Page 18 of Stick By Me

With a slap of his stick, the winger launched the puck at the net.

Adrenaline raced through my veins as I lined myself up for Hodge to pass to me or Hopkins.

Ace flung his arm up and caught the puck. “Lame.” He cackled. “Give me somethinghardnext time.” He passed the puck to Hodge, who passed it to me.

While cradling the puck with my stick, I twisted around to bring it to the other end of the ice. Novak hit me. As my skatesflew out from under me, I dropped to the ice, elbow pads first, then my hip. “Shit!” A stinging pain flew up my arm, then into my pelvis. “Fucker!” I jumped onto my skates and tore off after him, flinging a quick glance at my defensive coach.

Coach Hammett signaled for me to take the bench.

“God damn it.” I hung my head and skated to the gate in the boards, watching Bransky hop onto the ice. All I could do now, was watch and hope like fuck we’d tie the game.

I took my seat on the bench next to Jonah and clenched my jaw. Had I fucked up the play? How the hell did I lose the faceoff?

Jonah leaned in. “Dude, don’t beat yourself up over this. You know Novak is one of the best there is at a faceoff. Especially when he’s in the opposing team’s defensive zone.”

I tightened the grip of my stick, beads of sweat turning cold and rolling down my back. “Yeah, whatever.” What else could I do to get better? I’d practiced the damn things for hours sometimes. Maybe I wasn’t quick enough. Maybe I needed better focus. I watched the players moving up and down the ice, the puck dominated by the Wildcats. They were playing out the clock, biding their time.

“Fuck.” Jonah groaned. “They got us.”

The buzzer went off, marking the end of the game.

“At least you get to go blow off some steam with your hot new man.” As Jonah rose, he patted my shoulder pad.

“Uh-huh.” I stood up next to him, readying to hit the ice again to be sportsmanlike and congratulate tonight’s enemy. I hoped I could lighten my mood and not be an asshole all night.

A little over an hour later,I strolled with the other squad members in tow and Jonah beside me through the casino and the hum and twinkling of the slot machines, then into the concert venue. Everyone was quiet after the fuck up of a game.Coach Patterson had told us we should have won it, and he was right. Plus, I hadn’t helped any by losing that fucking faceoff. I pursed my lips.

Pop-punk music and flashing lights spilled out of the doors to venue as I stepped to it. Shit, I’d been going over the game in my head so much, I hadn’t even checked to see if Leo had texted me. I stopped and held my phone up. “You guys go ahead, I’ll be right in.”

The other guys mumbled and ambled by me.

Jonah stopped next to me. “What are you doing?”

“Checking my phone.” I held it to my face to open the screen. Sure enough, a few text notifications popped up from Leo.

“I hope you’re not expecting a call from dear old dad.” He huffed and shook his head.

“No.” I tapped on my screen. “Messages from Leo.”

Leo

Hey, I heard you lost tonight. I’m sorry. I’ll buy you a drink, and drive you home if you need it. How’s that?

Leo

I hope you’re still coming, but if you’re not, it’s okay. I’ll see you another time.

“Fuck. I’m so not cool.” As my chest tightened, I tapped out a message.

Archer

I’m here and I’ll take you up on that drink. Maybe the ride home, too.

Jonah leaned in, peering into my phone. “Dude, he thought you were ditching him?” He lifted his brows. “Guess that means he was looking forward to seeing you, huh?”

“Yeah, but we’re just friends. Don’t get any ideas.” As I stuffed my phone into my pocket, Leo bounded out of the doorway.

“Archer, good to see you.” His smile lit up his gorgeous face and he threw his arms around me in a bear hug. “Are you okay? I heard you hit the ice pretty hard toward the end.”

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