Page 96 of Crush
Halfway through the game, neither team had scored, but it was obvious that the Boston Brawlers weren't going down without a fight. If anything, Boston had the upper-hand—though they hadn't scored, they skated with an intensity that Tampa was having trouble matching.
And the twins were completely immersed in the emotions of the game, jumping around on the couch and yelling at the top of their lungs:
“Go Lance, go!”
“Shoot it, Radar!”
“Go, Dad! HIT HIM!”
“Great save, Ilya!”
Chloe came down and joined us. “Geez guys, what's with all the screaming down here?”
“Uhhh, Dad's game!” Nick shouted. “Duh, Chloe!”
“Yeah—duh,Chloe!” Cam agreed.
Chloe rolled her eyes and plopped onto the couch, next to me. I could feel her gaze on me, as if she were waiting for me to glance at her before she opened up a can of worms. These past few days, I could tell she had something she wanted to talk me about … and I was certain I knew what it was, of course; she wanted to know what had happened between Shea and I. And since I really didn't want to have that conversation, I wasn't about to ask her what was on her mind.
But Chloe had reached the breaking point. I couldhearher gathering the courage to talk to me.
“So, Brynn,” she began shakily. “I, uh, officially have a boyfriend now?”
“What? You do?!”
“Yeah,” she said shyly.
“Who?”
“Adam.”
“He finally asked you out? Awww, that's so cute.” I hugged her.
“Yeah, yeah,” she said, embarrassed. “I'm worried Dad is going to get super pissed, though.”
“Why?”
“He hates Adam. That one time Dad came home and Adam was over, he went psycho and tried to scare him off.”
I giggled. “He doesn't hate Adam. He's just being overprotective of his 'baby daughter.' My dad was like that with me, too. I can break the news to your dad, if you want—and I'll try to keep him calm.”
“Would you? That'd be such a huge relief …”
“Of course, Chloe.”
The twins leaped off the couch and started vibrating with excitement, arms raised in the air—they could see a play developing before it had happened yet.
“C'mon, Lance! Pass it to Dad, pass it to Dad!”
“He's open, he's open!”
I watched as Shea held his stick high in the air, calling for a pass. Lance sent a nifty cross-ice pass to the captain, and Shea stepped into the shot, hammering the puck with an intimidatingboom.A crowd of players stood in front of the Tampa goalie, screening him—and the next thing the four of us saw was a little black disc snagging the back of the net.
The twins went wild, dancing around the room in celebration as their dad gave the Brawlers a 1-0 lead.
“Yeeeeeesssss!”
“He did it!”
