Page 20 of My Brother's Enemy
Jesus.My careerwasn’t worth the effort. What was I thinking?
I was doing him a favor.
It was better this way.
I never texted him back.
15
TYLER
People were assholes. Why did the fucking media need to upend my sister’s life and my niece’s health crisis because they were nosy about why I’d asked to be traded? The news had broken almost a week ago. We played a Tuesday game, and now we were at it again on Thursday, and I was currently using Colorado’s goalie as my personal anger outlet.
He blocked a particularly nasty shot from me and after the whistle blew, he skated out just beyond the crease and tore his helmet off. “What the fuck, Griffin? That’s your twenty-third shot. We’re in the second period. You got a problem with me that I don’t know about?”
Was that a lot of shots? Yes, from one individual. Did a goalie usually get pissed off and confront that particular player? No, but Shetland was a friend, and yeah, he was mad, but there was also a twinge of concern in his eyes. Plus, Shetland had a short temper. Of all the goalies I knew, he’d been in the most fights.
Immediately, Sunny was between us, and Brick started to migrate our way in case he needed to handle the fight.Yeah right. Refs hardly ever let two goalies go at it anymore. I waved him off and patted Sunny’s chest to let him know I was okay. Imoved around him, going over to Shetland. One of the refs went with me, but neither of us was dropping gloves.
I didn’t even know what to say to him. “No. Just—it’s been a fucking week.”
His face twisted behind his cage. He was already skating backward. “Let’s do drinks after this, eh?”
“Yeah. Sounds good.”
“You two ready to play hockey or do you need time to work out when you’re going to braid each other’s hair?” The ref was deadpan, lifting his whistle back to his mouth. “We got a game to play, gentlemen.”
I didn’t reply, just skated to the bench where Bruge was waiting to replace me. He was stone-faced. He dropped down as I stepped off the ice. Coach came over right away, swatting my shoulder. “What was that about?”
I shrugged and took the water offered to me. “Shelly snapped for a second. He’s a hothead.”
Sunny laughed beside me. “He thought Griff had a personal vendetta. Guess he’s not used to dealing with that many shots.”
Coach grunted, hitting my shoulder again with his clipboard. “You got us ahead four to one. Keep the lead and I don’t care if you have a personal vendetta. We need those points. You hear me?”
“Yeah, Griff.” Jesse laughed, reaching for the water. “You already got a hat trick, and we’re not even to the end of the second period. Maybe let the rest of us try to catch up and get us those points for playoffs?”
I grinned. “Get ready for some fast passes.”
He held up his glove, and I met it with mine as he said, “Bet.”
When we got back on the ice, I gave him a fast pass between my skates, and Ray was ready, like he’d said he would be.
Right after his goal, he pounded my shoulder pads. “That’s our thing from now on, man.” He held up his gloved hands, and as I hit them with mine, he added, “Bet.”
Fucking hell. Okay then. “Bet,” I agreed.
Guess it was our thing.
I had more aggression to work out, so for the next period, I worked on passing. Ray got one more goal. So did Sunny, who realized what I was doing and began to try to out-pass me. I had to admit, by the end of the game, most of my aggression was gone.
We won seven to two.
The locker room was elated, except for Bruge.
“How’s itgoing with your new team?” Shetland asked later that evening. “Obviously something’s working judging by that score tonight.”
I told him the same as I’d mentioned to Nolan.
