Page 25 of Hat Trick

“Go!” Charlie shouts, her nachos all but forgotten as she thrusts one hand in the air like she’s angling to catch a steer. “Go, go,go!”

Zoe’s not much better, especially as she used to work as a publicist for both the Blades and the Detroit Red Wings. “Find a way out of the pocket, Jax! Let’sgo!”

I don’t watchCarter.

Ican’t.

I tear my gaze away from the Jumbotron, which is focused solely on Carter’s plight to get the hell out ofdodge.

Where ishe?

I catch sight of Beaumont jumping into the fray, his big body towering over the Penguins’ D-lineman as he works to get Carter free from theboards.

A holeopens.

I almost don’t believe it; I almost don’t believe itexists.

But it does, slight and small, and the puck squeaks out like a forgottentoy.

There heis.

My chest deflates with a holler and a happy shout as Marshall hooks his stick around the puck. His powerful legs erase the distance from the players huddled around Carter to Pittsburgh’s net where the goalie holds up his gloves inpreparation.

Marshall doesn’thesitate.

Like a scene from a movie, he fakes a left and the goalie falls for the ploy in a rare show of naivety from a pro-hockeyplayer.

That split-second is all Marshallneeds.

Heaims.

Heshoots.

Hescores.

Hattrick.

The end of the game buzzer rings forty-five seconds later. Marshall’s three-goal performance isn’t enough to pull the Blades to victory, but it proves one thing quite clearly: when Marshall Hunt wants something, he goes forit.

All these years, he’s aimed forme.

Now it’s time to prove that I can return the favor—I plan to score the guy. And for the first time in my life, I’m going allin.

10

Hunt

Giventhe fact that we lost tonight, you’d think that we would be a hell of a lot more pissed off. Yeah, Coach is stomping around like he wouldn’t mind trading us all. Everyone else, though . . . we’ve accepted ourfate.

The win wasn’t in our cards tonight. Maybe if Andre hadn’t decided to illegally elbow someone, he wouldn’t have ended up in the sin bin for a second stint. One power play later, the Penguins had scored the one goal we hadn’t been able toovercome.

Not even my epic goal during the final minutes on the clock could do thetrick.

New game. Newchances.

It’s the motto I live by mostdays.

“Hunt, your phone just wentoff.”

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