Page 58 of Breakneck Hockey

Chapter 10

Vancouver

Casey

My body feels like hamburger meat after so many days of training camp. This is going to require a new bag of watermelon Jolly Ranchers. I’ve been saving this bag for a day like today. People think I eat them non-stop, but that’s not true. I obsess over them enough that it’s on their minds about me. They’re too hard to get for me to eat them every day. Only a few shops online have ‘em at all. Theo Meyer’s Awesome Candy Shoppe is one of them, but only because I begged him to carry them. Yeah, me begging a six-year-old for candy. Insert joke about candy from a baby. But the fancy PA Rhett got him can track down anything. Rhett helped him start the business, and for some reason, the little Meyer looks up to Rhett.

But watermelon Jolly Ranchers are always out of stock. I buy as many bags as I can at a time and ration them.

I pop the hard candy into my mouth and let it clack against my teeth, sucking the tangy morsel until it turns my saliva into a river of watermelon-flavored goodness.Yeah. That’s the stuff.Better than Christmas.

“Um, the team manager wants to see you, bro,” Stacey says. He also gives me the brow, the one asking me if I’m making out with Jolly Ranchers again. He’s not a sweets guy, and that makes me question our relation.

I let my head slam against my cubby. I’m still half in my hockey gear, I don’t wanna go. I toss my practice jersey at him.

“Quick, go pretend to be me.”

“Not a chance. Get your ass in there, little brother.”

Uuuuuuuggh. Fuck my life. I shake off the rest of my gear, throw a t-shirt and sweatpants over my sweaty body, and trudge toward my doom. Only three days as a Vancouver Orca and I’m already called to the principal’s office. That principal being our team manager, Milton. I’ve only heard rumors about him so far, but he’s supposedly a hard ass. He also follows the team around, which I didn’t expect. He came to training camp just to get to know all of us. Set up a little office right at the temporary practice arena so he could chat with us if necessary.

Guess it’s necessary for me. He seems controlling and not in the fun way.

Huh. The fun way. Sutter controls me in the fun way.

Spread, kitten. That’s a good little Alderchuck. Show me how fucking much you want my cock.

I shiver. Maaaaybe I could forgive him enough to fuck me again. Maybe.

Walking into the office, holy shit, am not prepared for the strong Daddy vibes bleeding off Milton. I’ve seen him from afar, but one-on-one like this is different. He’s got a military precision haircut with plenty of silver fox highlights, complete with a classic gray suit. I would so suck his cock to get out of whatever trouble I know I’m in. He’s too above board for anything like that, though, so I’m royally fucked.

“Hey, Milton. You wanted to see me?”

He looks up as if he forgot he called me in. “Right.” He squints. “Which Alderchuck are you?”

See? Stacey totally coulda sat in this meeting for me. “Casey, sir.”

“Sit.”

My ass barely touches the chair. He whips out an iPad, sliding it before me. I lean in to read the headline.What Was Really Behind Vancouver’s 2011 Stanley Cup Mayhem?

“Do you remember this game, Casey?”

Remember it? I was downtown when it happened. We couldn’t afford tickets, so a bunch of us teens got in on the outdoor parties happening in the city. It was game seven of the Stanley Cup final against Boston. Excitement and tensions were high. The Vancouver Orcas have never won a Stanley Cup. That was supposed to be our year. That dream was burned to the ground just as surely as the city almost was.

“Yup.” I’m not giving anything away. No, I wasn’t one of the idiots breaking the glass doors of the local Shoppers Drug Mart—those kinds of activities were reserved for criminals like Sutter—but I had been underage drinking. Okay, okay, so Jack may have taken a picture of himself in front of a flaming car, but he got in so much fucking trouble from the captain for that.

“What do you think was the cause?”

“I’d say too much alcohol. There were a lot of drunk people that night. Drinking makes people stupid.”

“Wrong. Our team of experts studied every angle. They took a special interest in the psychology of mob mentality, which had striking similarities to warfare mentality. And not for the reasons you’d think, like the biological need for the survival of genes. On a societal level, war gives a sense of unity, a common goal. That’s how a rivalry is born. Passionate rivalry led to the riots.”

“Um, okay.” I have no idea where he’s going with this.

“We’ve compiled a list of teams that seem to inspire this sense of rivalry more than others based on crowd draw and internet trends. The one we’re here to talk about today is this one.”

He switches the picture on the screen. The Boston Copperheads logo pops up and my heart and stomach squeeze at the same time. I know without doubt this has something to do with Sutter. He played for the Boston Sharks last season—in the AHL—and now he’s moved up to the Copperheads.

---