Page 54 of Grumpy Puck

Not to mention, it was just too good.Scarily good.

“Man, are you seeing this?”Isaac asks, pointing toward the middle of the rink, bringing me back to reality.

I follow his finger, and my hands ball into tight fists.

The Yetis’ team mascot—a red-eyed ape-like creature with white fur—slaps the face of the bear-suit that houses Calliope.

The world turns into a red tunnel of fury.Leaping for the rink, I close the distance between me and the yeti asshole with a couple of strides, and then my fist slams into the ape-like face hard enough that I feel a jaw under all that plush material.

Flailing extra-long furry arms, the yeti glides back until it hits a wall and collapses.

People in the stands laugh, probably thinking this is part of the mascot act.

“What the hell?”Calliope demands, her bear paws on the wide hips of her outfit.“Why did you do that?”

“I saw him slap you.”I skate over to the fallen yeti and use the front of my blade to poke where the ass would be in a human.“Get up.I’m not done with you.”

I would address the asshole by his name, but for the life of me, I can’t recall what it is—that is, if it’s still the same person as when I was on the team.

“It was just a skit,” Calliope hisses.“He approached me when I was doing some photobombing and suggested we play-fight each other.”

“Fuck.”I feel like more of an ape than the guy I just punched.I bend a knee next to the yeti.“You all right?”

“Please,” he says in a raspy voice.“Don’t hit me again.”

“He won’t,” Calliope says reassuringly.

“It was a misunderstanding,” I say gruffly.“Sorry.”

The yeti sits up.“It’s okay.I guess.Help me up?The show must go on.”

I help him up, and then Calliope makes me fall over an invisible rope as revenge.When my ass hits the ice, the crowd laughs uproariously.

After I get up, Calliope and the yeti approach me on opposite sides, and because her hand is hidden behind her back, I’m able to anticipate the moment when she throws a cake at my face—so I dodge it.

The cake slams into the face of the poor yeti—and he collapses yet again.

“Why did you do that?”Calliope demands angrily.

“I never agreed that you could pie me whenever you wanted.”

I go help the guy get to his feet, again, but he tells me that he is fine, and that he fell just for laughs.

“That was a cheesecake, not a pie,” Calliope retorts.“And you deserved to get hit with it.”

“Agree to disagree.”I turn to the other mascot.“I’ll buy you a beer after the game.”

“No, thank you,” the ape says.

“Translation,” Calliope says.“He never wants to see you again.”

A hand lands on my shoulder.“The game is about to start,” Isaac says.

“Sorry,” I say again to the yeti and rejoin my teammates.

“Good job defending your lady’s honor,” Dante says from under his goalie’s mask.

“I was simply in the mood to punch someone pale,” I growl back at him.“So I’d be quiet if I were you.”

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