Page 91 of Man Advantage

Finally, though, a beautiful stretch pass from Spaulding to Tremblay got us onside in the offensive zone.

Tremblay fired on net, and the goalie froze the puck. A whistle let our exhausted top line and D pair come off the ice while my guys and I went over the boards with the second pair. Showtime.

I narrowly lost the faceoff. Their center sent the puck screaming toward one of his wingers, who was already on his way to the neutral zone.

The winger caught it, but Hoes flattened him with an open ice hit and whipped the puck along the boards. It flew around the end of the ice behind the goal, right onto Bells’s stick.

“Trev!” he called out.

I was ready when he passed to me, and the puck landed right on my tape. I’d planned to go for a one-timer, but therewas suddenly a dense screen between me and the goal. Instead, I whipped the puck to Hoes, and before anyone in that screen could shift left to get in his way, he one-timed itrightinto the back of the net.

As we crushed him in celebratory hugs, he shouted above the cheering crowd, “Next shift, Trev! Next shift!”

“We’ve got a bigger lead now.” I smacked his helmet. “That’s the important thing!”

“Okay, then.” He shrugged as we headed toward the bench for fist bumps, calling over his shoulder, “No hat trick for you!”

“Damn it, Hoes!”

He laughed as we skated down the line for fist bumps.

Coach kept my line out since our shift had been fairly short, though he did swap out the D pair. We set up at center ice, and this time I won the faceoff. I passed to Spaulding, who got us into the offensive zone, and then we started cycling the puck, passing around and around as we steadily closed in on the goal.

Hoes got the puck, but instead of sending it to Bells like he’d been doing in the cycle, he passed it back to Spaulding. That threw Minneapolis off for a half a second, which was when Spaulding passed it to me.

I wound back for a one-timer and?—

The ping off the iron almost drew a curse out of me… until the puck bounced off the goalie’s shoulder and right into the net.

The fans went wild, and I’d barely pumped my fist before the first hats started landing on the ice. My linemates and defensemen celebrated with me, and then we were off to the bench again, the ice littered with hats as more came down and the scoreboard showed 7-3.

This was hockey. Things could turn around in a hurry and we could still lose, especially since we still had a whole other period to play. But this was a damn good place to be.

And I had my hat trick. My first in too long.

My first with Cam in the building.

The thought made me shiver as I took a seat between Bells and Hoes on the bench. While the ice crew started collecting the hundreds of hats, I grinned to myself. I was sure everyone thought it was because I’d scored my fifth career hat trick. And to some extent, it was.

But it was also because there was a gorgeous man up in the owners’ box who’d no doubt help me celebrate later tonight.

I stole a glance at Chats, who was staring out at the ice, chewing aggressively on his mouthguard. To anyone watching, he was just focusing. Concentrating. Readying himself for his next shift.

But I knew.

He was fuming. He was still pissed he hadn’t made it under my skin earlier, and I had no doubt he was mad that my hat trick would overshadow his game-winning goal.

Sucks to suck, asshole.

I grinned to myself for the rest of the period.

CHAPTER 28

CAM

While Zach spentthe afternoon at a friend’s house, I drove Zane to the art center in Sewickley. The day the boys had turned seven, Zane had eagerly reminded Trev that he was now old enough for the cake-decorating class, and could he please sign him up ASAP?

Trev hadn’t forgotten. In fact, he’d signed him up months ago, and he’d emailed the instructor a week before the twins’ birthday to double-check he’d secured spots for Zane and me. Though I was there to supervise Zane, I had to register as a student myself for head count purposes. I had no idea if Trev had had to pay for me or not, and he’d hand-waved any concerns I had about it.

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