Page 33 of Playmaker

At least the buzzer sounding the end of warmups snapped my mind back into gear. I’d been playing hockey for so long, that it was almost an automatic shift—once warmups ended, everything else was shut off except for the game.

Except, apparently, my inability to look away from Lila as I walked up the chute behind her. Even with her pads and gear on, she was just—

Sabrina.

Come on.

What the hell?

I shook myself, and in the locker room, I called upon the same habit I had while she and I had been at odds—don’t fucking look at her. Look anywherebutat her. Pretend she wasn’t there. Don’t think about her, don’t look at her—no, seriously, don’t think about her. Or those eyes. Or that body. Or that smile. Or—

“All right, ladies!” Coach Reilly said. “Let’s go do this!”

Oh, crap. She was done with her pre-game speech and everyone was once again heading for the ice.

Well, I’d made it through games before where I was even more distracted by much worse things than my hot teammate. Breakups, fights with my dad, my grandma in the hospital—if I could play through those, I could play through this.

Granted in those situations, I didn’t have the object of my distraction right there the whole time, but whatever. I’d make it work. I had to.

When the puck dropped, my scattered mind snapped into focus. Time to win a hockey game.

I lost the faceoff, but Laws managed to pick the other player’s pocket just before they crossed into our defensive zone.

It was a grind. Every inch of the ice we gained against this team was an absolute battle. They managed to score on us twice in the first period, but we rallied and squeaked one in just before the buzzer sounded. The vibe in the locker room was frustrated but optimistic—this was a tough, tough team to beat, but they weren’t unstoppable. We could do this. Next period, we’d carry the momentum from Anastasia’s goal and tie things up. Then we’d focus on obtaining, holding, and extending a lead.

The second period started with the same back-and-forth energy, but determination radiated off all my teammates. When the third line got out there, they managed to get Boston into their own end and keep them there, hemming them in so they couldn’t risk a line change. With their skaters starting to get fatigued, ours started to peel away one at a time so my line could go out.

By the time Anastasia, Laws, and I were out on the ice with Sims at the blue line and Lila in the fray with us, Boston’s skaters were absolutely gassed. Perfect.

We cycled the puck to wear them down a little more while we found a shooting lane. I realized I wasn’t in a good position, so I carried the puck around behind the goal, and when I came out the other side, I searched for someone to pass to or a scoring chance of my own.

I’d barely made it out of the trapezoid before a Boston defender checked me. Fortunately, I’d seen her coming, and I stayed on my skatesandheld on to the puck.

She was coming back for more, though, and there was another player closing in.

“Hams!” I called out, and when Lila turned her head, the puck was already halfway to her.

It landed right on her tape. I thought she’d pass to Laws, but instead she fired a beautiful one-timer from the point.

The puck sailed right through a dense screen of players and over the goaltender’s left shoulder.

Lila pumped her stick in the air and shouted, though her voice and the goal horn were both swallowed up by the roar of the crowd.

She had her first goal of the season, and the Pittsburgh Bearcats had the lead.

We celebrated with her, almost toppling her with hugs, and as I embraced her against the glass—

Oh. Hell.

The crowd disappeared. The goal song faded to nothing.

There was just…

Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?

Thank God, Sims picked that moment to smack my back, and the spell was broken. Lila and I broke eye contact, and hopefully no one thought the extra color in both our faces was anything other than exertion. Then we were skating toward the bench for fist bumps, Lila leading the pack since she’d been the one to score.

After our brief celebration with the team, the five of us took our seats while the second line and second pair went out. As we cooled down, I stole a glance at Lila, who was at the other end of the bench with the defenders.

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