Page 80 of Puck You Very Much
Jax was only half-right, by the way. I didn’t have a soft spot for all the Larkin Lions—just one in particular.
32
JAKOB
“This is the path we need to take if we want to make the playoffs.” Coach Hardison pointed up at the marker board behind him. “We need to win at least six more games. If we don’t, we can kiss the post-season goodbye.”
Normally, our coach never mentioned the playoffs and came just short of making a rule forbidding us from doing it. His mentioning it now told me that he meant business. Of course, the scowl that might as well have been tattooed onto his face didn’t hurt.
“I want you all to listen very carefully. We always want to win every one of our games. If we can win at least six of the next nine games, we’ll have a realistic shot at getting in. You know what I mean.”
I absolutely did. No win was ever guaranteed but we’d been taught to take the ice expecting to win and not simply hoping. When everything was at stake, we had to give the team our absolute all.
I wasn’t born yesterday.
“As you all know, getting into the tournament will allow us to make a lot of noise, but we can’t do anything if we can’t make itinto the tournament. That means I need extra effort from each and every one of you to get us over the hump. One of the big games we’ll be playing will be against the Remington Riptides. But then, I bet you all probably knew that.”
We did. The voices that chimed in only confirmed this point. The fucker actually half-smiled. Normally, I would’ve loved the enthusiasm but couldn’t help fearing it now.
“When we get to the Riptide game, I want you all to play with passion, focus, and intensity. Intensity is going to be particularly important. I don’t like to play into the bullshit games that some of you love so much, but?—”
I swore he was looking straight at me when he spoke. Maybe I was being paranoid. The part of me that knew—and felt proud—that I was in love with a Riptide must’ve caused a little paranoia.
So far, I hadn’t been asked the barrage of questions my teammates technicallycouldfire at me. The coach hadn’t asked either. Zane had slept over at my place more often than not in the last week, owing to his having a roommate. Shit, he was practicallylivingat my place. No, it wasn’t a trial run to find out what married life would be like. We just couldn’t stand to be apart from each other.
Yeah, that’s how new relationships work, but we had to reach full-tilt before we became inseparable. Saying those three little words changed everything. It shifted an already piping hot relationship into overdrive.
As our coach continued, I swore his eyes had remained fixed on me. I barely heard anything he’d said at that point. Maybe I simply didn’t want to. Everything sounded to me like a command to hurt Zane. I couldn’t do that no matter how hard I tried.
“And so I expect that every one of you understands what I’ve told you.”
The room roared with voices because we all knew better than to appear the least bit unenthusiastic in front of Hardison.
“Okay, men, change up,” he said. “I expect to see you all out on the ice and ready to go in twenty minutes sharp. Now, let’s move it.”
When the team bottle-necked at the door, I swore I saw Hardison’s eyes settle on me once again.
“When Coach Hardison was talking about our focus against the Riptides, do you think he was really talking about me?” I asked Levi Dunn as we strolled out of the locker room after practice.
“Don’t think so, bro. Why would you think he was talking to you personally anyway?”
“I don’t know. I swear it was like he was looking straight at me the whole time. Okay, maybe it wasn’t thewholetime, but at least half of it. You know, during the parts when he was talking about the Riptides.”
He shrugged. Thank God. I knew I would wade into dangerous waters with this topic, which was why I’d chosen to speak about it only to the biggest meathead on the team.
Well, I had other reasons, too. You’ll see what I mean.
“I still don’t see why he would talk to you specifically, bro,” he said.
“He’s done it before. Don’t you remember him getting a little snarky when he was on that topic one time? Plus, I did pull you off of Zane Hirst before you could do some real damage.”
“Yeah, I was meaning to ask you what was up with that.”
Meathead or not, some things I couldn’t easily slip past Levi Dunn.
“I thought you were getting out of hand,” I said. “You could even say I was saving you from yourself.”
He sputtered. “I don’t need saving from anyone. I was totally with the program in that game.”
