Page 11 of Slapshot
“Please?” I don’t think I ever had to say please with Alec. He was always willing to do anything we asked. Kaitlyn is not Alec.
She’s beautiful. Average height, but she’s thin and the heeled boots she’s wearing make her seem even taller. Still, she has a fragile quality about her like a pristine china doll.
“Fine. I’ll do it tonight. Is there anything else?”
She’s intimidating, so at least she has that in common with her dad. I looked him up last night. Yeah, I’d heard of him but hadn’t really bothered to check him out. The guy really was a legend. I spent three hours watching old clips in my room. I’m sure the guys would have loved to watch with me, but then again, they’ve probably already seen them.
I often feel like the outcast when it comes to that stuff. I didn’t follow hockey as a kid, so I didn’t have heroes like Declan Dalager or Tony Amonte.
Shit, I’m still staring. “No, uh, I don’t think so.”
“Great.” She gives me her back, turning on those heels. Her ponytail waves behind her.
I walk over to the Biscuit with Paxton and Ash. Patrick, Tate, Weston and Jonah are at our usual table and already have beers in front of them. I’m not in a great headspace. Two games where I sat on the bench so much I think there might be an imprint of my ass. I already work harder than the rest of the guys. Early morning runs, no off days. Still, I’m not where I need to be and I’m running out of patience and opportunities.
Our server arrives before we’ve taken our seats. We’re very good customers, so they take excellent care of us. This girl in particular, Gail, seems to have a serious crush on my teammate Weston. She stands near him at the other end of the table and we bark out our orders. Politely bark of course.
“Where’s Maggie tonight?” Patrick teases Tate. “Your lap looks lonely.”
Tate grins. He does that a lot these days. “She was at the game, but she went with her family to dinner. They might stop by later.”
“How sweet,” Patrick says like it’s anything but. Then he glances around our local hangout. “I’m gonna walk around, see who’s here.”
We all do our own perusal. There’s a lot of girls here tonight. A lot of people, period. Patrick and Jonah stand and weave through people to get to the cute girls sitting at the bar.
“Did you get your skates worked out?” Paxton asks while we wait for our wings.
“She’s going to fix them tonight. Alec wrote down the wrong numbers. I was skating on five-eighths.”
“Ah.” He nods in understanding and takes another drink from his glass of beer.
We’re silent, but the noise of the place provides a comfortable background noise.
“Do you really think her dad sent her to spy on us?” I ask. I can’t get her off my mind. My high school’s team manager and Alec were so different. They were excited and beyond helpful. Real members of the team. Kaitlyn didn’t seem happy to be there at all.
“Who?” Ash asks.
“Kaitlyn.” I glance around. She isn’t here. Alec always came out with us to celebrate, but something tells me we won’t be seeing her.
“For what purpose?” Pax asks.
“I don’t know.” I shake my head. “She did not look happy to be working for us though. I wonder why Coach hired her.”
“Dude, stop talking about hockey and look around,” Kirk, our goalie and most annoying member of the team, says. “All of these people came to celebrate with us and to hook up with us. These girls don’t care if you played a second of tonight’s game. You’re a hockey player. Enjoy.” He waves his hands out in front of him in a big, theatrical display.
“He’s an idiot, but also not wrong. You can’t fix anything tonight.” Paxton cocks his head to one side.
“Wise words, my man,” Ash says, and then turns to make room for Patrick and Jonah and the three girls they brought back to the table.
“We’ll work on it Sunday.” Paxton nudges me.
“Thank you.”
More girls drift over to our table. It’s like breaking the seal. Once one girl joins, all the others flock to join. And we make room for them. We’re a welcoming group—some more than others. Kirk is a great goalie, and the chicks dig him for reasons I’ll never comprehend. His girl of the night is creeping on my space.
I politely nudge her. “Can you move over a little? Your hair is in my beer.”
Kirk glances around her. “Sweetie, you got any friends that could show Rook here a good time for his efforts tonight? He’s having a little bit of a dry spell on and off the ice, if you know what I mean.” He winks at me like he’s doing me some big favor.
