Page 169 of Pucking Them
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Pittsburgh Penguins’ Arena, Pittsburgh
Eden
“Concentrate!”I yell at Shay.
Frustrated, I slam my hand against the rink’s glass, which shakes.
Shay glances over his shoulder at me. His brow furrows, before he gives a determined nod and skates harder after the puck.
Except, I’m the one who can’t concentrate. And when does that happen, apart from when Robyn messes up my filing system?
The score against the Penguins is2 — 2.
Only minutes remain of the game.
If the Bay Rebels win, then they will only have to defeat the Penguins once more.
After that, Wilder’s team can fuck off out of our lives. Robyn and D’Angelo won’t be tormented by their pasts. I won’t need to battle with the urge to burn the bastard’s beard off his smug face.
We must win to save the team, staff, and Freedom.
The others care about that. I care about my family.
Should I feel more than I do? Have the sense of duty to an entire town that D’Angelo does?
Is that what being agood manmeans?
But then, I’m not good.
I’m Robyn’s phoenix.
I’m happy with that.
My expression is inscrutable, as I take a step back.
I glance at Robyn. She looks beautiful in a rose-tinted dress. She is standing next to me, rocking on her heels with her hands stuck deep in the pockets of her woolen, emerald coat.
She has barely looked away from Wilder in the same way that Shay wouldn’t take his gaze away from spiders as a kid like he was scared that they’d leap out and ambush him.
I became my brother’s official protector from spiders.
I never told him that in my head, I was in fact,theirrescuer. I humanely caught them with a glass and dropped them back into the freedom of the street.
I guess that’s what Shay meant about the secrets we keep.
My hands ball into fists.
Would Robyn truly mind if I burned just Wilder’s beard?
Half of it?
I pull my long, black coat more firmly around my favorite suit that D’Angelo bought me.
D’Angelo has been leading the team brilliantly tonight. Shay scored both the goals.
Yet the Penguins have long crossed the line from playing a physical to a punishing game.
