Page 53 of Pucked and Pregnant

“You’re going to have to get in line.”

“You both need to calm the fuck down. Right now.”

“Give me one good reason I should do that instead of stabbing this fork through your hand.”

Aiden sighs. “Because you’ll have to explain to Max why you did it. He just walked back in.”

“This isn’t over,” I threaten.

“Fine. Whatever. Just shut up before he gets in earshot.”

It looks like Max had about as much fun as we did while he was gone.

“I assume you guys got Coach’s text? That was fast, even for him,” he says, dropping back down into his chair.

“What text?”

“The one that says practice has been moved up to a half an hour from now. You didn’t get it?”

We shake our heads.

“Okay, but why do you guys look like you want to murder someone?”

I force a wry smile onto my face. “We started arguing about the best strategies for the game. You know how it is.”

“Dimitri wants to jump in and be aggressive as usual and?—”

“And you want to keep swapping to new plays when it gets too hard,” Dimitri snaps back.

Max laughs. “Okay, so where do you sit, Aiden?”

“Aiden’s all for misdirection so he can sneak in and score,” I say metaphorically, glaring at him.

“And… this is why I’m Captain. You three can never manage to see the bigger picture.”

“So why the practice time change?” I ask.

“Because somebody high enough up said so.” He scowls. “I fucking hate politicians.”

“So do I, but that doesn’t tell us much, Mr. Big Picture.”

He shoves my shoulder playfully. “I was getting to it, jackass. The governor’s wife and daughter are apparently huge fans of ours. They’re flying in for the game, and we’re going to be having dinner with them at the Eiffel Tower restaurant right after.”

“What do you mean by we?”

“The four of us, plus Timmins and Coach.”

“Timmins? Really? Karev is a much better goalie and he’s less annoying,” Dimitri grouses.

“Who cares about Timmins? What I want to know is why the hell the governor didn’t tell us ahead of time. He does realize the schedule is available to the public, right?”

“According to Coach it was all last minute. He called me as soon as management called him.”

“I’m assuming it’s mandatory?” Aiden asks.

“That would be an understatement.”

A fight, practice, and now a fucking dinner. Can the day get any worse?

---