Page 47 of Rule Breaker

CHAPTER 18

KAYDEN

This game was brutal. Boston was aggressive as fuck—tripping, shoving, high sticking—and these guys were nasty. There was always trash talk on the ice, but this was next level. Anytime there was a line change or a penalty called, they’d start in, and we gave it right back.

Axel looked like he was about to have a stroke. Dane too. Our captain was known for keeping his cool, but his patience was being tested. In fact, everyone on our team looked as pissy as Maddox on a good day.

By the time we hit the second period, it was still 0-0. Without a goal on the board, we were frustrated as fuck.

“Kayden, Moss, Lund, St. Pierre, Rowland, let’s go!” Banning barked.

I rushed out onto the ice, bracing myself for battle.

Axel faced off against Blaine Reswell, Boston’s center. The guy was fast, but with a nasty habit of playing dirty. He’d gotten away with a tripping call against Axel in the first period that everyone, especially Coach, was still seething over. Axel hit the ice hard and was shaken up. Plus, he got a nasty cut on his chin that had to be superglued. He’d be bruised as hell tomorrow, forsure. But the hit didn’t stop Axel; he was adamant about staying in the game.

“Let’s shut these fucking losers down,” Axel bit out as he skated by me.

I couldn’t agree more.

Another puck drop, another possession for Reswell. Goddamn it. I blinked and he was already taking off down the ice. Was there any stopping this guy? He deke’d around Dane, but Axel and Jace were hot on his trail.

Suddenly Reswell’s elbow snapped up, and Jace got rammed in the shoulder, pushing him into the boards. Coach was screaming, but it was white noise at this point. Jace recovered and took off down the ice. Reswell wasn’t slowing down. If anything, he’d picked up speed.

I staked out the blue line, ready for him.

Until Reswell passed to his teammate, Mika Lasler. Lasler took the shot, the puck whizzing past Silas and right into Maddox’s glove.

Holy shit, no goal…

The whistle blew, but Reswell kept coming. The forward slammed into Silas, who, in turn, collided with Maddox. It all happened so fast I could hardly believe my eyes.

“You fucker!” Silas shouted and shoved Reswell back.

Reswell threw the first punch and all hell broke loose. I skated over to intervene, but I got a hit to the side of my helmet. Motherfucker. Both teams jumped into the fray, crowding around Silas and Reswell, whistles blowing, refs yelling, fans screaming, and chaos erupting.

Someone grabbed the back of my jersey. I whirled around, readying to defend myself, when I realized it was Jace.

“You gotta get him off the ice!” Jace shouted and pointed to the net.

Maddox was lying in his net, face down, shaking.

What the fuck? How badly was he hurt?

“Mad! Mad!” I yelled as I skated over to him, stopping short and getting down on my knees. “Are you okay?”

“Don’t touch me!” he screamed back.

“It’s me. It’s Kayden.”

“Leave me the fuck alone!” he snapped.

“Let me help you get up.”

“No!” he shouted and finally rolled over, face up.

The only thing I could see were his eyes. He was terrified. How badly was he hurt? I didn’t notice any obvious signs, but maybe he was in shock? Getting injured was a horrifying reality for any player.

“Come on. Let’s get you up,” I offered.

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