Chapter 20:
Blocked
Rockwell
When I arrived at the rink for the morning pre-game skate, I was one of the last players to enter the dressing room.
“Therehe is!” Vinny shouted as I stepped. “Speak of the devil.”
“Mornin', boys. What's this about the devil?” I asked as I strutted to my locker stall.
Vinny piped up. “We were just talking about you and that new ice girl Honor.”
I stopped in my tracks and shot him a serious look. “What about her …?”
“Jesus,” Vinny's shoulders shook with laughter, and he slapped the chest of the guy sitting next to him. “Look at how stiff he gets when someone just mentions her name.”
My mind sprinted through an endless number of ways we could've been busted. Had someone seen us eating dinner? Did someone follow us back to our hotel?What could it be?
“Seriously, what about her?” I asked.
“Uhh?” Vinny raised a palm into the air. “Doesyesterdayring a bell, captain? The commercial shoot? You and the ice girl's hot and steamy on-camera chemistry?”
I let out a heavy sigh of relief.Jesus, I'm a wreck.
“I forgot that was yesterday,” I mumbled. “Seems so long ago now. Almost forgot about it.”
“Yeah,right!” Iggy shouted with a laugh. “I bet you were jerkin' off to her all night.”
“You should've kissed her, you realize that, right?” Vinny cackled. “She was like, soready for you.SoDTF.”
If you guys only knew.
Iggy cut in again. “Forget about their kiss scene—let's just talk about that girl's puck skills. I mean, I wasn't expecting much, but she couldactuallyshoot the puck a little! I really think Leif was trying to stop her and he couldn't!”
“Bullshit,” Leif, our Russian goalie, growled in his thick and broken accent. “I did not try make save! Directionsveryclear: do not make save.”
Iggy went right back to Honor. “So, you guys think she played in high school or what?”
I listened as the debate went around the room, everyone chiming in with their own theory about what level of hockey Honor played.
“What doyouthink, Rockwell?” Vinny asked after everyone had weighed in.
I answered as I calmly tied my skate laces. “She's from Minnesota and her older brothers played hockey. She played with them growing up, that's all.”
My bit of information went over like a bad joke: a bunch of wet and blinking eyeballs staring back at me.
“How'd you know that, Rockwell?”
I shrugged. “She uh, she told me once.”
“Yeah, but when—”
“Hell, I don't fuckin' know,” I snapped. “Honestly, I just want to focus on tonight's game, boys. Must-win against Boston. We win this, we're in the playoffs.”
“Jeez. Captain Fun over here,” Vinny mumbled.
When we left the dressing room the for ice, Madison was walking through the hall. She acted surprised to see us.
