Page 25 of Rowdy Hearts

Since I couldn’t tell if she was joking or not, I answered honestly. “Nah.” I paused. “But it can get kinda strange.”

“Strange how?”

Putting the truck in gear, I stomped on the gas and tore out of driveway before I realized I had a lady in the car and should probably drive like a normal human. I dropped the speed back to only ten miles over the limit. Of course, it felt like I was crawling, but when I looked over to see how Tressy was handling it, she was peeling her fingers off the arm rest so I figured I should keep it there.

“Well, last year, one of the rookies offered to remain a virgin for the rest of the season if he scored a hat trick in his first game.”

She went silent for at least a full half minute. “Did it work?”

I snorted. “Course not. So he lost his V-card the next night and scored a Gordie Howe hat trick at the next game.”

I stole another glance and found her looking bemused and amused.

“A what?”

“It’s when you get a goal, an assist and a fighting penalty in the same game.”

“And that’s a good thing?”

“Yep. Especially in our league.”

Another silence. “Is there something different about your league? I don’t know that much about hockey, sorry.”

“No need to be sorry. I can teach you everything you need to know.”

I flashed a smile, but she didn’t appear to be falling for my charm. I could respect that. Didn’t like it, but I could respect it. Just meant I had to work harder. And I was nothing if not a hard worker.

“Our league is different than other leagues you might know. Like the NHL. Sure, they make a hell of a lot of money, and they get a lot of press. But we have a hell of a lot more fun.”

“And how do you do that?”

“We don’t take the game as seriously, so it moves faster. We give a better show.”

“So it’s more of a hobby league.”

My back cranked into a straighten line, and I had to remind myself she wasn’t dissing me or my game. She honestly just didn’t know.

“No. We just think the game should be more fun.” Damn, I sounded like I had a stick stuck up my ass, so I made a conscious effort to relax. “We make it more fun for everyone. Our league doesn’t have some of the rules the NHL does. I mean, we have rules. We’re just a little more, uh, lenient when it comes to some things.”

“Like what?”

“Like penalties. There’s not a lot of penalties in our league. And we do a lot of fun stuff for the fans during the game.”

“Like what?”

She sounded genuinely interested, and I flashed her another grin, which still didn’t land with the impact it usually did.

Losing your touch in your old age, man. And not just with women.

“Well, all the players have a certain thing they do when they score a goal. Like Rebel. He does this stupid dance that everyone loves, and the Angels toss Devils’ underwear into the crowd. KooKoo grabs a Thor hammer from the bench and circles the ice with it while the girls throw lightning bolts.”

“Girls?”

Shit. I glanced over, not surprised to find her staring at me with raised eyebrows. “Uh, the Angels. So, I’ve known some of the, uh, women since birth, so, yeah. Sorry.”

“You’ve always lived here?”

“Except when I went to college. Penn State.” I shrugged. “Never wanted to live anywhere else.”

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