Page 101 of The Trophy

“You have no idea how much it’s working,” I say, leaning to the side to grab the strap of my backpack without dropping her. “But the whole point of me bringing you here was because we can’t stay up all night, which is what will happen if we get naked.”

She giggles, letting out a little squeal when I let go of one of her thighs to open the locker room door.

“What’s failing my Russian Literature exam if I get to spend a night with you?” she jokes.

I know she doesn’t mean it. Lakyn is one of the most conscientious students I’ve ever met. “Yeah, I know you and you wouldn’t be able to survive the embarrassment of not getting an A, let alone fail.”

“You’re right,” she admits, suddenly serious. “Besides, that would be a nightmare with my scholarship.”

I nod, removing our guards and opening the low barrier that separates the bench area from the actual ice. “Talking about your scholarship,” I say, lowering her back onto her feet. “Did you talk to your student advisor?”

I take both her hands and she grabs onto me with white-knuckle force. “Yeah. She said that all the classes I have left for next year can be attended online.”

“That’s fucking awesome,” I do a mental fist pump, because there’s no way I can do a real one any time soon. “My schedule is sorted out too. It’ll probably take me a little longer than a year to finish my degree with a full time job, but I’ll try to be wise and use the time on the road to study.”

There’s a beat of hesitation on her face. “I really hope you guys get all signed by the Bridgeport Warriors. Just the idea of living together, the four of us, is…”

“Perfect?” I finish for her.

“It’s a dream,” she nods. “But what happens if one of you doesn’t get signed?”

I don’t want to give her false hope, since a poor performance in the rest of our conference games and possibly in the playoffs, or a serious injury could still scare off the Warriors, but I tell her how I really feel.

“I don’t have a way to tell the future, pretty girl. All I can tell you is that our agents have been more than hopeful about our prospects with this team. So all the guys and I have to do is to keep playing the way we have so far. But if something happens and one or more of us don’t get signed, we decided not to enter the draft after all. We’ll try our luck as free agents and we’ll have our agents work hard to get us signed with the same team, or at least within commutable distance.”

She doesn’t look convinced. “Commutable distance?”

I nod. “We can make things work. There are several NHL teams in the New York/New Jersey area, two in Pennsylvania. Two in Florida. But this is worst case scenario, Lake. All you need to know is that Luca, Cash and I are determined to be with you and nothing will change that. I have a good feeling though that we’ll all be in Bridgeport after Frozen Four. Which by the way, we plan on smashing.”

I finally get what I wanted, a bright smile on my girl’s face. “You make it sound possible, Blaze. But if I’ve learned anything in the past few months, is that everything is possible if you want it badly enough and if you put your mind to it.”

I beam back at her. “That’s my girl. And you’re right, everything is possible. Look at you, you were so scared, but you’ve been skating a few circles of the rink while we were talking.”

“Shit, you’re right.” She gasps, looking at our joined hands. “It’s because of you, Blaze. Without you holding my hands, my ass would be black and blue by now from all the falling.”

Sometimes Lakyn doesn’t give herself enough credit. “Nah,” I say, slowing down just a little. “You’ve been practically skating on your own, you haven’t been leaning on me that much. Look,” I let go of one of her hands, just to show her that she’s capable of skating on her own.

“Oh.” She marvels, picking up the pace. “This is actually so much fun. Will you teach me again how to skate? I’d love to impress Bay one day.”

I smile. “Anything you want, pretty girl. Are you hungry yet? I’ve made us BLTs and my mom’s famous Irish mashed potato salad.”

“That sounds delicious. I was so taken by being here with you that I forgot how famished I am.”

“Let’s go, then.”

We change direction, skating toward the home team bench, where I left my backpack.

“Blaze?” Lakyn sounds a little worried. “How do we stop? Do we crash into the barrier?”

I can’t help but laugh. “Well, that’s one way to stop. Or I can teach you how to do it without crashing against the boards or the fences. Ready?”

She nods.

“Ok, bend your knees slightly, just like that, perfect. Now let’s shift our weight slightly back, away from the direction we’re skating toward. Start rotating your hips a little bit and angle your skate blades, digging the side of your skates into the ice. Just like this.”

I stop and she’s right on track, but her foot wobbles and she starts going down.

“I got you, Lake.” I let go of her hand, drawing her into my arms. “I’ll never let you fall, pretty girl.” I whisper, holding her against my chest.

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