Page 6 of Bitter Pucking Rivals

“Yo, are you even listening to me?” A voice brings me back to reality, making me look up from the ground. Lost in my thoughts, for a moment I expect to be in the Somerset University locker room. But when I see Theo’s topless figure tower over me, I’m quickly brought back to reality.

Almost right away, my face flushes at the sight of his abs and chest right in my face. “Wha—What is it you want?” I stammer.

Ordinarily, I don’t stammer. It’s not what I do. But here I am, stumbling all over my words as if I’ve just learned to speak.

Theo doesn’t seem to catch on to my being tongue tied, though, as he simply rolls his eyes at my harsh tone. “I was making a truce with you, you idiot,” he says, offering his hand. “At least just for this game,” he adds, sticking his tongue out playfully as his blue eyes scream of bad news.

I don’t really have a choice. I have reputations to upkeep: mine and the Somerset Seagulls’ as a whole, so I have to give it my all and work well with these new teammates of mine. “Just don’t get in my way, and we’ll be fine,” I tell Theo since he’s taking the right winger position. Declan offered to take the goalie position, which is Theo’s usual role. But this is training camp, and we’re mixing it up in the spirit of personal and athletic development.

“So, are you gonna shake my hand or are you going to leave me hanging?” Theo wiggles his hand, but I’m trying so hard to not stare at his body that it takes me a moment to register the gesture.

Finally, I accept his handshake—albeit a bit harshly, considering our hands smack together and make quite a loud sound. Our hands touch for only a second or two, but it’s enough time for me to kind of like how his rough, calloused hand feels against mine. “Are you happy now?” I ask him, trying not to let my breath catch. I look up carefully, making sure that my gaze doesn’t linger too long on that beautiful body of his. Unfortunately, his face is equally as pretty, so I end up staring anyways. to not look at his fucking beautiful body, but it doesn’t help that his face is equally as pretty.

Theo smiles at me in satisfaction. “Oh, you have no idea.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

5:53 pm

HAYDEN

We’re midwaythrough the first game of training camp and I’m already change. Not physically—although it has sunk in that this camp is going to be rigorous as hell. It’s the mental exhaustion that’s already taking a toll, though. I can’t quite find my rhythm on the ice, and the whole experience is a bit unsettling for me.

“Come on, Parker, pick up the pace!” Xavier shouts to me as I manage to take possession of the puck from Logan Valdez. Theo and Xavier are near me, ready for support as the opposing team tries to topple my footing.

“You’re not gonna have that for long at this speed, Parker!” Logan taunts as he tries to body-check me rather aggressively. The guy’s smaller than I am, but he sure does have a lot of gusto. I don’t even know how I manage to keep the puck with how aggressive he’s being.

We’re up against the team containing Julian and Ansel, and while they have also mixed up their roles on the team, I still can’t get past them. They simply know me too well as an offensive player. Julian’s currently the goalie, and out of the three times I’ve gotten the puck, not one of them have passed through his defense. I didn’t know Julian had any proficiency at playing goalie, so I’m quite surprised to be honest. But leave it to Julian of all people to be good at literally everything.

“You can do better than that, Hayden!” Julian cheers me on after successfully rebounding the puck I’ve just shot, with Ansel taking the lead and skating back to our defensive zone.

“Stop coddling me,Dad.” I manage to choke out a joke even though I’m running out of breath trying to keep up with Ansel.

“Stop talking to your former captain and listen to your current captain!” Xavier yells as he glides across the ice. Even though he’s busy trying to keep up with Ansel’s speed, he manages to startle me with just how his voice is. I still haven’t gotten used to it.

Theo, on the other hand, shoots me a very quick glance. It’s the kind of look that lets me know that he’s making fun of me in his head, but I try not to let it rattle me. Sure, he’s the one who initiated a truce. But I shouldn’t expect anything more than that from him.

By the time I get it together and move my feet, I’m way behind. So behind, in fact, that Ansel has already taken his shot before I can even get back in our zone. And to my surprise, Ansel’s shot is wildly accurate and flies right past Declan.

“Ah, damn it! When did you get so good at this?” Declan grills Ansel as he gets back in position. Ansel replies by doing a little dance, effectively making fun of Declan in a playful way. At least those two are having a good time.

“Fuck,” I swear under my breath, disappointed at myself.

The play stops and Ansel skates over to me with a slightly concerned look on his face. “You okay?” he asks. “It’s not like you to be this slow.” Ansel is my best friend, but even though I know he means well, this interaction is just rubbing me the wrong way.

“I’ve just gotta warm up, I guess.” I grit my teeth, not wanting to snap at Ansel. He’s still my teammate and my roommate, and the one I’m really mad at is myself anyway. Although I’m not exactly elated at the fact that I don’t feel any support coming from my teammates. It feels like I’m out here on my own and I just need a second. One second, I swear to myself, and I can get in the right headspace to keep up.

Not to mention, IwishTheo would back me up properly instead of just hovering all around me. I didn’t even see him attempt to get the puck back after Julian blocked it.Like what the fuck is that?

It’s fine. I mean, it’s not fine if we want to win. But if we don’t want to win, then yeah, I guess it’s fine. So I skate back into my position, trying not to let the lack of team chemistry get the best of me. I can’t help but steal a few looks at the other rinks around us, though. My other teammates seem to be enjoying their new teams. I can see Dom and Jared vibing with their new teammates. Hell, even the weird matchup of Nathan and Marcus seem to be hitting it off. Those two are the last two people from Somerset and Wildwood that I would expect to be all buddy-buddy, and yet—no matter which rink I look at—I seem to be the only one miserable around here.

“Got your head in the game, Parker?” Xavier checks in with me as the refs are about to restart the play.

“Yeah,” I answer snappily, not wanting to talk any further.

Theo audibly snorts and the fact that he’s joining the pile-on fills me with a rage that I can barely contain. “You haven’t scored a single point this entire game. Honestly, man, you didn’t even change positions and I’m the one outperforming you,” he says, swinging around his stick like an idiot.

“Hey, that’s not fair. Hayden’s had a long day,” Declan says in an effort to defend me. I didn’t even know he was listening. But I put my hand up to stop him from speaking up for me any further.

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