Page 32 of Zero Pucks

“Make your own fucking dinner, Tucker.”

His eyes narrowed as I fell back into my sled and then used the edge of my stick to throw the door open. With a hard push, I slid out onto the ice and wobbled a bit before I was able to steady myself.

“Why do you want me to cook you dinner?”

I dug the spikes of my sticks into the ice and propelled myself ahead. But he was a better skater than me. Or, well, he was faster. He’d been in a sled since he was two years old and had enough opposable-thumb motor function to hold the hockey sticks.

“Nothing. Never mind!” I called.

He chased me down and slammed me into the boards, all the breath rushing from my lungs.

“Ugh. Fuck you,” I gasped.

He dropped his stick in his lap and used his glove to pin me. He might have looked young and small, but there was a fire in his eyes that always gave away both his age and his strength. “Tucker. Why am I cooking you a fancy dinner?”

I perked up. “Um. Well….I may have invited Amedeo over to eat, and I don’t want to give my future ex-husband food poisoning, so I volunteered your services. Also, you can’t stay. You have to make us food and then leave right after.”

I got an elbow in the chest for that one. Luckily, he hit my pads, so there would only be a small bruise. Boden’s glare told me he wasn’t happy with me, but I could tell he also wasn’t going to say no.

I rushed after him, matching his pace as he skated his warm-up laps. “Thank you. I love you.”

“Why are you doing this? You know this whole situation is fucked. But you’re inviting him over to eat? This was supposed to be handled at your little brunch thing.” Boden looked like he wanted to strangle me.

“Yeah.” I skidded to a halt and waited for him to lap the net before coming back to snow me in the face. In all honesty, I needed the refreshing spray of ice. “But see, the thing is, his life is kind of shitty. I figure I could at least be nice to him while we sort this out.”

“There’s nothing to figure out. I was going to tell you after practice that there’s not a chance in hell anything about your marriage thing is legal. I had Coop look into it.”

I wrinkled my nose. Cooper, the newest guy on our team, was a legal secretary, and his day job was so fucking dry and boring it made me want to throw myself into the sun. But he did know helpful people. Like lawyers. “I know he’s not my actual husband, Boden. I’m not losing it.”

His expression fell, and he reached up, scratching his beard with the edge of his glove. “I’m not saying you are. I just don’t want you to get more in over your head than you already are.”

That hurt, but only because it was true. I hated that I needed my friends to protect me from myself, but I’d been in a low-key spiral for a while, and it was too easy to throw me off.

“What’s up, my darlings.” Ford appeared, sliding into Boden, who barely moved. “What are we talking about?”

“Nothing,” Boden said at the same time as I said, “Amedeo’s coming over for dinner tonight, and Boden thinks I’m making bad choices.”

Boden glared at me as Ford sighed.

“Can we focus? New coach incoming.”

Boden straightened, his eyes now narrow and cold. “Fuck this guy.”

“Yeah, but we don’t have a plan yet,” Ford reminded him. “And maybe we should be, like, super compliant. Throw him off his game when we start really fucking with him for real.”

Boden nodded, his jaw tense as the doors opened and the rest of the guys appeared. It always took a while for everyone to get situated in their sleds, but most of them were wheelchair users, so the new guy stuck out.

He was very tall, broad, with short black hair, a beard that would shiver the timbers of any pirate who swung his way, and eyes that looked kind. He probably had at least a decade on us with the way the sides of his forehead were wrinkled, and he had the faintest glimmer of silver sprinkled in his hair.

Life was about to suck for him because I knew Boden wasn’t going to let this go. He was going to take this guy down with our help or not. But I did notice that Boden was staring at him a little more intensely than I expected. Like there was something I didn’t know.

“Come on, Cap,” Ford said, nudging Boden with the front of his sled. “Show this man who’s boss.”

Boden looked dangerous and happy about it. He gave a toothy grin, then snapped his sticks together. “New coach on the ice! Let’s give him a warm-as-fuck Wolves welcome!”

* * *

I was aching all over, and there was crusty blood under my nose by the time practice was over. I’d taken a puck to the face because my game was off. Boden was pissed about it, but sue me, I was distracted.

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