Page 81 of Goaltender Interference

Along with the rest of the rookies, Connor’s group had Crawford, Tanner, and Anker Henriksen.

“Meet you back here in about an hour?” Connor said after the woman working for the escape room was done with her spiel.

Jesse snorted. “Right. We’ll be done inforty.”

“Dream on,” Connor said drily.

Trash talk carried them their separate ways and a spark of competitiveness lit Connor up when they were finally let inside. The room was decorated to look like a stage and everything was magic show themed.

They had to solve a murder to save the magician from being hanged. Fun.

“Okay,” Connor said, pulling out his phone. “I prepared for this and?—”

“Of course you did,” Crawford scoffed.

Connor rolled his eyes and continued. “What the article suggested was having four people in specific roles. I assume you’re all good with me being the leader and keeping everyone focused?”

The guys all nodded so he kept going. “We need someone to write down all of the clues and information we get. Who wants to take that?”

“I will,” one of the rookies said. His name was Mickey Krause but he reminded Connor so much of a guy they’d had on their teama few years ago that Connor nearly kept calling him the wrong name.

Oh well, that was what team bonding like this was for. It was a chance to get to know the guys better.

“Thanks, Mickey.” Connor shot him a smile.

“Sure. You can call me Mouse though. Most guys do.”

“Okay, Mouse. Now, next up, we need someone who’s great at brainstorming.”

When no one answered, Crawford shrugged. “I can do it.”

“Yeah, but we need someone clever and creative,” Connor shot back.

“Fuck off,” Crawford said with a laugh. “I mean it. I’m not as dumb as I look.”

That was possibly debatable, but Connor didn’t argue. “Now, we need an analyst. Let’s see, they need to see complex patterns and red herrings. I think you’d be good at that, Anker.”

He brightened. “I can try.”

“Sure. That’s all any of us can do,” Connor agreed. “Now, let’s get to work, boys.”

To Connor’s surprise, it went smoothly.

They had to ask for clues several times but they solved the room in fifty-two minutes, crowing when they realized they were the first team back.

“Suck it!” Crawford called out when Jesse, Graham, Kady and the rest of the team finally joined them in the lobby. “We won, babyyy.”

“We’d have won it if Jesse hadn’t poured too much of the potion in,” Tanner said with a disgusted look. “It bubbled over everywhere and made a total mess we had to clean up. Kady had to sacrifice his T-shirt and everything.”

Kady pulled up his hoodie to reveal his bare abs underneath.

“Dude!” Jesse protested. “It didn’t say how much to use!”

“It said to pour slowly until the potion changed color! You dumped it all in, dumbass!” Tanner shot back.

Connor shook his head. Of course it was Jesse. Causing chaos wherever he went.

“That’s my”—Connor coughed—”our little chaos demon.”

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