Page 88 of Broken Hearts
“I think I’m gonna shit myself,” Jordan says as we dress in the locker room. He jogs to the bathroom stall on the opposite side.
Maverick has music going on his phone and he dances around trying to keep the mood light, but the undercurrent of nerves is there for everyone.
When we take the ice, I swallow down a lump in my throat as I scan the crowd. I find my family and then Sienna and the girls, and then it’s time to go to work.
“What do you say, men?” Adam says, skating through us.
“Men today, huh, instead of boys?”
“Between me and you, if we’re going to win today, we’re going to need to play like men instead of boys.” He stops beside me. “Ready to do this thing?”
“Yeah.” I shoot a puck into the net.
“Well, that’s not very enthusiastic. Did you not work out your pregame nerves?”
“It isn’t nerves. Well, not just nerves. This is all bizarre. I never cared about it all ending until now.”
He fires at the net. “Yeah, I feel that too. The thing is, it won’t be the same regardless. Next year it’ll be a new group of guys starting out. Which means we might as well go out with a bang. Let’s give them something to aspire to.”
26
Sienna
“Oh, come on!” Ginny yells when Heath takes a hard hit from the Waterville defense.
“Sit down,” someone calls behind her and sweet Ginny turns and flips them off with such flair I have to bite back a laugh.
Mr. Scott places a hand on her shoulder and reluctantly Ginny sits back down.
“They’re going to hurt him.” She throws a hand up.
“He’s tough,” Reagan assures her.
“Is she always like this?” I ask Dakota.
“No, but I think seeing her all mini-psycho is adorable.”
Waterville scores and our entire row groans.
“This is not good,” I say to no one in particular. Rhett comes off the ice and tosses his water bottle to the back of the bench.
Dakota sighs. “I didn’t want to have to do this.”
She reaches into her bag and pulls out a T-shirt. It has Maverick’s number on it.
“Did you make that?” I ask. It looks almost like mine, Ginny, and Reagan’s but a little messier.
“No, of course not. Maverick did.” She rolls her eyes. “He was feeling very left out.”
“No property of?”
“I belong to no one, which I made very clear when he said he was going to make me one, but I promised him I’d wear his number it if things were looking bad.” She pulls it on over her head. “It can’t hurt, right?”
My gaze goes to the Valley bench. “No, it can’t.” I stand. “I’ll be right back.”
“Where are you going? The period is about to end.”
“To get a good luck charm.”
