Page 21 of Defensive Zone

Chapter 5

“Baz, get out there and stop Soupy,” Bugsy barked from behind the bench. “He needs to show more grit against a top defenseman.”

They’d been on the ice for almost an hour. Drills were done and they were doing a quick scrimmage. Soupy had been called up from their farm team five days ago after Desi was injured. He was a solid player, young and ready to go, but they were going up against Vegas tomorrow night and the kid needed a bit of a push.

Vegas was still sitting in first place in the Pacific, with the Strikers only four points behind. Tomorrow night they were going to close that gap by two.

Max hopped over the boards and got into position, staying on Soupy and generally being a pain in the ass. He bit back a laugh, thinking about Gabi and how often she referred to him as a pain in the ass.

Last night had been rough. Arguing with her always fired him up, seeing that irritated flush that spread over her cheeks. The innuendo that he hadn’t been able to resist interjecting into their conversation hadn’t helped matters, either, but he’d been unable to stop himself.

“Baz, what the fuck,” Bugsy called out as Soupy snagged the puck and skated around Max.

Shit.

He pushed Gabi from his mind and focused on the game. The kid was good, but he wasn’t going to catch Max distracted again.

With a grin, Max took off down the ice and snagged the puck right back from Soupy.

“Better luck next time, kid,” he barked out before he headed back down to Gally’s end of the ice and fired it on net. It hit the pipes, and Dom caught the rebound, heading back toward Booksy, their back-up goalie’s net.

Max slid back onto the bench after his shift.

“You daydreaming out there?” Nessie asked.

“Nah. Just wanted to get the kid’s confidence up before I knocked him back down a peg.

“Thought you were thinking about how you were going to prank him,” Nessie said, quirking his brow.

“You know I wait until they’re on the team for a while before I do anything. Gotta get their guards down.”

“Right,” Nessie said.

There was a gleam in the man’s eye that Max was not loving. Did he know?

Part of him should have been nervous that one day they would prank him, but he was too quick. Sure, guys had tried over the last decade that Max had been in the NHL, but no one had succeeded. It was almost disappointing.

They finished up the scrimmage with Max’s team winning, and then some of the guys headed to the cardio room while others worked with the trainers.

An hour later, they walked back into the locker room, and Max sat down on the bench in front of his stall.

“Hey, Johnson, grab me a Gatorade, will you?” he called out, calm as you please.

“Get it yourself, man,” the rookie said. Johnson had joined the team in late October and had played most of the season with the Strikers. He was a great addition to the team.

“You’re right there,” Max grumbled, playing his part.

“Fine.”

Then a scream pierced through the locker room as Johnson fell to the floor, narrowly missing the bench.

“What the fuck, rookie? You okay?” Jake asked.

“I think my hearing is shot. You scream like a little girl,” Dom said, rubbing his ear.

Max bit back a grin and glanced around the room. Cheesy shook his head at Max and sighed. He’d caused the captain to do that a lot over the years and had zero regrets.

“Fucking hell, Baz,” Crow called out.

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