Page 9 of Meet Me in the Penalty Box

We finished up and all exited the ice so the Zamboni could cut it again and make it fresh before the game began. The boys were buzzing and everyone was hyped. It wasn’t long before we were back out there, standing as the woman who sang for our team sang the national anthem. We were playing the Firebirds tonight and they were one of our rivals. We had beat them the past three times we played against them and things were getting relatively tense.

As I skated over to my position for the puck drop, her bright blonde hair caught my attention. She was seated to the right of the net and her camera was positioned through the cutout hole in the glass. My mouth spread into a grin as I bent my knees and placed my stick where I needed it to be for the face-off.

This was going to be a fucking fun night.

I battled my opponent for the puck for a fraction of a second before I was able to get it away from him. Flicking my wrist, I passed it over to Wes, who was already waiting, hanging in the defensive zone. He didn’t hesitate to pass it to Mac, who was over on the other side crossing into the neutral zone. The puck was on the ice and the game was on.

We managed to get it into their zone and got two shots on goal, but both were blocked by their goalie. It didn’t take long for my first shift to end and my legs were burning but the adrenaline quickly washed over me. I dropped down onto the bench next to Wes and we both grabbed our bottles and drank from them as we watched the game continue.

“What was that with Harper?” Wes asked me out of nowhere. “I saw the two of you talking about something.”

I glanced over at him with my gaze slicing through his. “I’m going to tell you one time and this is the last fucking time.” My voice was as sharp as ice. He was my best friend but I knew how Wes operated. He ran through girls like it was his job. “Forget her name and stay away from her.”

Wes raised his eyebrows at me. “I take it that you’re not passing on her then?”

An exasperated sigh escaped me. I didn’t know what the hell I was really doing, but I knew that I didn’t want Wes to get any ideas about her. Our conversation was interrupted as Lincoln was checked into the boards by us. He lost his footing momentarily, but quickly recovered before skating after the asshole who slammed into him.

A few of the guys skated over for a line change. Without another word to Wes, I hopped over the boards, even though it wasn’t my shift, and sped across the ice, chasing after the puck and the pack of players. As I skated into their zone, Lincoln slid the puck to me. I received the pass and weaved through two of their players before sniping the small spot between the goalie’s leg and his stick.

The bull horn sounded throughout the building and it echoed as our fans cheered loudly. The boys on the bench were slapping their sticks against the boards and I went for a different celly this time, dropping to one knee as I pointed my stick toward Harper from across the ice. The guys on the ice all skated over to me and when I got over to the bench, the guys had their hands out and I bumped my glove against each of theirs. Coach Anderson looked less than amused that I was on the ice when the rest of my line was still on the bench.

I may have scored a goal, but there was definitely going to be hell to pay for that stunt.

I had a feeling it would be worth it in the end.

CHAPTERTHREE

HARPER

The entire night flew by faster than I had expected. It was a complete whirlwind and I would be lying if I said that it didn’t leave me feeling completely exhausted. During the periods, I was busy trying to capture as many shots as possible and during the intermissions, I was swamped with editing hundreds of images to send off to the media team.

They liked to have images to share on social media and the various websites during the game, so it was essential that we had them edited and sent over while the action was happening. We got our assignments for the rest of the game after the first period and they had me positioned on the glass for everything.

It was hard to ignore Nico Cirone and his presence. He dominated the game and made his place on the ice well known. It was impossible to deny that he was an extremely talented player and he skated with purpose. He still had a lot to lose and couldn’t miss a beat with proving himself.

Between him and Weston Cole, they ran most of the plays. It was exhilarating to watch, but I also had to be mindful while shooting that I couldn’t just have a million pictures of the two of them. They weren’t the only players who mattered on the team and even though Nico had infiltrated my mind and shook things up, I had to push him from my thoughts as much as possible during the game.

I was closing my laptop and packing my things away when Ava found me by my station. She strode over with a huge smile on her face.

“Girl, you killed it tonight!” She adjusted her bag on her shoulder. “Did you check the Instagram account? They used your shot from the game-winning goal on it.”

My eyes widened and my heart pounded erratically in my chest. With it being my first day on the job, it was not what I was expecting to hear at all. “Are you serious?”

Ava showed me her phone and, lo and behold, there was the photo I took of Mac O’Reilly scoring on the Firebird’s goalie during the last ten seconds of the game. “This calls for a celebration, girl. Let’s go out!”

I gave her a small smile. “I have something else that I have to do tonight, but can we celebrate tomorrow night instead?”

“Absolutely,” Ava said with a smile as she nodded. “Tomorrow night. I’ll text you in the morning after I figure out what trouble we can get into.”

I laughed softly and shrugged. “I’m not usually one for trouble but fuck it. I need some excitement in my life.”

“Good answer.”

Ava pulled me in for a quick hug with a promise of talking in the morning before we parted ways. She disappeared from the media room before I did and part of that was because I was so nervous to walk out to my car.

I knew that Nico would be out there waiting for me and I wasn’t sure I was ready to face him yet.

I couldn’t hang out in here forever and after giving myself a ten-minute long pep talk in the bathroom, I finally sucked it up and headed out to the parking lot. Most of the members from the media team had already left and there were only a handful of cars remaining.

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