Page 99 of Game Misconduct

“I wanna see you get out there in the third period and really get into Rasmussen’s face. I want you to fuck with him however you can. Get him off his game.”

“Aye, aye, Captain!” Tanner said with a salute.

Beside him, Crawford rolled his eyes.

When they went out for the third period, Tanner did as he was told, shadowing Leif and constantly yapping at him.

“I’m thinking about going out after the game,” Tanner hollered at him when they were battling against the boards at one point. “You wanna join me?”

Leif shot him an annoyed glance.

“What?” Tanner said, trying to sound innocent. “C’mon, it’ll be fun, Princess.”

Unfortunately, neither of them got the puck that time—Ian Salter did—and with less than five minutes on the clock, Salter got the puck to Nicky Calhoun, who tore up the ice toward the Harriers’ net. Tanner cursed.

Crawford—who had been hovering near the blue line—put on a desperate burst of speed, reaching out with his stick, trying to disrupt his shot. Jesse reacted, but a little too slow and the puck went in, slipping between his pads and the ice.

New York had the first goal of the game.

Tanner cursed and slowed to a stop near Crawford as Calhoun whooped, looking Crawford right in the face as he raised his arms and stick in the air, his teammates on the ice piling on to celebrate.

“You thought you’d gotten rid of me for good, huh?” he taunted as he skated by them a moment later. “Too fucking bad. I’m back, baby.”

Crawford looked pissy as he skated back to the bench, whacking his stick against the boards before he got off the ice. Tanner didn’t blame him.

He was annoyed that New York had scored, although Nicky Calhoun being on a revenge tour against Crawford was a tiny bit hilarious to Tanner.

Several more shifts out and with less than a minute left in regulation, Crawford stole the puck from Calhoun in a battle against the boards and passed it to Connor. Tanner drove hard toward the net, but Connor took a few strides toward the center of the ice and fired. The puck pinged off the post, then landed in the net behind Roman Poole.

Tanner shouted his excitement and the home crowd’s roar was deafening as he skated toward his captain. Luke was already there, wrapping his arms around Connor’s waist and shaking him while he hollered, “Fuck yeah! Fuck yeah, that’s how we do it in Boston.”

Two more of their teammates joined them in the celly and Tanner felt a little lighter when he finally broke away and skated to the Harriers’ bench. They’d tied it up.

He caught a glimpse of a frowning Leif.

Clearly, New York wasn’t willing to lie down and take it, because although Graham, Anker, and Erik all had really good scoring chances in overtime, New York kept the pressure up, forcing Boston to defend heavily in their own zone.

With thirty seconds to go, Calhoun got another breakaway and although Jesse flung his body sideways in his crease, the puck skipped over him and landed in the back of the net.

Tanner groaned. New York had won.

Leif was going to be so fucking annoying tonight.

Eager to get to Tanner, Leif hurried through media, his post-game cooldown and recovery, then showered and dressed in record time.

He did it fast enough that several people side-eyed him as he made for the door of the visitors’ locker room. He forced himself to slow down as he stepped through the doors and yelped in surprise when he saw his father waiting in the hallway outside.

He was talking to Hawke.

Leif stared in surprise at them for a moment. They were standing quite close together, speaking in low tones, too quiet for Leif to hear.

Aksel’s shoulders and jaw were tight, and Hawke had his hands jammed in in his trouser pockets. Hawke looked … kinda pissy.

Langley Hawkins wasn’t usually a pissy kinda guy. He could look serious or worried sometimes—especially when something concerning was going on with one of his goalies—but he usually seemed to be good-humored with a little twinkle in his eye.

But he didn’t look good-humored or mischievous now.

He scowled at something Aksel said and shook his head.