***
“Dammit,” I muttered a few minutes into the third period as Dom’s shot hit the pipes. At least he caught the rebound when Jenzy was slow to cover it. Taking three sips of my water, I put the water bottle back in its holder and rolled my shoulders, still focused on the Jumbotron. Dom passed the puck to Haldy, who knocked it right back, and then Dom tried his shot again. And this time, it slipped between Jenzy’s legs and into the back of the net.
I turned to see Dani and the rest of our family members jumping up and yelling as the buzzer blared again. Four to two, fuck yeah. The game had continued to be chippy, but we were finding our stride and playing lights out. During the second intermission, more than one of the guys mentioned how extra sweet it would be to beat the Blizzard in their own barn since they typically had our number. Dom had said we needed to do it for Dani because Jenzy was such a dick, which I wholeheartedly agreed with.
The arena cheered loudly for our team, not always typical for an away game, but a ton of our fans made the short road trip since we were playing the other Colorado team. Although the energy was electric, I only had eyes for Dani. She was so damn gorgeous. My body clenched like a total caveman knowing my name was across her shoulders.
It was juvenile that I cared so much, but I couldn’t help it.
And while she was clapping and cheering, she held my gaze and grinned. I couldn’t wait for this game to end so I could kiss the hell out of her.
***
With six minutes left in the third period, I skated over to the bench for another TV timeout. The score had remained at four to two, but my boys had gotten close to getting another goal in the last thirty seconds. I’d also had a very close call a few minutes ago when Lamb had been crowded into me by one of the Blizzard’s wingers and I’d momentarily lost sight of the puck. I’d nudged them both out of my crease just in time to drop my stick down and stop the puck from going five-hole.
“Fuck. Six minutes to go and I almost had that.” Sin leaned his chin on the butt of his stick.
“You were off by a mile,” Jenzy said, skating behind Sin.
“You getting blind? Probably how you missed Dom’s shot last period,” Sin fired back.
“Fuck off, Sin. Dom’s goal was clear interference.”
“You really going to play it that way?” Micah sneered. “That’s just sad, man.”
“What’s pathetic is your goalie taking my girl,” Jenzy said.
I’d been ignoring him until that point, but I couldn’t let this one go.
“Move the fuck on. Dani is my girlfriend. She broke up with you months ago.”
“Please, she didn’t really want to be over. Then you swooped in.”
“You’re delusional,” I said, trying not to get riled up.
But he got in my face, skating in way too close, his cage almost knocking against mine, so I acted on instinct and shoved him.
“Back off. From me. From Dani. Just move on,” I bit out.
“He shoved me. That’s a clear penalty,” Jenzy called out. Was he for fucking real right now?
“That wasn’t a shove,” Tally said. “Get to your bench, Jenzy.”
“Ref, you see that?” Jenzy yelled.
One of the linesmen came over. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing. Just having a chat,” I said.
“With his fists,” Jenzy said.
“Let’s play nice, boys,” the ref said.
“Of course he’s blind for you. Just like that bullshit last goal,” Jenzy said.
“You really want to pull that shit right now? Get to your bench,” the linesman replied.
I almost hoped Jenzy would show his ass even more to the official and get himself booted out of the game.
