Page 13 of Offside

"I'm fine."

Reeves pointed to the line. "I didn't ask. Garrett, take him."

I skated to the line and stopped beside Mikkola. Nobody looked at me. That was worse than if they had.

Garrett ran the same drill with Odell. Volkov protected the puck. Garrett held the inside lane. Odell came down the wall and closed the other exit, so Volkov had to reverse. Garrett anticipated it, stepped behind the net, and took the puck without putting anybody into the glass.

Reeves let the play finish before he came to me.

"What did you see?"

"Garrett held the lane."

Reeves tapped his blade against the ice. "What did you do?"

"Finished the hit."

"You solved your mood with another man's body." He tapped the blade of his stick against the ice. "Use this. Use the ice. That's what the rep is for."

I looked at Volkov. He had his stick back and was making a show of checking that all his limbs were attached.

"You want me out?" I kept my eyes on Volkov.

"One rep was enough. Now I want you to do the next one correctly."

That was all—no speech, no question about the contract. Reeves knew something had made me put too much force into the hit. He didn't need to know what to correct the choice.

I went back in.

Theo took the puck below the goal line. I used my feet, held the route to the front of the net, and waited. When he reversed, Garrett was there. The puck left the zone.

Reeves blew the whistle and pointed to the next group.

Volkov skated past me on his way to the line.

"My organs have returned," he said.

"Good," I replied.

Volkov pressed a glove to his chest. "I'm glad of your concern."

Garrett waited until Volkov was out of earshot. "You good?"

"Yeah."

He turned his stick over in his gloves, then let the silence sit. Garrett could do that longer than anybody I knew.

The next whistle sent us back onto the ice.

By the afternoon session, the shoulder had tightened from the hit.

Declan found it before I told him. He had me lift the arm once, watched the right side climb, and stepped closer.

"Again." He held one hand near the shoulder without touching it. "I want to see when it starts."

I raised the arm more slowly. At the top of the current range, the joint caught and my upper back took over.

"What happened at practice?" His hand stayed beside my shoulder.