Page 60 of Absolutely Pucked
“I know the C thing is getting to you.”
I deflated. “Nah. I mean, okay, a little, but mostly because I’m pissed off you two fuckers are leaving me?—”
“Dude, the place I’m getting with Deo is closer to you. Like, you could literally walk over and have dinner with us. Stop being a little bitch?—”
“Can you two shut the fuck up?” Cooper demanded. “Talk about your weird fuck-fest later.”
I glared and smacked him upside the head. “Rookies keep their mouths shut. Unless you want shrimp in your locker all next season.”
His eyes narrowed. “You wouldn’t dare?—”
“He put canned herring in Mike’s two seasons ago,” Tucker said, shaking his head back and forth. “He gets that weird, really pungent import shit at work. Don’t test him.”
Cooper paled, making his freckles stand out. “I…fine. But your love-fest is disgusting.”
“Don’t be pissed off because the only person willing to love your ass is your sister and your…wife?” Tucker said with a frown. “Are you married yet? If not, we better get a goddamn invite, and there better be an open bar.”
He flipped Tucker off, then the bodies appeared. Shift change. Tucker was back on the ice before I could say anything. I moved to get in my sled, but Hugo appeared like some kind of disapproving Catholic school nun and shook his head.
“Dude, you just said?—”
“Next shift change,” he told me. “I can see how bad your breathing is right now. You know if you takeanother hit, it’s going to make it worse.”
There were still three games left before the end of the season, I reminded myself. And it wasn’t like Boden and Tucker were actually going anywhere. Missing them was going to suck so much ass, but they weren’t the only important people to me on this team.
“Yeah. Okay. I’m done.”
Hugo’s shoulders deflated. “Thank you.” He walked over and sat down next to me, giving me a look. “How bad is it?”
“Probably a cracked rib. I’ll have Bode run me to the ER for an X-ray.”
Hugo mouthed something that looked like a French swear word, and then he leaned in and said, “Tell me you’ll take the C. I don’t want to stage another intervention on another member of this team.”
I blew out a puff of air, then met his gaze. “Okay, but why me?”
“Because I think eventually Coop is going to take it from you when you accept the job as coach.”
I felt like I was going to choke on my own tongue. “Uh. When I do what now?”
“The salary isn’t amazing, but I know it’s more than what you make at the supermarket. Besides, you know that you can get Jacob and Journey to approve a salary raise.” He folded his hands between his knees. “I never planned on making this a long-term goal. I want to travel with Boden when he lets me.”
Fuck, I hadn’t realized they were, like,seriousserious. Butme? Acoach? The man had to be joking. “I will fuck this team up.”
“You and I both know you won’t. I’m staying on onemore season while Boden gets established, and then I’m gone. I don’t know anyone better than you, Ford. You know these people. You know what they need.”
I swallowed heavily. “I can think about it, right?”
He smiled at me. “For a season.”
Why did that feel so goddamn ominous?
The benefit to a small town was that when you were a hockey player like me, the ER tended to get you in and out. At least, as fast as any ER might get anyone in and out of anything. It only took two and a half hours, which meant by the time I got a panicked text from Killian, I was just waiting on my discharge papers.
I was right about the cracked rib and grateful I’d already decided to sit out a couple games because I was benched on doctor’s orders.
Boden was sitting in a chair, looking irritated, but when he caught me smiling at my phone, his gaze narrowed. “What the fuck is going on with you?”
“What? Me? Who said I’m being weird.”
