Page 148 of Ethan

But of course, in reality Avery would rather die than bring up the Norris in the middle of a practice. He just looked over at Hank and gave a nod.

That was about as good as anyone got out of Avery in a practice, it seemed, so Hank didn’t take it personally.

What hedidtake personally was the drill that the coaches picked, which Hank tried not to think was designed to make him look bad. That they hadn’t chosen it to prove to themselves that it would be a mistake to put Hank and Avery together.

Not thank Hank was bad at it; he wasn’t. It was just a drill practically invented to showcase all of Avery’s best skills.

Hank huffed out a breath and met Ethan’s eyes from across the ice. Let his steady gaze calm him. He was good, too. No Avery Barnes, but he could hold his own. Hecould.

The drill started—it was a gap-control drill with Jay, one of the line coaches, holding the puck—with Hank mirroring while Avery did his best to not give Jay a second to get properly positioned with the puck or to take any kind of shot on net.

The drill went on for about thirty seconds at top speed, Avery using his fucking amazing skating to keep right up with Jay, as Hank did his best to follow along and close any gaps that Avery might’ve given away with a slightly off angle.

The thing was, as Hank expected, Avery was really freaking good at this. Hank didn’t think he’d done half badly at it, either, when Avery turned to him.

Hank waited for the worst. Waited for the moment when Avery turned to Jay and Silas and said,What were you thinking?

But that wasn’t what he said at all. Instead, he shot Hank a blunt look and said, “You can actually keep up.”

“Uh,” Hank said. He knew he was pretty good. That he had skill. That hecouldbe even better with time and practice.

Avery huffed out an annoyed breath. How was he notactuallyout of breath? Hank thought he was pretty conditioned, but Hank’s own chest was heaving a bit and Avery looked bored, like they were just getting going. “But,” he added, “you’re gonna need tokeepup, too. There was that one move—”

“Yeah,” Hank agreed. He’d gone on instinct some, and once, he’d read Avery’s intention wrong. If they played together more, he might not’ve, but they’d never been paired together before.

But Avery didn’t say anything else. Just looked over at Jay and said, so clearly there was no mistaking it, “He’s with me the rest of practice.”

“Uh,” Hank said again.

Avery only looked amused. “You got a problem with that, Tuck?”

“No, just . . .”Confused. Unsure. Positive that you don’t really want me.

But Hank got it too, because there really wasn’t anyone else. Willy might’ve been a better fit but he was out, week to week.

“Alright,” Avery said, like he didn’t really need an answer. And frankly, he probably didn’t.

They were almost done with practice, Hank sucking down water like he was dying of thirst—which, he kinda was, if he was being honest, because keeping up with Avery was fucking work—when Avery approached him. “You spent some time in Syracuse, yeah?” he asked, very casually.

Hank swallowed a big gulp of water. “Yeah.”

“Last year and this year, too, right?”

It was hard not to ask if it was emblazoned on his forehead or something. Because how else would Avery have known? He wasn’t exactly pulling out his phone to google Hank during practice.

“Yeah,” Hank admitted.

Avery grunted in the back of his throat. “You and I are gonna be a real talkative pair, aren’t we?”

God, that was probably true. It wasn’t that Hankdidn’ttalk but he was particular about who he talked to. Didn’t open up to just anyone. And if the person intimidated him, then it made it even tougher.

But then, if he and V couldn’t communicate, they wouldn’t end up paired together. And even with only half a practice under their belts, if Hank pulled back and left all his insecurities behind, he could see if he stepped up to the plate, how he and Avery might be a pretty good fit.

“How did you know?” Hank forced out of his mouth.

Avery raised a dark eyebrow. “How did I know what?”

“That I spent time in the AHL.” But it wasn’t surprising he’d had some idea about it; surely he’d looked up every guy on theBandits he could be paired with. Even the ones that didn’t make sense, like Hank.