Chapter Seven

Matthew

I'm a nervous fucking wreck walking into the locker room. I grab a bottle of Gatorade, opening it and taking a big gulp. The media is all over, snapping pictures, watching my every move.

I’m introduced to the team. Some I know and have played with or against. The starting goalie, Luka, gets up to greet me, shaking my hand. “Welcome to the team,” he says while I nod.

Another teammate Phil gets up, coming to me. “Can’t wait to see what you’ve got.” I don’t say anything because my mouth has become suddenly dry.

The star defenseman Paul comes up to me. “Hey, golden boy.” He smirks at me. I’ve played against him many times before. I’m happy to say that I’ve beat him most of the time. “Glad you’re on my side now,” he says, turning around to tell stories of when I used to zip by him.

The star of the team, Max, comes up to me, his smirk coming out. “I don’t know what the big fuss is, but let's see what you can do.”

I immediately want to knock his teeth out. His smirk is more like a leer. He comes closer to my ear so only I can hear, “You don’t fool me. You're a has-been. Just a matter of time before everyone sees it.” He smacks me on the shoulder and walks away.

Brendan, another star on the team, sees this and looks at me. “Don’t take too much of what Max says. He hates it when someone tries to steal his thunder.”

“Don’t want to steal anyone's anything. I just want to play the game,” I say, going to the cubby where I see my name on it. All my equipment is laid out for me. I shrug my suit jacket off taking my workout gear and heading into the room to change. Usually I would undress in front of the guys, but the press is in there and I need a second to breathe. Once I’m in my workout gear, I walk out of the room where I hear Karrie’s voice.

“No worries, it’s okay.” She smiles and is about to walk around him when he stops her with his hand on her arm. I’m about to go and break his hand.

“I’m Jamie. I play for New York.” He smiles at her, holding out his hand.

I see her looking down at it, grabbing it and shaking it.

“I’m Karrie Cooney.” The forced smile is on her face. Unlike the ones she gives me at home. Well, there are also the glares. I can’t decide which one I love the most.

“Shit, the boss’s daughter.” He laughs. “Just my luck. The only girl to pique my interest and she’s off-limits.”

Okay, this is enough.

“Totally off-limits, bud.”

She looks over Jamie’s shoulder, finding me.

Jamie smiles at me, walking past me and slapping me on the back. “Got it.” Is all Jamie says, making Karrie cross her arms.

“The nerve of him,” she grumbles, turning around, walking toward the arena, and I’m pretty sure she’s still talking to herself. I shake my head while I watch her ass walk away. Fuck, my handprint would look great on her.

Walking back into the room, I zone everything out. I warm up my muscles and start doing my routine that I’ve always done. Gearing up, I look around the room as some of the teammates argue and joke with each other while some music fills the room.

Coach Dan sticks his head into the room. “Go time, boys.”

I look at the board with the lines. I’m on the third line with Jamie and Phil. Third line is better than no line. I walk to the ice, the noise of the crowd growing when everyone skates on. I’m the last one out of the door and the roar of the crowd goes nuts. I hold my stick up, saying thank you while skating in a circle.

I stop by the board while we do drills, looking around. I look up at the boxes and my eyes find her, but she’s looking over at the other box while she must be listening to the girls talking. I don’t know what they are saying, but I can see her lips mumble from here. She’s a nut.

Once the puck drops, it takes a while before I get my feet under me. A fuck up in the neutral zone has me skating to the bench, almost ready to snap my stick on the board. It doesn’t help that Max shoots his mouth off when I get to the bench right before he goes on, “Well done, rookie.” I shake my head.

“Don’t mind him. He gets pissy when someone prettier comes along,” Phil says to me. “You’ll get it back.”

By the time the end of the first period comes it’s still 0-0. We walk into the dressing room, all of us sitting down while the coach goes over plays that we fucked up on. Once he’s done he walks out, leaving us to ourselves.

“Almost made us down one with that move,” Max says to the whole room.

Luka gets up, taking his stick.

“What, Max? You never fucked up? What about the time you had a cramp and couldn’t skate and I had a three on one?” Luka shakes his head, looking at me. “Don’t do that shit again.” He points to me and walks out to get his skate fixed.

I don’t say anything nor do I try and engage in any conversations. I

go over plays in my head. Once I get on the ice I get more comfortable. I make more daring plays, more chances till one finally pays off when I stick poke at a pass, intercepting it at the blue line.

I skate up to the puck ahead of me, my speed going ahead of the puck, so I’m toe dragging the puck through my skates and coming one on one with the goalie. I’m coming in fast and the goalie goes deeper into his net, protecting nearly every single part, but he goes a little too low and I see the sweet spot right above the pads. I lift up my stick a little, snapping it into the net.

