Page 104 of Two for Holding

Today was no exception.They started off well enough, a little keep-away, a fun start, Phil shouting encouragement to Luca when he went up against Vanderbilt, who was roughly twice his size.Then Trout started in on one of his routines, a particularly grueling down-low exercise which left Breezy wheezing and the remaining D-core barely upright.They all needed to conserve energy this late in the season, and the arena ice was scratched to shit.Hayes fell on his ass more than once, getting more and more angry as Trout mocked him.

Finally, Jax turned to Morris.“Aren’t you going to doanything?”

“Huh?”Morris looked up from his cell phone.“Oh.Shit.Um.”He glanced to Phil.

Phil made a gesture with his hand, a sort of circular motion with his pointer finger.

“Right.Around-the-world drill.”Morris patted down his jacket, searching for his whistle.

“Christ, Ben, seriously?”Phil muttered.

Morris snapped, “I’ve got a few other things on my mind.”

“When you’re on the ice, you’ve gotta eat, sleep, breathe—”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Phil, I’m not even a real hockey coach.”

He said it just as the D-men finished a repetition of their drill.They gasped for air on the sidelines while Edwards, off-ice to grab a few extra sticks, had the forwards working through a similar deep breathing exercise.As soon as the words echoed around the rink, everyone came to a halt, not a single inhale to be heard.

A single puck scraped across the ice and hit the boards with a dull thunk.No one moved to follow it, everyone too busy staring at Morris.

“Well, shit,” Phil said.