Page 81 of Zero Pucks Given
He smiled and shook his head. “Not even close. But Ithinkit will tide me over until we get home.”
39
Josie
I spent most of the next day focusing on all the TikTok tasks I’d avoided the day before. That kept me busy until it was time to go to the hockey game that evening, although I kept daydreaming about my hockey player boyfriend and all the naughty things we were going to do to each other.
I knew he wasn’t really my boyfriend. Up until two days ago, we couldn’t even admit that we didn’t hate each other. But things felt different now, and I was allowing myself to imagine a future where we were together to some degree. Not thedistantfuture. I wasn’t making plans to have his babies or anything. But as soon as the NHL season ended, he would have an entire summer without hockey taking up his time.
And I was already planning all the ways I was going to fill that time. Most of which involved a bed.
Or a couch.
Or even a floor, if we couldn’t make it to a piece of furniture in time.
I ordered a beer at the game and took my seat behind the Surge bench while the teams warmed up. It was a flurry of activity on the ice,but my eyes were permanently locked onto Grayson Steele. He was the obvious leader out there, shouting encouragement to his teammates and occasionally pausing to say something private to one of them. He skated around with an air of confidence, like a general who was surveying the troops before a battle.
It was crazy how much had changed since our first date. All the things I disliked about him at first—his arrogance, his dismissive attitude, and his inflated self-worth—now turned me on.
Before the game started, I fired off a text to Sharon.
Me: Hey, thanks for signing me up for the contest. It’s turning out to be the best thing to ever happen to me.
Sharon: YES. It’s about time you acknowledged how brilliant my decision was. Did you two bone again last night?
Me: Not last night. There were too many people around.
Sharon: Boo
Me: …but we did hook up after brunch yesterday. I’m actually sore from it.
Sharon: YAY
Sharon: I can’t wait to hear all about it when you get home. And you’d better not spare any details.
Me: Wouldn’t dream of it :-)
The lights dimmed for the player introductions. The Edmonton crowd was quieter tonight, subdued by the loss in the first game. The other Surge fans and I took the opportunity to cheer as loudly as possible when our players were introduced. I smiled broadly whenGrayson’s name was called and he skated out onto the ice.
But my smile didn’t last long.
The Oilers scored in the first two minutes of the game. That was like a shot of adrenaline for the crowd, energizing them in a way they hadn’t been since the beginning of the first game.
It only got worse from there.
The Surge gave up two more goals in the first period. They played sloppy, losing the puck on easy passes and practically tripping over their own skates. It wasn’t any individual player’s fault; the entire team looked rusty out there.
But Grayson had plenty of his own mistakes. Two of the Oilers goals happened after he’d lost the puck, and he was slow to get back on defense. He got into a fight with one of the opponents, the two of them ripping off their gloves and circling each other like lions, before the Oilers player grabbed a handful of Grayson’s shirt and used the leverage to land a few punches to the jaw. When the fight ended, the screen above the arena showed a cartoon of a big steel wall covered in rivets—and then a bunch of cartoon Oilers players fired a barrage of pucks at it until it looked like Swiss cheese.
The crowd roared at that, but I was busy watching Grayson as he skated back to the bench. A few teammates patted him on the shoulder, but he calmly snapped his hockey stick over one knee and then slammed the two pieces to the ground.
“Let’s go Surge!” I shouted, trying to give them some encouragement.
Grayson twisted to look over his shoulder at me. His eyes were full of green fire, a rage I hadn’t seen since our first date. But then they softened, and he gave me a tiny little smile before returning his attention to the game.
At least he wasn’t mad at me.
The Oilers ended up winning by six goals, bringing the series to a tie. The mood back at the hotel was grim while all the team employeespacked up their luggage and equipment and placed it by the door. The team was taking their private jet home tonight, but my flight wasn’t until tomorrow morning.
