Page 78 of Replay

He smirked. “If you wanted it, Ducky, you knew how to get it.”

“Next time.”

Minnesota played all-out for thirty-five seconds, till JJ managed to clear the puck into the neutral zone and the final buzzer went before they could regroup. The crowd was roaring, I’m pretty sure Mitch was blinking back tears, and every one of us was ready to collapse from exhaustion. We’d given everything.

Cooper got first star. He’d been voted that mostly for the game winner, but we knew. He deserved it for more than that goal. He’d led us to that win. Whether that would spill over to the rest of our games, who fucking knew, but the Minnesota monkey was off our back.

Inside, I was cheering for another reason. This should stop trade rumors for a day or two as well.

After maybe five minutes of yelling and rehashing the game, Coach came into the room. “That was an impressive performance, men. How’s the lip, Crash?”

Crash shrugged. It wasn’t bleeding, but with the adrenaline waning, it was going to hurt.

Coach looked around the room, eyes landing on every one of us. “When Cooper told me his idea, I thought he was joking.”

“Actually, Coach, it was Ducky’s idea.”

Coach turned to me, but I was staring at Cooper. He shrugged. He’d been willing to take the blame if it went pear-shaped but gave me the credit when it went well. Hell of a captain.

Coach shook his head. “Hell, if I’d known it was Ducky’s plan, I’d have never considered it.”

Everyone laughed, including me.

“Whoever dreamed it up, it went well. Good job, Mitchell. I know that wasn’t easy, but your teammates had your back. Practice tomorrow is optional, but I expect to see that kind of heart on the ice for our next game. Right?”

“Right,” we echoed.

Coach left, and we all dragged our asses to cooldown and showers. Katie wasn’t coming to the Top Shelf after the game because of school stuff and it was a relief. Right now, I just wanted to sleep. For about twenty-four hours.

But then we needed to talk. We, the team, had been carrying the Minnesota monkey on our backs. But I’d also had one when it came to Katie, from back in high school. It was time to get that one gone as well.

No more giving in to fear.

Chapter 24

It Was All Coming Back to Me Now

Katie

I’d been closely watching the results of the game throughout my evening class. Pretty sure I wasn’t the only one, based on how many of the students had their eyes glued to their laps. I couldn’t call them out on it, since I was just as guilty.

We were all relieved when the Blaze pulled out a win. I texted Josh immediately.

Great game!!!

It deserved the exclamation mark. I knew how worried he’d been.

Josh responded later.

Thanks. When can we get together?

We’d been hanging out a lot and were near the end of our co-watch of the last season of The Mandalorian. I’d been expecting he’d want to wrap that up soon.

I’m free tomorrow night.

Can I come to your place?

Most of the time we’d met at Josh’s, because it was still a little weird that Madeline had brought Josh home. Right now she was traveling again, so I agreed. I even said I’d cook. My parents might not have let us take regular student jobs, but they’d made sure we were perfectly capable around the house. Unlike Josh’s mom. But I pushed that thought aside.

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