Page 78 of Brace and Chase

“First one on the ice gets the first blow job,” he says suddenly, and he’s sprinting as soon as the last word leaves his mouth. Stomping out of the locker room, he cackles at my outraged shout.

“Motherfucker,” I growl playfully, gaining on him. Using skates on the actual floor isn’t my preference, but I think I’m doing a good job when I get close enough to tug on his arm to get him out of my way.

“You really want it, huh?” he shouts vaguely. I know he probably wanted to say something else, but I’m glad he restrained himself. From what I know of him that’s not one of his strong suits. Then he’s running beside me as the rink comes into view when we turn into the tunnel.

I win by a fraction of a second, and raise my arms like I’m Rocky or some shit while Nikolay hangs his head in mock defeat.

I actually can’t fucking wait to see what it’s like, but what I’m most excited for, is to turn the tables on him eventually, make him lose his fucking mind from how good I make it for him.

Ice practice goes smoothly,and it’s the first time in Pirates territory that it does.

It feels right, working alongside Nikolay to remind the first line exactly who they’re dealing with.

It’s especially satisfying when an hour in, I once again manage to steal the puck right before it touches Jules’s stick, and I fling it over to Spiderman for him to put it in the back of the net a millisecond before Bear manages to stop it.

“Motherfucker,” Jules shouts, furious. At least furious enough to seriously lose his cool and snap his stick in half by hitting it against his raised thigh.

The entire rink goes deadly silent for a tense moment. In his ten years in the league I don’t think Jules has ever shown such anger on the ice. I have no way of knowing for sure if that translates to practices, but by the stunned faces all around us, it does.

But then it’s Nikolay—of course it’s him—who snaps everyone out of it by snickering.

“Picard,” he says, condescending. “Is Heart making you angry?” He mock pouts.

Jules’s nostrils flare at Nikolay, and picturing him going after my... whatever he is, is amusing enough that I’m willing to let it play out, but then our captain gets himself under control.

“I guess this is how other teams feel when I’m on the ice,” he quips, all anger gone and now only pure cockiness in his tone.

Nikolay throws his head back and cackles.

“It’s never too late to learn some humility,” I quip, feeling like I can—another new thing for me. It’s like I’ve been collecting badges since I moved here.

Of course, it’s only because Nikolay as well as Twocox and Milkman were making themselves a nuisance to the rest of the players on the first line that I could even focus fully on Jules. I can’t do what I just did—stopping the best player in the league—without some serious backup.

But now that I have that backup, I think I can finally become the player I was meant to be all my life.

“You better go apologize to Jeff,” Laney calls out from the bench and gives Jules a warning glare.

He should, actually, since Jeff is one of the most important pieces of the puzzle that is the Pirates. He makes our lives easier and he’s got the memory of an elephant, knowing exactly what type of stick each of us like, what we prefer when it comes to our skates, and our damn pants sizes. He knows all of it, and he’s always prepared.

“Switch out,” our coach screams, and we all glide to the opening of the tunnel so lines three and four can take their turn.

“That wasawesome,” I hear Benny’s whisper from behind me, and when I turn to look back, I see him huddled with the rest of our young stars, whispering to themselves.

I snicker then too, and shake my head. It was pretty awesome. I made the best and most unflappable hockey player in the world lose his shit.

“You look pleased,” Nik says when he slides up next to me on the bench. I only smile, not knowing exactly how to explain how great I feel. “We’re gonna do that to every forward in the league,” he assures me, and reminds me of the dream I’ve had all my life and the one I have yet to accomplish. I straighten on the bench, ready to fuck everyone up and fight my way to the top.

Like always,Nikolay and I are the last ones in the gym.

I hope the babies—as Nikolay calls them—take a few notes on how much extra time and discipline it takes to still be the best at our age, because this is the only way.

We do double the circuits on weights and double the time on the bikes.

I’ve still got ten more minutes to go when he’s beside me, and his hand is on my hip. My legs stop moving at thesudden contact and I almost lose my balance on the bike. The dumbass looks smug.

I take out one of my earphones and glare at him.

“Nik,” I warn low.

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