Page 96 of Playing to Win

I looked back at the face of the Toronto Blaze. “You know, Cooper, you actually make a pretty good argument for male hockey players. You’re not all assholes.”

He grinned. “We should use that as a slogan.”

Our food arrived. It smelled delicious. But after that news I was inclined to be pleased with anything.

Cooper scooped up a mouthful of something I couldn’t pronounce. “With the reduction of assholes in the organization, think you might want to come to a game again?”

Would I? Had I moved on enough? Knowing that Kira and Radner were gone? “Maybe. If I could get a ticket. The scalper prices are insane.”

He rolled his eyes. “If only you knew someone. Let’s eat. I’ve got press to do after this.”

Chapter29

The Cup was in the building

Braydon

It wasstupid to be this tense. Sure, three months ago I’d been playing in the AHL and now I was in the Stanley Cup Finals, but I wasn’t getting any meaningful ice time. Petey was the one with all the pressure on him, and he was relaxed and chill. I wanted to ask him how he did that, but I didn’t want to upset his mojo. And honestly, not sure I really wanted to know, considering it was Petey.

The first two games of the finals were in Minnesota. My parents were coming, and they were almost as excited as the Minnesota hockey fans. They’d be wearing Blaze colors, for me. I found it even more surreal because I’d grown up dreaming of playing for Minnesota, not against them.

I packed carefully, setting my things in my suitcase just so. Superstitious, yeah, but why risk it?

Jayna was at my desk, working on her laptop. “Okay, we’ve got a couple of towns that don’t have ice in the summer, so we’re working on tarmac. Some of the kids have rollerblades and want to practice with them. Do we split out for two groups, or do we want to see if we can locate more rollerblades to handle everyone?”

Where were my lucky socks? I had the black ones, but where were the blue? I lifted out my sweats and T-shirts and shoved a hand under my folded briefs. Not there. Closed my eyes, trying to remember. The last time I’d had them?—

“Braydon!”

I snapped my eyes open. “What?”

Her eyes widened and she leaned back. “I’ve been trying to ask you something. No need to yell at me.”

My leg jiggled. “Sorry, I need to get my bag packed and I’m missing something.”

“What are you missing?” Her voice was level and patient, like I was a kid freaking out over a spilled ice cream.

“My blue socks.”

“They have to be blue?”

I held in a sigh. “Yes, they’re my lucky socks.”

Her forehead creased. “I thought your black ones were your lucky ones.”

I shoved a hand through my hair. “Yes, they are. But we’ve got two games. I need two pairs.”

Jayna crossed to my dresser. She’d been here so often this past month that she knew where I kept everything. She pulled out the second drawer and started to sort through the socks there. It was a mess. My suitcase had to be just so, but not the rest. I couldn’t explain it, but it worked for me.

“Here they are.”

She threw them to me, but I tossed them back. “Those aren’t the ones.”

“They’re blue.”

“Yeah, but not the right blue.”

She sighed and mentally rolled her eyes—the sigh gave it away.

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