Page 128 of Sinful Secrets

Movement to my right catches my eye. Two security men move to stand closer to the glass in the Zamboni tunnel.

I guess Avery was right. Arturo Marino has the arena heavily monitored and guarded.

Chapter Twenty-Six

SAVANNAH

I throwmy empty bottle of water in the trash can before taking off my skates and slipping my sneakers back on as the third period starts. Grabbing my sign, I run up the few steps to join Christy on the corner stand.

She’s leaning over the railing flirting with a man who is sitting one row up. He stands out in this crowd. He’s not wearing Sharks’ gear or colors. He’s wearing a white polo and a pair of khakis. His hair is well manicured, and he doesn’t have a beard.

Not even a five o’clock shadow.

“Who’s the man you’re flirting with?” I whisper as I turn around to watch the game for a few moments.

She grins. “My husband. He got off work early and came here to surprise me. Isn’t he just the greatest?”

“That was very nice of him.”

I turn around to give him another look. Even though there’s a hockey game going on, he’s not paying attention to it. He only has eyes for Christy. There is so much love and admiration in his smile that it causes me to smile, too.

“Hi. I’m Savannah.” I say as I wave my sign.

He glances at me just long enough to introduce himself before returning his gaze back on Christy.

The crowd stands and cheers for our players.

A whistle is blown, stopping the game. It’s followed by several whistles being blown repeatedly. Turning around to see what is going on, I watch several players skate across the ice.

Two opposing players have Joey pressed against the glass. One of them has his forearm pressed against Joey’s neck, and the other player is yelling something.

Rhett pulls one man off of Joey, but two more join the group, pushing and shoving at our players.

A man pushes Spencer from behind. Being caught off guard, Spencer almost falls to the ice, but he regains his balance. He spins around and, without giving the man a chance to back up, he punches the guy straight in the jaw.

This seems to spur on the other players.

Fists fly as both teams push and pull at one another. It takes all four referees several minutes to break up this massive fight. Screams and cheers echo through the arena as our team skates across the ice to their team bench.

The four referees meet up on the side before one skates in front of the announcer’s box.

“Number thirty-four, Savannah Sharks, two minutes for roughing. Number twenty-four, San Diego Storm, two minutes for cross checking. Number seventeen, Savannah Sharks, two minutes for fighting.”

The crowd boos as Joey and Spencer skate to the penalty box. With two penalties to their one, our players need to focus and keep them from scoring.

Maybe, if we are lucky, we can keep the one to zero lead and win the game.

Christy and I take turns waving our signs and encouraging the crowd to get loud and cheer for our guys.

I try to keep my focus on the people in the audience, even going as far as counting how many people are wearing white jerseys- forty-eight by the way, but my mind and my ear focus on the announcer and what he’s saying.

“The Savannah Sharks have found a way to turn their losing season streak around. For the first time in nearly three seasons, fans are hopeful for the team to become playoff contenders.”

From the research I’ve done, the Sharks had the most penalty minutes in the entire league last season.

They also had the most losses, but according to several news outlets, they had the zero trades.

Why wouldn’t they trade any players after having back-to-back losing seasons?

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