“Yo, get your head in the damn game.” Colson gets beside me.
“I know. I know.”
“Do you though? They have two points on the board. We have zero. And you know those Ellis fuckers won’t let us live this down.”
“I know.” I huff out a breath, adjust my mouthpiece, and push harder.
We block them from scoring on our side and when I take the puck again and skate down the rink, I do something Nolan doesn’t expect from me—I don’t stop. I just drive and score one in.
“Take that, fucker,” I shout as I skate away. Nolan chuckles, shaking his head.
“Hey, Mav,” Nolan shouts. I turn and skate backward. “Does your back hurt from carrying your whole team?”
I shake my head, but can’t help laughing. I love my team, but sometimes it definitely feels that way.
After the game, which we lose by one point, we skate by the other team to shake their hands. I stop in front of Nolan and we hug quickly.
“How’s everything up there?” I ask.
“Better than here.” He raises a hand and runs it through his straight, dirty blond, shoulder-length hair.
“We’re chillin’ down here. What are you talking about?”
“You’re chillin’ for now. Your sports programs are about to go through some crazy shit.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You seriously haven’t heard?”
“Heard what?”
“They’re looking into a drug ring going on here.”
“Here, here?”
“Yeah.”
“How do you know about it and I don’t?”
“I stay informed, Cruz, that’s why. I was going to text you about it, but I wasn’t sure if you were involved.”
“In a fucking drug ring?” I whisper-shout. “Why the hell would I be involved in that?”
“People do stupid shit for money and power.” Nolan chuckles. “Then again, you definitely don’t need any more money or power.”
“No shit.” I let out a laugh. I work hard to do well in school and on the ice, but because I’m fortunate enough to have the parents I have, I’ve never wanted for anything. “Do you have names of people involved?”
“Nope. I know it’s a lot of football players and some baseball.”
“Baseball?” I nearly shout as we skate off the ice.
“Your brother plays, right?”
“Yeah, but he’s not involved in no drug ring. He doesn’t need the money either.”
“Dude, I don’t know what’s going on. I just know it’s going to explode in everyone’s face, and this ring goes all the way up to Ellis.”
“Are you involved?” I raise an eyebrow.
“No, bro, of course not. Not directly anyway.” He sighs heavily. “Let’s just say, I’m keeping my head low for the time being.”
“Meaning you are involved.”
“I’m not.”
“Your not-so-secret society is involved then.”
Nolan shrugs.
“Fuck. I’m sorry, man.” I give him a pat on the shoulder and another sideways hug. “If you need anything, you know I’m here.”
“Thanks, man. I hope I won’t need anything, but I’ll let you know if I do.”
When I get home, I head straight to the laundry room and shove everything in the washing machine before I head to Rocky’s room. She had a game today as well so we always check up on each other to see how they went. As I walk there, my heart is pounding in my chest. I don’t know why I’m nervous, considering I’m never nervous to see her. I open her door and find her room empty.
“Rocky?”
“In the bathroom.”
“Oh.” I walk into the room and plop down on the bed, but then I hear the whooshing of water. “You’re in the tub?”
“Ice bath.”
I stand up and walk over to the bathroom, unsure of whether or not I should walk inside. Normally, I would not, but I’ve already seen her naked. I leave my hand on the door for a moment and wait.
“Can I come in?” I ask finally.
“Um . . . yeah, I guess. I mean, nothing you haven’t seen before, right?” She laughs awkwardly as I push the door open.
She’s not wrong, but still, seeing her figure in that tub makes me stop breathing for a moment. I walk back outside, grab the chair she has by the desk in the room, and bring it inside, placing it beside the tub. I’m looking at her face since looking anywhere else would be dangerous right now.
“I see you’ve emptied out our freezer again.” I smile as I look at all of the ice covering her. “How was your game?”
“We won. I scored both goals.”
“Damn.” I smile wide.
“How was yours?”
“We lost by one point.”
“Ah, sorry.” She pulls a face and sets a foot over the tub.
“Not your fault.” I reach for her foot and start massaging it. “Ellis played like shit. We should have won, but I was distracted.”
“You can’t carry your entire team, Mav.”
I laugh. “That’s what their goalie said.”
“Well, he’s not wrong.”
“I know, but you know how it is.” I raise an eyebrow and keep massaging. She closes her eyes with a moan that goes straight to my nether regions. “Besides, you scored two goals today.”