Page 184 of Wrong Pucking Player

“Good job, Vipers.” Mikayla praises them with a smile and thumbs-up. “Keep it up, and I’ll get Coach Cyrus to pay for our victory dinner tonight.”

That has them cheering and roaring like maniacs, making me laugh while Dimitri and Felix chuckle.

“Don’t get too cocky, Vipers,” I hear Diesel call out. I didn’t realize he and Kane were present now. “Bad luck for the sore losers.”

“Puck off, Diesel.” One of the guys from Viper’s team calls out. “Focus on your deadlift game, not talking shit.”

“I can fuck you guys up with deadlifts.”

“Love to see you try,” Marcus, the backup goalie for the Vipers, comments. I only remember him because he’s a happy individual who says hi to everyone. “Gotta humble you guys. Acting all proud and shit because you all finalized your contracts.”

“Just admit it,” Kane chips in. “You’re envious. Why else would you want to deadlift against us.”

“Can’t be envious when we signed new contracts this morning.”

“Aww. Depressed that you guys can’t even get a good pay deal?” My stomach flips at Armani’s cocky voice as he enters my view with a smug look on his face. “What’s your pay cut like?”

Marcus glances at his peers before he shrugs.

“We don’t know yet,” he admits.

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Armani asks with a dubious face. “You signed the contracts.”

“Income part was blank,” One of the guys named Knox steps in. “Captain O’Riley said he’ll tell us what we’re making when he arrives.”

“Damn. You guys got paid so low, they had to leave the income part blank.”

I’m not the only one frowning at the annoyed voice that decided to enter the chat this fine morning.

Here comes Winchester.

“Since you guys are waiting for your captain and his three musketeers, why don’t we do some deadlifts and see who can lift what?” Jayce suggested. “Some playful competition is a nice way to start the morning. Besides, we can tell you about our epic pay deals, so you guys have an idea of what to expect. What d’you say?”

The guys look hesitant, many of them exchanging looks with one another while a few look my way in hopes I’ll step in.

“Felix, Dimitri, you two deadlift?” Mikayla whispers in haste. We watch them share a look before they bob their heads. “Excellent,” Mikayla hisses and looks my way. “Go find your equipment manager. I’m gonna rile these teams up.”

“You’re evil,” I squeal and hug her. I’m glad I don’t need to stay for this competitive stuff.

As supportive as I am in protecting this underlying case happening against Winchester, I fear if I stay too long, I’ll say something I shouldn’t. I’m not the best liar in the world, and I can’t let Mikayla find out what we’re dealing with under our noses.

Distracting them by saying I’ll be bothering Wyatt is the best escape route.

“Make sure someone gets footage of this madness. I want to see all their shocked faces,” I announce, knowing exactly why Mikayla is doing what she’s doing.

“Shocked faces?” Dimitri asks, leaving me to look at Mikayla as we smile maliciously.

“They don’t call me McCurveyThighsForDays for nothing,” Mikayla teases. “Let’s go rile them up.”

“I’ll bring Wyatt if I see him,” I assure them and begin to depart so I don’t get pulled into these fanatics.

I’ll just go for a walk and not worry about this disappointed feeling in the pit of my stomach.

A GLIMPSE OF MY REALITY

~WYATT~

“Why did I think this was a good idea?” I mutter to myself while attempting to carry the tower of folded towels to the locker room instead of being smart and using the trolly. “If I used the trolly, I would have had to go all the way to the other rink to get it. This was the only way of not spending another twenty minutes organizing shit,” I say to myself while slowly walking into the hall.

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