Page 10 of Break

Charlie, the owner’s daughter, is leaning against the wall outside of one of the offices, glaring down at her phone.

That girl scares the absolute shit out of me. I sneak around her and hold my breath as I pass. She’s a good-looking girl, but you can tell she hates it here. She has long black hair, even darker eyes, and has skin the color of snow. I don’t think she ever goes out into the sun.

Daniel Thompson, her father, owns the arena and the team. Heck, his sister is my agent, and Charlie is lined up to take over after he retires – hopefully in thirty years after I’m gone. They even live in the same community I do.

I hope I can get my head in the game tonight. Practices have been shit lately, and now my own family refuses to step foot around here to cheer me on.

Nolan, Logan, and Landon are all chatting by the showers, laughing at something. I make my way over to them and fist bump them while I try to figure out what they’re talking about.

“Landon was just telling us about some skank he just broke up with. He caught her with another man… naked in bed, and she tried passing it off,” Nolan snorts and chokes. “She said… she said it’s her brother.”

I blink at them and shake my head. “What?”

Landon sighs and runs his fingers through his shaggy blonde hair. “Guys, it was nasty… I mean, they did look alike… But what fuck was that shit?” I chuckle and glance around the room.

“Are we going to hit the ice or head into the gym? We still have a few hours.”

Logan scratches his chin. “I think Arizona is already here getting their ice time. Might as well hit the gym then we can be pumped up for the game. I’ll order some dinner for us.” I nod as we head down the hall to the gym, finding several of our other teammates in here and we get to work.

I can’t wait to be back out on the ice, breathing in the icy air. It’s home. The weight of my gear, my stick in hand. Maybe someone can start a fight so I can release this fucking tension.

I do some light cardio and lift some weights, then sit back to drink some water, watching my team. Morgan seems off lately, he’s blasting music in his ears through his headphones and is ignoring Blake, not even looking at him. I frown and move to stand up to ask him what’s going on when the door slams open.

“Someone ordered food?” Greg calls out in the hall and I head over to him to accept the bags.

“Thanks, man. How’s it going?”

Greg shrugs and hands me the white bags and steps back. He looks like he’s aged fifteen years in the last five. “It’s going. Retiring after this season.”

I frown at him and shake my head. “We’ll miss you around here, no one gets the ice as perfect as you do.”

He snorts and begins to turn around. “Still have several months left, boy. You’ll see my ugly mug around for a while yet, driving my machine.”

I nod and turn so that I can find the guys. “Come on, let’s go eat.”

After we eat and suit up in the locker room on the couches, we have a team meeting. We’re heading to Canada and California next week for more away games.

I feel a migraine coming on. Will Alyssa and Caroline really move in with Marie? I feel like my mind is spinning, I can’t focus on shit.

They’re only sixteen, I’m their legal guardian, but I won’t fight them if they fucking hate me as much as it feels like they do lately. Hell… I’ll give them anything and everything if it would make them happy. They were barely eight years old when we moved here, they basically know Marie and me as their parents.

After our team meeting with our coaches, we’re shoved out into the hall to head to the ice.

The music is blasting. The lights are bright and colorful. The announcer is pumping up the crowd… I glance up to the box that Marie and the girls always sit in with the WAGs to find that it’s just filled with the other family members of the team. I sigh when my name is called and I skate out, letting the ice bring me to my safe space.

I pat my line on the backs as we get in place and stare down the assholes in red and black. Tonight is going to be a good game, I feel like hitting, punching someone. That’ll help, it always does.

The puck is dropped and Arizona steamrolls through us, passing it back and forth between their center and right winger…

Nolan, our goalie, is watching the puck like a hawk, waiting for his time to shine. He won’t let the puck get past him tonight. He’s wired, determined.

One of our defensemen, Blake, slams into Arizona’s center and I swoop in and catch the puck, rushing down to the other side of the arena, I pass to Logan and he waits for me to be open again.

He passes it back to me and I slap it towards the net, holding my breath.

“GOAL!”The screams pump me up even more. This is exactly what I needed.

I raise my arms in the air and circle around to get back into place. I glare down at the asshole right in front of me, winking at him and let him crash into me as soon as the puck is in our possession.

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