at the last second.

He doesn’t pause for even a second before he charges down the ice. He smacks the puck and it snaps into the top corner of the net. The goalie, Evans, didn’t even have time to flinch before the puck whizzed past his glove.

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