Page 51 of Risky Play

“Yeah. Do you like this guy?”

I nodded. So much, and I felt silly over my schoolgirl crush.

“Then get it in!” Karen cheered, and she and Kiira high-fived. “Who gives a shit what your brother thinks?”

“Hey, you could always have fun sneaking around,” Kiira suggested.

I shook my head at them. I was glad for their support, but it wasn’t that simple.

Chapter Fourteen

MATT

“That’s holding!” I yelled from the bench, trying to support my teammates on the ice.

The Columbus Assassins had been getting away with every dirty play in the book tonight, and it was pissing me off. Hallsy shook his head at my antics since he was used to me being vocal during games. Sometimes that got me in trouble. Riley told me to work on that so refs didn’t call me for a bullshit penalty like they did last period. Those assholes seemed to remember who made their job a little harder. Maybe if they actually did their job, I wouldn’t have to speak up so much.

Hallsy nudged me—it was go time. While he used the door, I hopped over the bench and skated onto the ice into play. Benny took the face-off while Hallsy and I studied our opponents, looking for our in to get possession of the puck. We needed Benny to win the face-off first.

But he didn’t, and we raced off down the ice, trying to get the puck away from the Assassins while Riley and Logan tried to be our wall of defense in front of the net. There were five minutes left in the period, and we were winning, but nothing was ever over that quickly in hockey. I’d learned that lesson the hard way. Every second in hockey mattered, and any second could be the difference in a tide-turning game.

After getting benched, I was ready to prove to my coaches, my teammates, and even this city that I was here to win it all. That meant showing up on the ice every night and skating my balls off if I had to. Tonight was no different.

I hustled down the ice, my heart wanting to explode as I skated from zone to zone, trying to get the puck into the net, but to no avail. The Assassins D-men were on my ass all shift while Riley and Logan were killing it, and Metzy was a brick wall in front of the net. I needed to find that opening if I wanted to put up another point and help my team toward another win.

But that point eluded me. We got shots on goal, but nothing connected. After skating back to the bench when my shift was over, I watched as we won the game by merely running out the clock. I hated winning games that way. It was still a win, but I couldn’t help but feel disappointed in my performance tonight.

Part of it was because I was distracted by my conflicted thoughts about Maddie.

“You did fine tonight,” Benny said as we shuffled back to the locker room.

“I need another point,” I argued.

“We won the game. That’s what matters.”

I tried not to argue with him. Benny had been in the league for a while and knew what he was talking about, but it didn’t assuage my worries about my standing with the team.

“He’s worried about getting benched again,” Hallsy piped up.

Benny waved me off. “That was to give TJ more ice time. Don’t take it personally.”

Kinda hard not to, but Riley had reassured me of the same thing. I trusted both veterans not to steer me wrong.

The locker room was bumping with our victory song when we walked in. I stripped off my gear while we waited for Riley to announce who got the Silver Bucket we gave to the MVP of the game. It was pretty obvious who the star player of the night was. It wasn’t a team win. Tonight was a goaltender game. Fucking chess match.

Riley turned down the stereo. “Alright, boys, no surprise, it’s that beauty, Metzy!”

“METZY! METZY! METZY!” my teammates cheered. It was contagious, especially with TJ standing on top of the bench and lifting his hands in the air, urging us to get louder.

Metzy pale face reddened. He was a quiet guy, kinda serious like Noah, but for a goaltender, it made more sense. He had a lot riding on his shoulders, and sometimes he took the blame for a loss when he didn’t have good skaters in front of him. Goalie seemed like the worst yet most important position on the team. I wasn’t sure I could handle that pressure. Metzy carried the weight in stride, never letting the pressure get to him. He had shone brighter than the rest of us tonight with his aerobatic moves in net. Proof once again why the young kid was our superstar goalie.

Metzy took the helmet and put it on his head. He said a few words, and then we all finished taking our showers. Noah had to meet with the media since he scored the lone goal in the game, but I planned to take off without him anyway.

“You need a ride home?” he asked before heading into the media room.

“Nah, I’m gonna meet a friend tonight. I’ll see you later.”

He eyed me suspiciously. “Don’t be late for the jet tomorrow.”