Page 314 of Branded
It was only then that he lost the puck.
Or rather, that he gave the puck up to his teammate, sliding it across a slice of open space to Raph, who corralled it without missing a beat and started sprinting toward the goal. The other team closed in on him in just a few moments, slowing him down, cutting off his rush.
But Cas had kept moving.
And Raph noticed.
The other team didn’t, though.
They were focused on Raph and the rest of the forwards closing ranks around him, taking sticks, bodies colliding, open space being closed.
Except around Cas.
Cas slipped down, paused—all alone—next to the net.
Even the goalie wasn’t looking at him.
But Raph had.
And he slid the puck back, passing it between skates and sticks and sending it directly to Cas.
Who, as I’d mentioned previously, was all alone.
In front of the other team’s goal.
I sucked in a breath, nerves seizing, but I didn’t even get to exhale before Cas was moving, whacking at the puck, slamming it home.
For one second, the crowd was silent.
But only for a heartbeat.
Then the arena erupted with cheers.
And I was right there with the rest of the Breakers’ fans, jumping to my feet, arms in the air, a scream of “Yes!” erupting from my mouth as the refs’ whistles blew and the red-light shone, the goal song blared through the arena’s speakers.
I glanced down at Ethan, saw he was dancing and cheering, his smile huge as he yelled his head off.
Then I looked back at the ice, saw Cas being mauled by his teammates, a cluster of them hugging him and smacking him on the shoulders and back, their group crashing into the boards in a ball of celebrating, hot, hockey players.
But that only lasted for a moment because then the gaggle of yummy hockiness broke up and they began skating to the bench.
All except for Cas.
He pushed off the boards, separated from his teammates, and turned…
And pointed to me.
And I found I was smiling just as wide as Ethan had been.
Shit.
Twenty-Three
Cas
My ribs ached like a motherfucker, but I was still standing in the hall, having practically ripped myself, Hulk-style, out of my pads and scalding myself with hot water so that I didn’t smell like sweat and ass and disgusting hockey player.
Because I wanted to be there when Jules came down with Ethan.
