Page 4 of Cloudless
I ignore their whispers and give them all a small wave before heading out onto the ice. “Five minutes, guys. You ready to have a good time?”
A chorus of agreement shoots through the line of wide-eyed kids as they double their efforts to lace up.
Raised brows flow through the line of my roommates as my skates take their first bite of ice.
“Cutting it close, aren’t ya, Cap?” Dax’s cocky grin lets me know just how thrilled he is to not be the one cutting it close on time for once.
The strings of my hoodie sway with my shrug. “Ellie was having car trouble.”
Wyatt’s usual frown seems magnified under the bright, fluorescent lights. “Is she okay?”
“Yeah, man. She’s fine. Something’s wrong with her back left tire, though. Keeps going flat no matter what I do. Think you could get your car guy to take a look at it? He did a pretty good job fixing her window last year.”
He scratches the dark scruff on his cheek as he nods. “Yeah, sure. I’ll take care of it.”
Mace shakes his head as a smile pulls at his lips. “It really pays to know everyone.” Wyatt’s frown turns into a full-blown scowl as Mace elbows him in the ribs. “Tell us your ways, Ranger. I’ve never seen someone so quiet know so many people.”
He shrugs as his eyes survey our other teammates around us. “Words aren’t the only thing that matters.”
A muttered, “For fuck's sake,” draws my attention from my roommates to my right. Colt’s face still holds a few pillow lines as he struggles with the cones in front of the net. His brows creaseas his eyes volley between hisfriendsaround him. “Don’t wepaypeople to do this shit?”
I blow out a deep breath. “No cursing in front of the kids, Colt.”
Thankfully for him, I don’t hear whatever it is he mumbles under his breath.
Dax doesn’t even try to contain his chuckle as his eyes fall to the cursing freshman. “Is he the one?”
Mace’s head swivels to our roommate with a look of disbelief on his face. “There's no way he’s the one.”
I nod as I watch the freshman struggle with something we all learned how to do when we first learned to play hockey. “It’s him. I was in Coach’s office when he showed up last week.”
Waves of disappointment radiate from Mace as he crosses his arms. “I don’t believe that kid has a dad in the NHL for a second. What did his daddy do? Pay someone to fudge his records? The poor kid can’t even set up his own cones.”
Wyatt’s sigh carries through our group. “I’ve seen Colt’s tapes. He might be an entitled rich boy, but the kid can play.”
Mace shifts on his skates as he shrugs. “I mean, it’s not like having a dad in the NHL will give him any favors in Coach’s eyes.” His eyes shift between Wyatt and me as a smirk lifts his lips. “It’s not like it helped you two any.”
My eye roll can’t keep the smile from my face.
Our heads swivel in unison as raised voices pick up from just a few feet away. The little boy's blond hair bounces with every word as he says, “You’re just mad Posey didn’t want to sit with you at lunch.” His little hands tighten around his hockey stick as redness creeps over his cheeks. “You wouldn’t be saying those mean things if she would have said yes.”
His opponent's scoff has my eyes narrowing. His posse’s smiles widen from their places behind him as he crosses hisarms. “I wouldn’t have even asked Posey if Mrs. Smith didn’t make me. Who would want to sit with a new kid, anyway?”
The blond boy's eyes flash with anger as his shoulders rise. It’s the slight twitch of his stick that has my feet moving before I fully think it through. “Hey, guys!” The blond’s eyes never leave the boy in front of him as he relaxes his grip on his stick. His opponent's eyes flash with recognition as I close the short distance between us. Right away, my eyes fall to the bully's name tag. “Have you done your warmup laps yet, Matt?”
His hair sways around his ears as he shakes his head with wide eyes. “You’re Kam Stryker! I was really hoping you would be here! My mom put a marker in my bag so you can sign my stick.”
I pat him on the shoulder as I force a smile to my face. “I’ll sign everyone's sticks after we’re done today. Why don’t you guys get in some warmup laps before we start?”
His smile widens as he turns to look at his posse gathered behind him. “Come on, guys.” The blond boy’s scowl deepens as he watches the group skate away.
My eyes fall to his name tag as I tilt my head. “What was all that about, Jasper?”
He just shrugs like he didn’t just almost deck his teammate over the head with his stick. “He was being a dick.”
Well, alrighty then.
I roll my lips to keep my smile from slipping free. “Why was he being a, uh…jerk?”
