Page 87 of My Best Bet

“Help who? Mer? Or the guy?” Kappy laughed, patting my shoulder. “Mer Bear’s about to choke him out.”

My neck snapped back to the jumbotron. He was right… The man’s face was turning a deep shade of red.

Security officers thankfully streamed down the stairs to separate out the brawl, and my chest finally loosened. The officers apprehended the large guy in a Bandits jersey and led him up the stairs while the whole crowd heckled and booed him.

Lucy and Mer were led up the stairs next, but the crowd cheered them on. Shaggy’sWasn’t Meblasted through the stadium— the same song they played when one of us got a penalty. The jumbotron lit up with a slo-mo replay of the fight. I watched closely as Mer held Lu in her arms and motioned to the aisle, and then like a horrible nightmare-come-to-life, the man shoved her hard, making her almost lose her balance. After that, Mer basically lost her ever-loving mind on him.

“Clearly self-defense,” Kappy said with a shrug.

“Clearly,” JP agreed.

The jumbotron caught a still of Mer’s angry face and wrote underneath it:The Flannel Fighter!

The entire stadium erupted in loud crazy cheers. My whole bench started cracking up laughing.

“Colt’s girls have more fighting minutes than him in this game!” someone called out.

My heart was still beating erratically in my chest, hating that a man even tried to threaten my girls like that.

Mygirls.I paused. I kind of loved the sound of that.

Coach came up behind me on the bench and patted me on the shoulder. “They handled that situation pretty well, why don’t you go handle it out there, eh?”

“Yeah, yeah.” I nodded, blowing out a breath of relief. My body coursed with so much adrenaline that I needed to skate right fucking now.

“Let’s go, boys!” Kappy yelled out, clearly feeling it too.

It seemed like Mer and Lu’s fight changed the momentum in the stadium. When they were led back to their seats at the next stop in play, the whole stadium practically gave them a standing ovation.

When the crowd started cheering “flannel fighter,” Kappy’s shoulders dropped. “First game she comes to and she gets a chant? I want a chant.”

I laughed. “Maybe if you score.”

His head snapped to mine. “You think?”

I shrugged.

The next shift out, Watson and JP went for bodies. They blew up a couple of the players and easily fed the puck up to us forwards.

Kappy, Carroway, and I stormed the net for a three-on-one. When the puck hit my stick, I faked a shot and slid it over to Kappy who one-timed it straight to the back of the net.

Kappy immediately jumped into the boards right in front of Lu and Mer, and we all crashed into him to celebrate. Unfortunately, he still didn’t get his own chant.

The game was tied up 2-2 with only a minute left in the third when Coach called a time out.

My line stood out on the ice and the rest of the team gathered around Coach while he drew up a play on his whiteboard.

The Darkness’sI Believe In A Thing Called Loveblasted through the rink. Beside me, Kappy kept bumping into me while he sang quietly, using the top of his stick as a microphone.

“Kappy!” Coach barked, his face practically shaking with anger. “Get your head in the game, son!”

Kappy cleared his throat and stood straighter. “Sorry, sir.” He shrugged. “I've got the music in me.”

JP dropped his head. “Dear God.”

I just laughed. “Let’s go boys, let’s get one.”

The next face-off was a struggle, angling my body to ward off their center, I was finally able to kick the puck back to our D. Out of the corner of my eye, Henrik bolted out of the net and headed straight for our teambox. As soon as he jumped the boards, Rossi skate-ran into the zone.

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