The building goes crazy. The fans are on their feet. I throw my one leg up, skating on one, fisting my hands by my sides, roaring out, “Fuck yeah.”

My line mates come and celebrate with me.

“There goes that monkey off your back,” Jamie says as we skate to the bench, high-fiving everyone.

Brendan puts his hands in my face when I get on the bench. I smile big and look up at the only person I care to see. Karrie. I find her and see her smiling at me. I wink at her, the camera catching it and having everyone cheering, thinking it is for them, but she knows it is all for her.

The rest of the period is rushing to keep the lead. It ends with us sealing the win with an empty net goal. While celebrating, I’m walking off the ice when I'm tapped by a reporter who wants to ask me questions, but he has to wait because I’ve been voted the first star of the game. I skate back onto the ice with three pucks, throwing them into the crowd while I skate around. I look up at the box, seeing her standing on her feet while she cheers for me. Or the team. I’m saying she’s cheering for me.

While getting off the ice the reporter pulls me aside with questions.

“So back on the ice it started out shaky, but you got your feet back. How did it feel?”

I push the hair back from my face, smiling.

“I’ve been training, hoping to get back on the ice, and it feels great. The team welcomed me, so it’s great to have the support.”

“Getting that first goal tonight, how big was that?”

“I think it was great. I was just lucky it was me. Could have been any of my teammates. We all played our hearts out, so it was a team effort.”

“Thank you for your time.”

“Thank you,” I say, going back into the dressing room where my team cheers as I walk in.

One person throws his gloves at me. I sit down, taking off my stuff. Our team’s bags are in front of each of us.

I take my jersey off, throwing it into the big gray basket in the middle of the room. The equipment manager, Bill, will make sure they are all washed and ready for the next game. The away jerseys are already packed. I take off my gloves, throwing them into the bag as well as the rest of my equipment. Zipping up the bag, I tell Bill my bag is ready. He walks over and grabs it, putting it on the cart.

I walk to the shower where most of the guys are already. We have an hour before the bus leaves for the airport, so we all have to get ready. I’m one of the first finished, so I get dressed and grab my phone. I have texts from my mother and Cooper. As well as Allison.

They are all messages of good luck and then congratulations. I smile, knowing I made them proud.

Allison sends me a picture of the whole family wearing my New York jersey and then the house erupting the second I scored.

Cooper went just as nuts yelling, “That’s my boy.”

I smile at the video. Walking out, I see Karrie leaning against the wall, her legs crossed in front of her. When she sees me walking out she smiles huge at me. I'm itching to put my hands in her hair and tilt her head to the side, claiming her mouth with mine.

“There he is,” she says, walking to me. “Number one star of the team.” She claps her hands.

I smile at her and am about to grab her hand when Dan and Robert walk out, my hand going back to my side instead of in hers.

“There he is,” Robert says to me. “Great game.” They continue walking down the hall.

“I gave them our luggage, so it’s already on the bus. You ready?” I ask her, walking toward the bus. Most of my teammates are starting to follow us.

She walks on the bus before me, sitting down in the front. I sit right next to her, blocking her from the guys, or at least hoping, but it doesn’t work. One by one they come on the bus, introducing themselves and laying on the charm. Fuck, some of them are married. I’m about to lose my shit so much my leg is bouncing up and down.

“This wouldn’t happen if you wore normal clothes.” I check my phone, seeing all the tweets and hashtags about Grant is back.

“What is normal clothes? Is my ass hanging out? No, are my tits displayed out? No. I’m covered up,” she hisses out at me. “By the way”—she folds her arms over her chest—“I met a couple of your friends today. They were going on and on about you and your three-way activities.” She stares out the window. “Jerkface.”

“Three-way?” I don’t say anything else because Max comes on the bus, looking straight at Karrie.

“Hey, beautiful, so glad you’ll be traveling with the team.” He smiles, walking away from us.

The last person on the bus is the coach as the door closes and we make our way to the airport where we walk on the tarmac straight onto the plane. I don’t stray far from Karrie’s side even when she gets on the plane, putting her purse beside her.

When I get there, I look at it while she huffs and places it under her seat. “Can’t you go sit somewhere else?” she mumbles.

“I can,” I say, sitting next to her, putting on my seat belt, “but then who will keep you company?” I close my eyes, resting my head on the back of the chair.

She must see me with my eyes closed and chooses not to say anything. Because the next thing I know we are going down the runway on our way to Philly with our elbows fighting over the armrest. Stubborn girl.