Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 121734 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121734 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Still, Mal’s words stirred a sliver of hope inside me.
Was it possible?
34
TYLER
Rain wasn’t at the game. Why the fuck wasn’t she at the game?
Benny rushed past me through the locker room, and I grabbed his sleeve. “Benny.”
“Yo!” He had a pair of gloves in his hands, but he swung around to come to a stop in front of me. He was always rushing and always out of breath but always smiling. “Griff! What’s up? What can I do for you?”
“The team shrink.”
He had to think for a moment before his face brightened again. “Miss Rain. Yes. Do you need her?” His eyebrows scrunched together. “I think there was an email stating that she would not be present or available during games against Montreal and Boston. We’re playing Boston tonight, so I don’t think she’s here. I could call her. Do you want me to do that?”
It’d been a while since Rain told me about her connection to Dane and Daniel Connors, and we hadn’t spoken since. Well, I hadn’t spoken to her. I couldn’t handle hearing who she was, so I’d shut it all off. Now there was a white-hot hatred for her brewing underneath everything. Pure hatred. Except hearing she wasn’t here because we were about to go against one of her brothers, that tugged at me.
Why?
It didn’t make sense.
“Griff?”
Benny was still waiting for my response, and he wasn’t the only one. Sunny and Ray had both stilled, looking over at me. Confused. I shook my head, forcing a nonchalant expression. “Nah. That’s fine. I was just wondering.”
I sat back and finished dressing, but Benny lingered. “Uh, okay. Are you sure?”
I nodded, fiddling with my arm pad. “I’m good. You’re busy enough as it is. Thanks, Benny.”
He still seemed uncertain, but then he was off.
Sunny nudged me with his glove. “What was that about? You need to see Rain? You could probably just call her. She’s chill. She’ll answer.”
I shook it off. “It’s nothing.”
He continued to stare at me, so I gave him a shrug. “Just a question. I can ask it tomorrow. It’s no big deal.”
I bent down to double check my skates. I couldn’t keep playing with my arm pad or I was going to mess it up. Benny did a good job getting our equipment ready for us and keeping it exactly the way we wanted. I didn’t want to make his job more stressful by fucking something up and asking for a replacement.
The team was on edge, and I knew it was because of me. Everyone knew about the tension between me and the Connors brothers, and we’d begun our round of games against the eastern teams. Tonight I’d face Dane. He was first line, too, so we’d be spending a lot of time playing against each other. At least this was a home game, so not many Boston fans would be heckling me, but I wasn’t stupid. The ones who were here would be loud and proud. They hated me. So far, the Grays fans hadn’t experienced true hate for one of their players.
They were about to.
Coach Hines came into the locker room before warmups. Everyone grew quiet because this was unusual. He cleared his throat. “Okay. So tonight’s a little abnormal for most of us. Having said that, we’re going to do the same thing we do every night. We go out there. We warm up. We pay attention to our team, and we keep it moving. Don’t let the fans get in your head. Don’t let the opposing team do the same. Got it? Warm up. Have fun. Laugh. Keep your minds clear. If you find yourself getting riled, you focus on the guy to your left and your right. You lean on each other.” He surveyed the team one more time before nodding. “All right, gents. Get out there.”
I readied myself.
As soon as I appeared, the crowd went from cheering and happy to an undercurrent of boos and loud heckling from the Boston fans. I ducked my head and concentrated on going through our usual routine.
Brick did his thing on the side for a moment, letting Meester have some time in the net. He skated over to me. “Seats are usually still half empty during this time, with people getting their drinks or whatever. But it looks like Boston made sure to get their asses camped for maximum chirping time on you. And the signs.” He whistled under his breath. “Taking the negative shit out of it, you gotta be impressed they hate you this much. They’re fans, except because you’re a rival, it goes the other way. If you ever joined their team?” He laughed to himself. “They’d be pissing themselves at how lucky they were to have you.”
I shook my head. “I’m used to it. Both Connors are assholes, but Dane isn’t as dirty as Daniel. Consider this the preshow before we get Montreal later on.”