The Cocky Hockey Captain

Chapter 23 ● Enter Chaos

I sat alone with a bag of sandwiches for the whopping three hours long trip. Listening to music on my phone didn't ease the knot in my throat. I didn't know how to make this right, other than telling Hunter and the others what the deal was. But then I remembered my dad, the bane of my existence, and how that might just be the last drop the town of Silver Grove needed to impale him with their pitchforks.

So I remained trapped in my thoughts, in a bus full of guys who had no idea they had a girl in their midst. I wondered if they'd sic their pitchforks on me too if this ever came out.

Lena Lee was trying to help. It just wasn't helping shit.

When we go to the venue, I felt like a few of the guys were skirting around me. We walked into the locker room assigned to us and picked out a stall. I just sat on the bench with a defeated sigh as everybody pulled out their gear from their backs and started suiting up in their ice warrior armors.

"You're not gonna change?" Pace asked next to me as he belted up his pants.

I shrugged. "I'm not supposed to play tonight."

"Yeah, unless Coach Joe says so." He plopped on the bench and bent down to put on the first skate. "I suggest you suit up, anyway, because if he calls you out and you're not ready there'll be hell to pay."

"Yeah, I guess."

I went through the motions with little heart. As Coach Martel went on to give one of his speeches I held back, wondering why he hadn't just told me to stay at home for this one like it'd been the case for the past month and a half or so. That'd have been a lot less disappointing than this. It might have saved me for a few days longer from realizing that I'd fucked things up with my teammates for seemingly stealing the crush off of one of them.

"Ah, man. It must be real nice to have your girlfriend send you off with a kiss."

I whirled around as one of the younger guys told another, enough paces away from me that I probably shouldn't have heard. Except they were being loud enough to ensure the comments hit the intended target.

"What I'm wondering is how he got Lena Lee when nobody else could," the second guy said.

I opened my mouth to rip them a new one, because even if I was at the bottom of the totem pole of skill in the team, I was still one of the seniors and they could use with learning something called respect. But then somebody bumped my shoulder in a way that was most definitely not accidental. I looked up, ready to rip a new one to whoever it was, but saw that it was the Captain. His eyes were like dark thunderstorms as he set them on me.

"Let it go. They're young and jealous."

He breezed past me without waiting for a retort to head the procession towards the ice. I frowned as I looked at the number 13 in his back, taking it as a sign of bad luck for me. Sure, it hadn't all sucked after meeting him and stepping into his world, but there was no way this ended well for me and I had best remember that every time I started day dreaming about the way he ran his hand through his golden curls, or the time he'd wrapped his arms around me to teach me how to shoot the puck correctly.

I sat on a corner of the bench when the game began, so that I was well out of the way. The skates were tight and heavy, the pads uncomfortable and my left elbow itched. I wouldn't have noticed any of those things if I'd been out there, duking it out.

Brian went on a sudden breakaway that tore through my haze of self pity. I joined everybody as we banged on the sideboard and cheered him on, but at the last second the other team's goalie stopped the slapshot that otherwise would've melted a hole through the net. I sat back down with a groan. That goalie really was good. My Bears kept on the relentless attack throughout the entire first period, but it ended 0-0.