Page 117 of Grumpy Darling

“Day’s not over yet, Grayson,” Damien called out as he returned to his locker. His response almost had me smiling. Apparently, Damien was a little more self-aware than I gave him credit for. And perhaps he wasn’t quite as bad as I remembered.

Reed gave me a nod. “Okay, let’s get out there and remind Coach Mercer why he wants to make us Ryker Raiders.”

As I followed my brothers out to the ice, I was struggling to clear my head. Although my run-in with Damien had been a little awkward, it had at least distracted me from the variety of emotions that were coursing through my veins ahead of the game. I couldn’t work out if I was nervous about performing in front of Mercer, worried about my knee holding out, still recovering from the surge of anger I’d felt at Damien’s joke, or just bubbling with anticipation that soon this would all be over and my place at Ryker next year would be locked in.

My emotions rarely got the better of me once I put on my Devils jersey. I never let nerves hold me back, or anger cloud my judgment once I took to the ice. But today I felt a cocktail of inner turmoil bubbling beneath the surface, and I longed for this day to be over.

All I needed to do was perform well in this game without revealing any hint that my knee was bothering me, make it to the final siren, sign my letter of intent, and skate off into the sunset. So, no pressure.

I wondered whether the others were feeling anxious. Reed looked tense, and even Parker was betraying his nerves with the way he kept adjusting the grip tape on his stick. With Coach Mercer in the stands, there was pressure on my younger brother too. Reed and I had already done the hard part and impressed the coach from Ryker. We just had to make sure we didn’t do anything to mess that up. Parker, on the other hand, really needed to shine if he wanted a chance of joining us at college when he graduated. It was rare for one Darling Devil to be this tense before a big game, let alone all three.

The Wolves players were already warming up when we arrived. A large chunk of the crowd were dressed in their colors of gray and black, and the atmosphere was charged with anticipation. Each team started weaving through cones, taking shots at the goalies, and passing the puck around the ice.

Our opposition were the least of my concerns though. Instead, my attention was on the stands. I just needed to see Paige’s smile and I knew everything would be all right. My eyes scanned the crowd, searching for her face, but I couldn’t find her. My search continued as Coach Ray called us together, and I was only half-listening as he delivered his pregame pep talk. I usually spotted Paige the moment I placed my skates on the ice, but today, she was nowhere to be found.

She didn’t appear during our warm-ups, and my stomach hollowed as we went to take our places for the start of the game. I still couldn’t see her, and I started to wonder if something was wrong. She usually got to my games early, so it concerned me she wasn’t already here. She’d been so nervous to see her mom again, and I worried she might have gotten into trouble. Could she be grounded? Would her mom really stop her from coming to today’s game? She’d messaged me to say good luck a couple of hours ago. Had something changed since then? I’d assumed everything was fine, but maybe I should have called.

I started muttering curses under my breath. They were mostly directed at myself, but a couple of Wolves players who were close by gave me strange looks and edged away. Most players were apprehensive about facing off with Grayson Darling on a regular day, but they were about to get a nasty shock. I was usually an emotionless machine. Right now, I was feeling everything, and I wasn’t quite sure what that meant for me, or for the unlucky guys on the other team.

The puck dropped and I burst into action, ignoring the pain in my knee that sparked when I pushed off the ice, doing my best to block the rest of the world out and focus on the game.

We started well. Reed scored an early goal and Matt got another only a few minutes later. The Wolves were struggling to keep up with us, but they did come close to our goal a couple of times. One of their attackers was particularly quick, and my knee practically screamed at me to slow down as I raced after him to stop a breakaway. Then I had to throw myself to the ice to block a shot headed right for our goal, hurting my knee even more.

I just kept telling myself to play through the pain, but it was becoming harder and harder to convince myself that was possible. Especially when I knocked into a Wolves player and sent him flying. My knee buckled from the contact, but I managed to stay steady enough on my feet to get control of the puck and pass to Parker so he could score our third goal of the game. As my teammates celebrated, I was almost limping back to center ice for the faceoff.

Miraculously, as the game continued, no one seemed to notice how much pain I was in. My teammates were too busy tearing the Wolves to shreds. Even Damien was impressing me with his skills, and for the first time, I allowed myself to admit he was actually a decent player. Every time I tackled the opposition or made a last-ditch block, he was there to take the puck and skate off up the ice while I clambered back to my feet.

When the second period started, I still couldn’t see Paige in the stands. She’d missed games before, but as more time passed, the more her absence was distracting me. Whenever I got a moment, I scanned the crowd again.

I was glancing at the stands when the puck came spinning my way. I reacted a split second later than I should have as I went to chase it down. It wasn’t an obvious delay, but I already knew Coach Ray had noticed and he’d be pissed. It didn’t matter how quickly I skated to make up for my momentary lapse, I’d be yelled at for not staying focused on the game. Would Coach Mercer have spotted it too?

That mistake should have been enough to get my head straight. But as I sped toward the loose puck, a flicker of red caught my vision from the stands. I knew I shouldn’t look. But I was struck by a feeling deep in my gut that Paige was finally here.

Despite the fact that I was racing across the ice, I glanced up. I couldn’t help it. The pull toward her was just too much to resist. I allowed my eyes to stray from the puck in front of me and quickly found Paige, just as I suspected, beaming at me. I was surprised to see she wasn’t wearing her usual Devils jersey, but the same red sweatshirt I’d given her last night. I started to grin. I’d told her this morning that seeing her in it made me want to steal her away again, and it felt like she was giving me a sign—she wanted to be stolen away too.

It gave me a renewed sense of energy. Everything finally felt right. But another flash of color caught my eye. This time it was the gray and black of a Wolves player flying toward me. The same guy I’d knocked over earlier in the game. And he wasn’t chasing after the puck. He was coming for me. Before I could react, he slammed into my side, and I felt my feet lift off the ground. I winced in pain as the hit shook me to my core, sending me soaring through the air. I opened my eyes just in time to see the boards and the ice hurtling toward me and then—

Chapter 31

Paige

Nothing. Not even the slightest movement. Grayson lay still on the ice as gasps and hushed whispers rippled through the crowd. My heart was pounding in my ears, and the rest of the noise in the arena faded to a dull hum. Why wasn’t he getting up? Why wasn’t he moving?

Devils players skated to Grayson, and the coaching and medical staff rushed onto the ice.

“Get up. Get up. Get up,” I urged, my words both a demand and a prayer. Reed, Parker, and the other players had formed a ring around Grayson and the medical staff, so I couldn’t see what was going on. All the Wolves players had taken a knee and were watching with solemn faces.

I’d seen Gray get hit while playing many times before, and he’d always gotten right back up. This was taking way too long, and I could see my own concern mirrored on the people surrounding him. I felt a hand on my arm and flinched from the sudden contact. I glanced up as Violet took hold of me. She didn’t say anything, but given the terrified look in her eyes, she was clearly just as worried as I was.

“Why isn’t he getting up?” I asked her.

“I don’t know, Paige.” Her voice shook with emotion. “It was a really hard hit...”

“What if he’s really badly hurt?” I said, daring to utter my worst fear out loud.

“Try not to jump to any conclusions just yet.”

Easier said than done. Especially when I couldn’t see what was happening. There were still too many people crowded around Grayson.

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