Juicy Rebound (IceCats 1)

“Good night, Mom.” I hug her tightly and kiss her cheek.

“I worry for you—”

“I’m great,” I say, backing away.

“Amelia—”

“I’ll see you in the morning.” I head to my room.

When I shut the door, I lean against it. I close my eyes, letting my head fall back. She thinks I’m still hung up on Drew, and I’m honestly not. I’m glad to be away from him, and I’m thankful I made it out. I told her he had cheated because I can’t ever tell her the truth. She’d tell Uncle Shea and then Ryan. They’d skin him alive, and I just don’t need that stress. I need Drew completely out of my life, and rehashing the past won’t achieve that.

When my phone vibrates in my shorts, I reach for it, lifting it up to see Chandler’s name.

Chandler: Is it too early to text? Should I have waited three days?

Don’t answer him. Just ignore it. I know what answering will mean, and I don’t know if I want to do that. A text bubble comes up and then another text.

Chandler: I can’t wait.

Chandler: I had a great time tonight. I want to do it again.

I blink, staring at his words, and then my fingers are moving along the keyboard.

Well, here we go.

Me: Do you now?

Chandler: Yup. And you want to too.

Me: I do?

Chandler: Yup and you know it’s true.

It is. Damn it.

Chapter Nine

Chandler

I hate playing the Ducks.

They’re ruthless and, sometimes, a bit dirty. It’s all for the love, to get the W. I get that. But shit, can they not throw their elbows into my damn jaw? Also, can the refs get some damn glasses or something? Shit. I reach for my bottle of Gatorade and squirt it into my mouth, wanting to press it against my jaw for some cool relief. Fucking asshole. I don’t even know who it was; they got me and skated away.

As I watch our defensemen fight off their offense, I can’t believe how great Nico is playing. He’s basically a brick wall out there. I don’t know how we got so lucky to snatch him up from the farm team, but thank God for him. Like I said, the Ducks are ruthless, shooting from every angle, at every moment, but between Nico’s goaltending and our defense, we’ve fought them off. Thankfully. I inhale deeply as our offense takes it up the ice. Duncan has the puck, and instead of leaving it at the line, he carries it in. He hits his winger, who passes it back to Clancy, and he shoots. The goalie fights it and then clears out the zone by the Ducks.

Good for us, bad for them. Our boys come for a change, a new line for offense and defense. I jump over the boards when my pair is called. My buddy Dickie Kurri skates beside me as we get into place.

“The tendy is weak on the left. Someone needs to get their Twiggy on the rebound.”

I nod to him and pass the message off to our forwards, Polutin and Meraskic. They both acknowledge me, and when Polutin wins the puck, he passes it to Kurri, who is waiting for the one-timer. He shoots, right where he said he would, and like he said, a rebound is right there. But the Duck clears it.

Right onto my stick.

I carry it in as Meraskic comes back, covering me while I move around the defensemen with force. I pass it back to Polutin, who snaps it to Kurri. As before, he is ready for the one-timer and hits the left side once more. The puck comes off the goalie’s left pad, but this time, he’s laid out, giving me one hell of an open net. I lift the puck up with a sick wrister, and when the red light comes on, I throw my hands up in the air.

The boys wrap me up, and I yell out, “Let’s go!”

“What a juicy rebound!” Kurri yells.

“So damn juicy,” I agree as we skate back to the bench, smacking gloves with our teammates. We needed that goal. There was too much back-and-forth going on and no scoring. For the next few minutes, we fight to keep them off the board but also to score another one to put the game away. Or so we hope. With hockey, you never know. You could be up three, and the other team could come back and score. That’s the game. That’s why I love it. It’s such a high. Such a complicated and rewarding sport.

Almost like Amelia.

Her smile makes me feel a high I’ve never felt before. Not even being on the ice can come close to that smile of hers. Boy, is she complicated. She’s so hot and cold, I don’t know what I’ll get day to day. She texted me the night I had dinner with her and her mom but then didn’t the next day. To save my pride, I only texted her once, and I plan to text her after the game. We’ll see what happens, but man, I want her.