Page 33 of Dreams on the Ice

“You gotta get all that shit out of your head,” Reid shouts over to me as we stretch on the ice.

Nodding, I look behind me to the reserved seats where the girls sit. Our own little cheering section seems to be growing as these guys add women to their lives one by one. Something that I think is amazing, but when I scan the women, I see that someone is missing.

That someone is usually the brightest star in the stands—at least to me. She’s also the sexiest and the only one I want there. She never misses a game, not unless there’s an emergency at work, and I know she canceled all her appointments today.

“She never misses a game. She’ll be here,” Otto calls out as he skates by me.

He’s right. She will. I need to let this shit go, even though I want her here with me right this fucking second. I just need to know that she’s okay. All the shit that’s been going down, I’m worried about her.

“Besides,” Alexei shouts, gaining my attention.

Standing up, I jerk my chin in his direction in a silent motion for him to continue. His brows snap together as he looks down at me.

“It’s your birthday. She would not miss your game or your party.”

He’s right. She wouldn’t miss this night. Shaking off the doubts, the stress, and everything else, I finish warming up. My focus is no longer on who is in the audience, what is going on in the outside world, or anything like that.

It’s now the game.

And the ice.

The sound of my skates cutting the ice beneath me fills my thoughts. Pushing every single other noise out of my mind, I focus on that one. On the ice. The cuts. The game. Because this is everything.

This is my world.

My life.

My happiness.

At least it was, but is any of this worth shit without Brooklynn? Because she is what makes me whole. She fills that part of me that I hadn’t even known was missing. And without her, nothing else means much.

Brooklynn has become my driving source. I’ve never felt this way before. And I can’t help but feel as if it’s all going to slip between my fingers at any given second.

Chapter

Sixteen

FORREST

Moving quickly,I use my stick and my speed to skate through the defensemen, spinning around and passing the puck to Tomas. When I’m open again, he slaps it back to me, and then I take the shot.

Goal.

Fucking goal.

The buzzer sounds, and we make our way back to the box. I take this moment to look at the audience again and let out a sigh of relief when I see her. Everyone is going wild, and the music is blaring.

The goal is mine.

Brooklynn is wearing our jersey along with a short-as-fuck skirt. Her hair is done, her eyes on mine, and she waves. I wave back to her. Then she blows me a kiss, and it goes straight to my fucking dick.

The game is almost over. One more period and this game will be ours. We skate as a team toward the lockers. Waiting forCoach Burns, I try to keep to the back, knowing he will, without a doubt, have something to say about my playing.

Sure, I scored a goal, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have anything to be pissed at me about. I’m sure I fucked up more than once. As we gather around for our pep talk, a ballbusting speech that he is no doubt going to give, I grab a bottle of water and suck the contents in one gulp.

“This is the first real game of the season. While I’m sure you can all do better, at the same time, you’re doing well right now. I can’t expect you to be at your end-of-season best by the first game.”

I’m shocked by how calm he’s being. Maybe he’s sick or something. I’m not sure. But it’s weird, nonetheless. Then, as if he realizes that he’s being too soft, his spine straightens, and he starts dissecting everything that we’ve been doing wrong, man by man.

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