Page 83 of Shootout
“Yeah, you win, and you won’t have to be my butler for a weekend.”
Now he was talking. I’d dreaded being Jessie and Wild’s butler ever since Jessie and I’d broken up. Now for some reason, he was giving me an out.
“What do you get if you win, not that you will?” I asked with a smirk.
“Ask her. She’s your competition.”
I frowned and spun in the direction of Wild’s gaze.
Jessie skated onto the ice in full hockey gear. My heart stopped at the sight of her. She smiled tentatively as she approached. I noted my nosy teammates had gathered along the boards to watch, several making side wagers. We stared at each other for such a long time Wild cleared his throat quite loudly.
“What do you get if you win?” I asked, and my voice shook with emotion.
“We make this thing real between us.”
I lost an edge on one of my skates and scrambled to not fall on my ass. Jessie’s laughter rang throughout the rink. Rather than being embarrassed, I was overjoyed at that sweet sound.
A slow smile spread across my face. This was a competition I was going to lose in order to win. “It’s a bet. You go first.”
She nodded and turned toward the goal where Brick was already waiting. Someone had put some time into planning this. I glanced at Wild.
“Did you arrange this?”
“Why the fuck would I do that? I don’t even like you.” A faint grin tickled the corners of his mouth, and I had my answer.
I watched as Jessie skated toward the net and shot. Brick dived dramatically in the opposite direction, and the puck went into the net. He’d given that one up. I expected Jessie to rip both of us a new one, but she didn’t.
My turn and I leisurely moved toward the net. Brick watched me with a grin on his face and held up his blocker. I shot directly into it. One more time, Brick did nothing to stop Jessie’s shot, and I shot over the net, hitting the glass. Turning, I headed straight for Jessie and ignored the jeers and cheers of my teammates.
Wild held up Jessie’s gloved hand and declared her the winner. She pushed away from him. “I’m going to collect my prize.” I dropped my gloves, and she dropped hers. In two strides, I was upon her, picking her up and spinning her around while I kissed the hell out of her. Our laughter echoed off the metal sides of the building.
“Save that fucking shit for later. I don’t want to see it.”
We ignored Wild. We had lost time to make up for.
EPILOGUE
~~Banks~~
Aweek later, I was back home. We played Vancouver.
It had been one of those nights that if something could go wrong, it would. We couldn’t find the net. In our frustration, we took on too many penalties, including my two. There were multiple skirmishes and one fight in which Wild was actually taken down, which rarely happened. Brick, our goalie, was hit just as the buzzer signaled the end of the second period. He hobbled down the hallway with the assistance of our athletic trainers. It didn’t look good.
Totally gassed and feeling somewhat demoralized by allowing the worst team in the league to get a lead on us, my teammates and I sat around the locker room during intermission, attempted to get our breath, and waited for news on Brick.
“How bad is Brick’s injury?”
“Bad. He’s out for the season.”
Slowly every head in the room turned toward Vick, our backup goalie, the guy who’d always been a backup, nothing more, nothing less. Now our championship season hinged on his performance.
“Next man up,” Ice shouted. “You’re on, Vick, and we have the utmost faith in you.”
My teammates looked up at Ice’s announcement, but the room was strangely quiet. I leaped to my feet and applauded Vick. “You can do it, buddy. Let’s come back and win this thing.”
One by one, the boys stood and clapped until we were all standing.
“Let’s go,” Ice shouted, and one by one, we bumped gloves with Vick before leaving the locker room.
