“Did you tell that to the cops when they were putting the cuffs on you in that assault charge?”
“No . . . I mean, shut up.”
“You have the right to remain silent.”
“Knock it off.”
“If you give up the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney.”
“I said fuck off, dude.”
“Why? I’m just getting started. If you cannot afford an attorney?—”
“Just shut up and watch this, okay?”
I pointed to Ryan Detenbeck, the goalie standing in the net, and ordered him to defend against me. At least one player on the ice knew how to take directions. I skated over to the nearest loose puck, set it in motion with my stick, and charged straight for the net. Erik’s dumbass comments supercharged me.
Winding back, I slapped the puck as hard as I could enough to make a cracking sound echo throughout the rink. Though quick on his feet, the goalie tried to block the shot, but the pick flew right in the net.
As expected. But I wasn’t done.
I glided back to the blue line, grabbed another puck, and proceeded to the net again. Detenbeck blocked that shot, but it didn’t matter. You might not make all your shots, but you’ve got to keep trying and cramming that same give-‘em-hell attitude down the goalie’s throat each and every time. That was why my third, fourth, and fifth shots all landed in the net. I’m telling you Ryan Detenbeck didn’t know what hit him.
I skated back to the blue line, expecting to see a look of utter amazement on Erik’s face but found this stupid blank stare instead. I sprayed ice shavings onto him for a third time, more than happy to rub it in.
“Now would you look atthat?” I gave his shoulder a little push.
“Help me out here. What am I supposed to be seeing?”
“I’m trying to show you how it’s done, that’s what.”
“Okay…”
“A little hockey one-oh-one for the greenhorn.”
“Uh huh.”
All right, fine. It might look like I was doing this stuff on purpose—and I so totally was—but Erik had played dumb on purpose to get under my skin. Then he had the nerve to act like I’d come from another planet. The more he did that, the more I would pelt him with ice shavings. Simple.
“That’s how I set an example for the team,” I said. “High energy, high intensity, real explosiveness, and I take no shit. Do you really think you’d make a better team captain than me?”
“IknowI can. Besides, it’s not about either of us saying who should and shouldn’t be team captain. It’s up to our teammates to vote someone in.”
“That’s right.”
“Which means I’ve got nothing to worry about.”
My fingers curled, balling into fists. I wanted to slug him in the worst way. If I did, he would spit out a tooth and makesome smartass joke about my arrest. Where did this kid find such bizarre confidence anyway? Did they put something in the water in Canada? Either way, I meant to give this Erik De Ruiter asshole an attitude adjustment.
“You really think so, huh?” I asked.
“I’m as sure as I can possibly be.”
“Yeah, well we’ll see about that.”
All right, fine, so maybe I didn’t have some clever comeback to nail him with. Besides, the kid was so stubborn that he would return with some stupid ass comment no matter what I said. It wasn’t worth the effort.
I circled around the blue line again, making one more abrupt stop and spraying ice shavings onto him for the umpteenth time now. And hestilldid nothing. He just brushed them off like nothing I did could bother him. That was your leader right there: a wimp who just stood there and took all the shit I dished out to him.
