Antagonym

Chapter 4

"All right, all right, alright!" Echoed through the rink just as I slammed my right knee down to block the shot Seb had just ripped at me. All nineteen of the players on the ice stopped what they were doing as I passed the puck back to Seb and skated towards our coach walking out into the center of the ice in his black dress shoes.

Coach Bradley was an average sized man with a brown beard and a bald head that he always wore a bobcats baseball hat on. With the clipboard in his hand and the whistle around his neck, the smile fifty year old looked like he had returned home. Most of us skated to a stop and took a knee in front of him, my movements looking a little more awkward due to my goalie gear and the lingering soreness between my legs. Last night had been something else, like a scene straight out of an erotic novel. Beck was an intoxicating character; it was a shame I had to sneak out of his bed to make it to practice. "Here we are with the first practice of the year! I could play an introduction game or start out with an inspirational speech, but I won't do that."

If there was one thing about Coach that stood out, it was he was hilariously blunt. "Get to know each other and go on dates on your own time. Instead, I like to introduce my incoming players with a few rounds of body checking then we can introduce our new captain and our goalie. Shall we start with a seniority player? Williams. Riley. Get up here."

"You pull this every year, Bradley," Seb groaned while getting up beside me. I didn't know who the captain was; out of the all the new people with helmets on, I couldn't read the back of his jersey to tell. But I had a feeling his eyes were one me because my height made me stand out like a sore thumb; and the fact that it's well known Quinnipiac has a female goalie, even for those that weren't in the hockey world. "And why does it have to be against the goalie of all people?"

"The same reason she plays forward once a week with you; I teach adaptability, that's how you get a long career out of it. Besides, as soon as she leaves the crease it's check central for goalies so let's do this, Williams." Coach spoke loudly with that same enthusiasm in his voice when he dropped a puck from his pocket on the center of the ice. "Start on my whistle."

Seb skated up to the center of the rink while I stood a few feet in front of him, putting my body between him and the goal. I bent my knees a little, feeling the cool air of the arena tickle my skin from under my pads as the whistle rang through my ears. Seb was a big guy and an even faster skater. He had a lot of muscle and a lot of speed that could make him look like the scariest guy on the ice. I skated backwards a little bit so I was more on his left, where the lefty defenseman kept the head of his stick. Just as he was going to deke but before he could finished the move at full speed I slammed my body against his own, my hips digging into his thighs and knocking the right defender onto his ass with a thud that echoed under the dome.

I recovered from the jolt of Seb's body against mine and stole the black puck, making a perfect across rink goal as the vulcanized rubber skidded across the smooth ice with small divots remaining from our skates. "Rule number one," Bradley yelled, his firm voice perfectly clear to probably the whole state. I extended my heavily gloved hand to Seb as he took it in his own, my arm helping pull his heavy body up to a standing position. My best friend didn't say anything because  Coach was talking, but he playfully punched me in the shoulder instead. I made sure to keep my grip on my stick like a vice; the last two demonstrations Seb had gotten me back by checking it out of my hands when Coach was talking, leading to the 'always be prepared' speech. "Never underestimate the smallest guy, because they just took your toughest defender down like a sack of potatoes."

"And if you want an explanation ask a physics major or some shit. All I care about is your lower center of gravity. Your size might make you a threat but in the real world you have to know how to protect against those who use their disadvantages as an asset."

"If you have a lower center of gravity you're hitting them where they're unstable, it basi-"

"Right," Coach snapped his fingers while pointing at me. "I almost forgot. Any of you freshman need help, we got the geek squad. What are we going for? Orthopedic surgeon, Astrophysicist, and lawyers?" Lawyers? Only Axel was studying law but I was too busy rolling my eyes at Coach for volunteering us for tutoring. My feet glided towards Coach from where we were, near one of the goals, only to see the black skate in front of me just a second too late as Seb tripped me back.

Sneaky bastard.

I managed to land on my highly padded legs without making a fool of myself, almost making it looked planed. "Really? You're a son of a bitch," I cursed Seb out as I got up on my own, my best friend smirking behind his navy colored helmet.

"That's three years in a row, Riley," Bradley laughed at me as I made my way to my feet.

"God damn it, I was thinking about when he was going to check me but you just had to switch it up when I caught on!" I shouted back across the ice at the legendary Coach George Bradley.

"Sure you were," he snorted.  "That's rule number 2," Bradley yelled while trying to subdue his smirk from Seb's clever move, turning back to the men kneeling in front of him. "Always be alert. Stand by those two rules and we'll make the championships again. For those of you returning, you know our Captain from last year has graduated."

Here it is. The moment I've been waiting for. What's his face Sampson. I wanted to punch him in the face already and I haven't even met the guy. "But we are very fortunate to get last years Captain from our biggest rivals, St. Cloud, to make sure we kick their asses in the championship."

Seb skated back to where he previously kneeled in an attempt to avoid my furry, taking a knee on the left as the dreaded Captain stood from the right, the number '4' printed across his jersey in big navy letters against the yellow material of the bobcats uniform. I took my right glove off to shake his hand since it was the right thing to do. He did the same, both our sticks under our armpits. I pulled off my heavy goalie's helmet at the same time he did his, revealing an unobstructed view of my worst nightmare.

My heart stopped and my pupils dilated. This couldn't be happening. Some one shoot me now, because I couldn't possibly feel more embarrassed and annoyed if I tried.

"Meet our returning championship goalie, Danielle Riley and our new Captain, Beckett Sampson."

You're telling me the man I'd spent weeks ranting to Seb about, saying how I just had to show him who was really in charge, was the man who I had basically shown I was the biggest submissive ever. Don't get me wrong, it was probably the best sex of my life but that didn't make me feel better about the situation. Off to a great start. A real great fucking start.

I heard Seb make a noise from the back of his throat that he covered with a cough, clearly surprised that neither one of us had picked up on who Beck was. I was pissed. Obviously I knew Beck's last name but I didn't know his first name; I knew my sport but not enough to care about players first names or the picture on ESPN. I only cared about stats, teams, and last names. Clearly Beck was the same way because he had an equally shocked look in his eyes but his impassive face was much better at hiding it.

"Danny," I introduced myself like we had never met, my face slightly hostile as it should be based on all the crap I'd talked about getting a new captain. If goalies could be captains I wouldn't even be having this problem. I'd be leading my team with a majority vote, not some arbitrary decision from the front office and Coach.

"Beck," he responded equally as thrilled. I tried to ignore a feeling of his large, warm hand as he gave me a firm handshake. God, I remember the way his long and slender fingers had choked me and how they had curled against the front wall of my soaking sex. I just wanted to feel those strong hands on my body again, but I couldn't. I wouldn't be that girl who's on a team to get a boyfriend. My brother, Sylvia, and I had fought too hard for this. Besides, I was still to petty to be over the whole captain thing. It should have been Seb or Axel, or even Zeke, the other senior who played left defense.

"To a good season," Beck murmured with a mirth filled voice.

"To hoping you can keep up," I responded cockily, trying to get under his skin.

"We both know I can, in more ways than one, Danny." His icy burned into my face the way that it had just hours ago when I begged him to let me cum. The only difference was this time, I stared back with just as much intensity.

Beck could definitely keep up, and I knew that for a fact.