Page 30 of Tricky Puck

“Then why aren’t you home with Cherry?” I really want to know.

“Because I’m team captain.” He says this as if I ought to know better.

I snort and dig into my steak, cutting a juicy chunk and shoving it into my mouth, remembering how hungry I am. All I had today was toast, a bag of peanuts on the plane—and Grandma’s cookies.

“So, you going to sit here and watch me eat?” I say after I swallow.

“It was your idea to go for a beer after dinner, but we could leave without you.” Jason always talks back like he wants me to take a swing at him. We came to blows only once. No need to repeat that shit.

I raise my middle finger at him, and Sabien rolls his eyes. “Finish your fucking steak, and let’s get out of here. I’ll go see if some of the rookies want to join us.”

Heaving a sigh, I watch him get up and talk to the younger guys at a nearby table. And by younger—I mean three or four years age difference. Not much, except in hockey years.

“He’s a good team leader,” Jason says as if he’s having trouble believing it.

I snort and don’t stop eating until my plate is clean. Grandma would be proud. But then I never had a problem finishing all my food. Being the old-school Italian grandma that she is, she admired my accomplishment each night at dinner as if I’d won the Stanley Cup of scarfing food.

Shaking my head, I wonder if I’ll see her before the holidays with Coach’s expectations what they are.

“So tell me what I missed at this morning’s meeting.”

Jason turns back to me from watching Sabien. “Coach Spence is on a mission. If we thought he was a hard-ass before, fuck no. Picture a hard-ass on steroids and cracked out of his mind to push this team—carry us, if he has to—to win the Cup.” He gives me a wary squint. “He ream you good?”

“Worse.” I take a breath and say it out loud. “He threatened to trade me if I mess up again and don’t make hockey my top priority.”

“Fuck. That’s harsh. Even for him.” Then he adds, “But you did show up three hours late for our first⁠—”

“I know.” I don’t bother explaining that I thought I could catch an earlier flight and get in fifteen minutes late—not that that would have been ideal. If I’d made my original flight, I’d have been at the arena an hour early. “I’d planned to be in early. But…” Shit went sideways. I met Delaney. “Grandma threw me a curve ball.”

“Don’t blame this on your grandma. She’s not why you spent the night with some woman⁠—”

“She’s the one who set me up with Delaney—scratch that—she hired a matchmaker to set me up.”

Jason laughs. “Sounds like Delaney is a winner. Guess that matchmaker knew what the hell she was doing.”

“I’d laugh if I didn’t have a cramp in my ass right now from doing speed drills. As if I’m not already the fastest⁠—”

Sabien returns to the table with two rookies in tow, Beau Picard, a goalie, and Liam Olsson, a defenseman, in time to comment, “Chase is the fastest guy on the team.”

“We should have a race between you two,” Liam grins.

“Like no one ever thought of that before,” I say.

“Who won?” Liam holds his grin for a beat while I stare him down.

Sabien saves me from having to answer. Maybe he is a good team leader. He pulls me from my chair as if I need help, as if he notices my exhaustion. “Let’s get out of here. How about we walk over to The Hole in the Wall bar for a quick one and say hello to Walt, our favorite barkeep?”

“Only one beer?” Beau says.

“We have a game tomorrow night,” I tell him. No smile.

I’m the second one in the locker room before the game. Sabien is here, dressed in sweats, sitting back against a heating pad and zoning out or waiting for the rest of us to catch up with his brand of commitment.

He opens his eyes and smirks at me. “I see Coach Spence made an impression on you.”

I grunt and head for my cubby. I haven’t shared the details of my conversation with Coach with anyone but Jason, and I don’t plan to. No way am I mentioning the T word to another soul. The threat of getting traded is the kind of talk that could set people on edge and kill a locker room’s morale. Guess Coach Spence wasn’t worried about me spreading that around.

“So tell me about Delaney.” Shit. Jason said something to him. Probably under duress. Not that Sabien doesn’t have a right to know as a friend and team captain.