Page 4 of Pucking Tangled
“Oh. I’m just going to stick with the salad,” she said with a shake of her head, pointing to the bowl of greens she’d ordered.
Luca’s face hardened. “You’re not eatingjusta salad. We all know you love pizza.”
Shedidlove pizza, but she didn’t love the fifteen pounds she put on in the last year. Neither did her ex, and he had no problems letting her know it. Which was why she was trying to avoid all of her favorite foods and sticking to healthy salads instead.
“It’s fine. Really. I’m trying to be more health conscious.”
“Mia, one slice isn’t going to derail you. Christ, there’s barely anything in that salad besides lettuce,” Luca pushed.
“Are we going to sit here and argue over my food choices?” She shot him a questioning glance.
“No. We’re not. Because you’re going to eat at least one slice of this pizza with it.”
The rest of the guys chuckled when she continued to protest.
“Come on, Mia. Don’t let some dumb fuck’s stupid comments get in your head,” Owen added.
“Wh-what are you talking about?” she asked, feigning ignorance.
“Really?” Owen raised a brow. “Do you think that I didn’t see how that asshole treated you? The comments he made about your weight. About the way your clothes fit or didn’t fit? He was a stupid fucker. Any man would appreciate your curves and be more than happy to worship them.”
Mia’s cheeks flushed. “I…he…”
“Don’t defend the douche,” Luca added. “Owen’s right. A real man would embrace your curves.”
“Fine,” she sighed, ignoring the way their subtle compliments made her feel. “Forget it. I’ll eat the damn pizza.”
TWO
Owen
The Lancaster BarnRaisersset up in the offensive zone, working the puck around with precision against the Tallahassee Renegadesafter their left wing, Martin Wilson, tripped up Luca.
Casey held it at the half-wall, his eyes scanning the ice before he sent a crisp pass to the point where Waylon, their steady-handed veteran defenseman, settled the puck. The other team’s defense started to collapse, but Waylon faked the shot and froze the defense.
He slid the puck over to the left circle, then sneaked into the high slot as the puck circled back. Without hesitation, Casey fed it to him again.
Waylon skated into it and BOOM! A blistering one-timer ripped past the Renegades’goalie.
POWER PLAY GOAL!
Waylon took the Barn Raisersto a three-point lead with only three minutes left in the third period.
Wilson returned to the ice after the penalty and Owen wasted no time letting him know how pissed he was, sending a silent message to stay the hell away from Luca.
The guy probably spent more time in the penalty box than he did on the ice in this game. The entire Barn Raisers’team still wasn’t sure how Martin hadn’t been ejected yet.
Guys like him were bad for the sport.
Sure, they all played hard and dirty from time to time, but Martin was the type of player who was going to get another guy seriously injured. Owen had seen it happen before. When you’d been in the league as long as he had, you picked up on the bad seeds and spent most of your games trying to protect your teammates from them.
What was worse was the fact that Martin messed with Luca’s head. All damn game, he seemed to taunt Luca.
As much as Owen hated guys like Martin, Luca was going to have to learn to toughen up, too, if he wanted to survive playing professional hockey. Especially now that the Barn Raiserswere heading into the playoffs. When you were chasing the Stanley Cup, there was no room to let assholes get in your head or have bad games. One game could cost you the entire season, the closer you got to the final round.
For the next several minutes, each team fought hard on the ice, the Renegadestrying to pick up another goal and the Barn Raisersattempting to keep it from happening while also working to increase their lead. When Luca ended up with the puck at the one-minute marker, he took a clear shot at the goal, the puck sliding into the net seconds before the buzzer sounded, signaling the end of the game.
The entire arena was on their feet, cow bells ringing and fans cheering for the home team as the Barn Raisers’bench hopped the wall and skated out to celebrate.
