When The Whistle Blows

Chapter 38

Ryder

I knew Thirteen must have done something bad to have riled Henrik. Although he held the most penalty minutes than anyone else on the team, he always had a reason for the fights. Whether it be protecting the goalie, finishing what a rookie couldn't, or simply doing what Coach instructed him to do. Henrik had never started a fight before the face-off.

Whatever Thirteen had said or done had rattled Henrik. I was proud of Henrik and by the smug smirk on his face when he had skated off the ice, it was clear he too was proud of himself.

From beside me, Astrid swore under her breath. Which caused my attention to turn towards her.

Her green eyes flicked to me. "It's my fault," she cringed. "Henrik did that to get back at him for my chin."

I shrugged. "So what? That was the best fight he's had all season. Definitely worth it."

She tried to smile, though her stitches kept half her mouth in place.

"First line, you're up," Coach hollered.

Astrid, Ozzy, and I jumped the boards in tandem as the other line rotated off.

We were a well-oiled machine. It was a sight to behold as my wingers flew to their spots and covered their points. It wasn't long before we had control of the puck and were carrying it down the ice.

I took a shot at the goalie and Ozzy was waiting at the net for the rebound. All the while, Astrid kept one of their defenders busy.

Ozzy tried but failed to bury the puck. The goalie covered the puck and the refs blew the whistle. While most everybody stopped, Astrid and the defender were still struggling in the corner of the zone.

I could hear that they were exchanging words, but what they were saying was unclear. Eventually, she turned towards the defender and started widening her stance.

Alarm bells started ringing in my head and I skated over to them. Right in time too apparently, as the defender raised a hand to her.

"This doesn't concern you," the defender snapped at me.

I refused to look at him or even respond, instead focusing on Astrid. Her face was relaxed, a small lift in her lips gave her a casual appearance.

Even in the face of danger she still held that hockey swagger.

"Let's go." I nodded to the face-off on the opposite side of the ice.

The defender didn't like that I was ignoring him. He resorted to cursing me out, but it was his hand that caught my attention. Wrapped tightly around the strings to Astrid's breezers, he had a firm grip on her. He had been preventing her from moving away.

"Get your hands off her," I gritted through closed teeth.

"Or what?" He challenged. Astrid was pulled towards him more as he spoke.

I finally turned towards him, sizing him up. He was maybe three inches shorter than me but made up for it with muscle.

"Alrighty, let's break it up." One of the refs skated between us, his hands on our chests pushing us apart.

The defender scoffed before skating off. While I fought every instinct in my body to wrap Astrid up when I heard her shaky exhale.

"You good?" I asked her discretely while we skated to the face-off.

For only a second did her mask slip, her fear and past trauma surfacing. Then she replaced it with the smirk that I knew all too well.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were about to fight him for me," she said as a reply.

"Then you'd be right."

"Jealous?" She asked.

"Of that fat fuck?" I scoffed.

"Protective then," she said as she nodded in realization.

I didn't offer a reply as we set up at the face-off. She knew just as much as I did that I was seconds away from getting kicked out of the game. As much as I wouldn't have minded joining Henrik in the locker room, I knew it would be nearly impossible for us to win with both of us out of the game. It was a good thing the ref jumped in when he did.

So when the puck dropped and the play started I slipped into my game mindset. I forgot about the defender and thirteen and the redhead winger who could single-handly control the fate of this game.

I was playing hockey and that was all that mattered. I have no future, I have no past. I'm here to make the moment last. I'm in the here and now. I recited to myself as my legs carried me through the motions.

It wasn't that shift but the next that Ozzy got my rebound and put the puck in the back of the net.

The final score was 5-4, us walking away with the last win before state next weekend. Depending on how we do in State, we could go on to play Nationals at the end of the month.

"Beautiful work out there tonight boys. Rest up tomorrow and Sunday and we'll see you all at practice on Monday. Be ready to work. State's next weekend and I don't know about you, but I'd really like to go to Nationals," Coach clapped his hands before leaving with the rest of the coaches in tow. Luka hung around, getting a headcount on everybody's injuries before he too left.

Once he was gone I pulled up my "Cookies are for Closers" playlist and cranked the block rocker.

Everybody settled between dancing, scream-singing, and undressing. I loved being the music guy, even if it meant I would be deaf by the time I'm thirty.

After twenty minutes, some of the older guys decided to go out for drinks after the game, which meant the locker room cleared out pretty fast. The only ones hanging around were the ones waiting on Astrid.

Once she took off her gear, she usually retreated to the bathroom to change out of her sweaty clothes. This time was no different.

"How are you always the last one?" Corey shouted, even though I had turned the music off five minutes ago.

"I usually take longer to make sure everyone has a chance to undress and change while I'm gone, so nobody feels uncomfortable." She explained while still changing in the bathroom stall.

Typical thoughtful Astrid.

"You wanna talk about what happened out there, Henrik?" She asked the now-grinning bastard.

"Just a little scuffle was all, darling." He chuckled while sitting back in his cubby.

Luka entered the locker room and chuckled at the sight of all of us waiting on her.

"How's your chin feel?" He asked her as he walked over to her cubby and picked up her backpack.

The stall door unlocked and she walked in as she spoke. "Stiff but good."

Luka held open her backpack as she stuffed her dirty clothes in it before he zipped it up and carried it for her. She pocketed her phone and threw her hair up, which we all took as our sign that it was time to go.

I took an extra second to take in her appearance. Her black joggers, the black team sweatshirt, and the red puffy eyes that looked to have tear stains below them.

Deciding I would bring it up later, I led them all out of the locker room. The lobby was almost empty, mostly just employees bustled around. We all walked to our respective vehicles, though we waited by our cars as we decided where to eat.

Eventually, it was decided that we'd eat at a Mexican restaurant and that was that. Henrik and I rode together, though we rode in silence. A comfortable silence. It was evident both of our minds were on the same thing though by the mirrored content smiles.

~~~~~~
Thank you for reading Chapter 38. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Comments and feedback make me happy!

~Until Next Chapter