Page 121 of Oh, Puck!
We're six strangers in matching jerseys. Mason's a half-second late on everything because he's watching Beck instead of the puck. I miss a pass Corbin puts right on my tape.
The whole time, Coach is pacing the bench like a man rehearsing a eulogy.
We're down two-nothing by the first intermission. Then still two-nothing deep into the second.
And then, at the second intermission, with the team huddled at the bench and Coach barking about zone entries, the jumbotron changes and my eyes catch on the giant screen in the center of the rink.
It's supposed to be the fan cam, but the ESPN logo spins in the center of the screen instead.
Oh, shit.
BREAKING: BEARS EXEC'S SECRET AFFAIR WITH CAPTAIN — "SHE SLEPT HER WAY TO THE SELLOUT"
The graphic slams across all four screens. My face, Josie's face, the boardwalk audio captioned in yellow, and a sneering voiceover:"Sources say Whitfield's meteoric rise had less to do with marketing… and more to do with the captain's bedroom. Word out of the NHL's newest franchise is that the female climbing the roster one Morrison at a time—"
The crowd's murmur begins to swirl.
"EYES HERE," Coach Pearson is shouting, physically stepping in front of me, blocking my sightline with his own body. "Morrison, eyes onme. Forget the screen, dammit!"
But I can't help it.
A hundred feet away, in the glass VIP box, I watch Josie's mother read the screen. Her expression changes before my eyes, and I can only sit and watch her turn toward her daughter.
Oh no.
Her mouth starts moving, fast and sharp, and Josie stands up so quickly her chair tips. I can't look away, sitting here helplessly as her mother snatches her purse and storms for the door with Josie chasing after her.
The screens finally cut to a car dealership ad.
But the damage is done.
"Declan." Coach grabs my facemask, forces my eyes down to his. "I need you to focus, son. I know what's going on. Iknow, son. Give me twenty minutes of hockey, and then you go be whatever you need to be. But right now your team is drowning, and they need their goddamn captain. You hear me?"
I look him in the eye, the building shaking around me. Myworldshattering around me.
Two months ago I came to this town to feel nothing. Now I'm standing on a bench feeling everything at once.
Beck's hatred, Josie's humiliation, my father's poison spreading through every single person I love. It's agony, it's absolute agony, but underneath the agony something cold clicks into place.
You either got it or you don't,Coach told me once.You read the play three seconds early. That's what makes you special.
And you know what?
He's fucking right. Icanread the play.
And I see it now.
Tonight is the moment it all finally clicks into place: she's it. She's the one.
Not a fling, not a complication, not a reckless one night stand. And I know, deep in my bones, that whatever the world throws at us, we survive it. My father's poison, Beck's silence, every disaster stacking up tonight… none of it changes the truth.
And the truth is that even though the world has already swung its hardest punch… I'm still standing. Still breathing. Still here.
I'm not going down without a fight.
Because for me, she's worth it. She's worth every goddamn fight.
Coach is still glaring at me, waiting to see the fire in my eyes.
