Page 16 of Just my Puck (Love & Laughter #1)
LUCY
A s we arrive inside the arena, I immediately feel the energy in the air. It’s electrifying. The crowd is already roaring with excitement, and I can feel the anticipation for the game to get underway.
The players are already out warming up, so I quickly scan the ice for Steele and spot him right away. It’s hard to miss him. He’s wiping his chin with the bottom of his jersey, showing the whole world abs so toned, you could climb up them.
“Fuck,” I pant, pausing to get a good look.
Patty snickers and drags me further down the row. Sneakily, I search for my friends and see them in the same seats as the other night.
Tearing my gaze back to Steele as we sit and jiggle in our plastic seats to get comfy, we are right by the penalty box, which is really close to the ice.
Smiling as I take in his confident stance and his perfect hockey moves, I gasp when he throws a puck in the air and starts to bounce it off the end of his stick a few times before he lobs it at no. 69.
“Jason,” I murmur, seeing that face as he turns around.
Why am I so obsessed with him all of a sudden?
It’s driving me crazy. Steele is perfect, and yet I can’t seem to tear my eyes away from the bad boy gliding across the ice.
Forcing myself to look away, I chew my lip and look at Steele again.
Our gaze meets, and he smiles sexily, a half-smile that melts my panties.
Raising his hand, he waves and then skates off, leaving me a panting mess.
“Okay, so we’re about to start,” Patty says. “Do you want a blow-by-blow or what?”
Shaking my head, I know I’m too unfocused to take in anything she will tell me about what’s going on. “You cheer, I cheer.”
“Got it,” she says and settles down before jumping up suddenly as the national anthem blares out of the speakers.
When we settle again after Patty sings her heart out, she gives me a serious look. “I have to confess something.”
Dread fills my stomach, but I gulp it back. “What?”
“Yesterday, you know I left a little bit before you? I may or may not have told the online news vultures outside that I saw you leaving out the back in a white hoodie and baseball cap. Hope that’s okay?” She bites her lip as she waits for my reply.
“Okay?” I exclaim. “That’s amazing, Patty. I did wonder why there was no one there.”
“I didn’t want anything messing up your date with Steele .” She mouths his name.
“Thank you. I’m glad you did. It was so lovely, and it would’ve been ruined by them if they’d come hounding us.”
She nods, her expression conveying her relief. “Okay. Good. I thought maybe you’d think I was interfering or whatever.”
I shake my head. “No, not at all. You were a good friend, and that’s more than I can say for my other friends.”
Casting my gaze to them sitting laughing about something, probably me, I swallow back the hurt.
Patty follows my gaze. “The mean girl.”
“Yeah. But she’s not my friend. I’ve realized a few things over the last hour or so since I saw her at the diner.”
“Oh, is she one of those? Never messaged you first or asked how you were?”
Eyes wide, I nod. “Exactly that.”
“Been there,” she says, patting my hand. “Uhm, are we friends?”
“Yes,” I say emphatically, without a second’s hesitation. “We are.”
“Yay,” she says softly, but her smile tells me all I need to know. I’ve found a real friend in her, and I’m so glad we firmed up our relationship from co-workers to friends.
As the game kicks off, Patty gets fully invested, and I watch Steele, trying to learn, but I’m clueless. Still, I watch in awe as Steele glides effortlessly across the ice, dodging opponents and making passes with ease.
“Oof!”
We hear the roar as we are sitting so close to the edge of the ice.
“Shit!” I exclaim, standing up and resisting the urge to go to Steele. He’s been slammed into the sideboards.
The crowd behind me surges to their feet in an uproar, and I watch as Steele elbows his opponent hard to get him to move away.
“That’s it, Jonson!” Patty shouts. “Show ‘em what you’ve got!”
She looks at me to yell out some encouragement.
Freezing under the panic of drawing attention to myself, I glance back at Steele. A fight is breaking out now, and the referee is trying to get everything back under control.
“Go on, Jonson! Shove your stick up his ass!” I yell, not knowing what else to say.
Of course, that is the exact moment when the crowd dies down as Steele is escorted to the penalty box right in front of us, and everyone within earshot hears me.
“Fuck!” I squeak and sit as the crowd seems to get behind me, chanting, “Cute Girl! Cute Girl!”
“Hey!” One fan bangs on the glass of the penalty box. “We’re getting to know you real good this season, Jonson!”
Steele gives him a scowly smile and then meets my gaze. His smile turns sexy and practically melts my panties right off.
The crowd roars as the game continues, and Jason, aka the Storm, is all over the ice. I can follow him because his jersey number makes me giggle like a child. I wonder if that was deliberate.
He shoots, and he scores!
The crowd goes wild behind me, and I feel the energy so much that I get lost in it. I don’t know when Steele hits the ice again, but I see him in number 16, executing tackles and body-slamming the opponents. He is wired now and isn’t taking any shit from anyone.
After another stint in the box, where the guy who joked with him before bangs again on the glass with another wisecrack, and the woman next to him lifts her top to press her tits against it, I gasp, the rage descending on me.
“Hey!” I snap, standing up and jabbing my finger at her. “Go be a hussy elsewhere!”
She turns and sneers at me, lowering her top again before she blows a bubble with her gum and pops it, thinking she looks all cute. She just looks like a dick, in my opinion, and Steele agrees. He smiles secretly and rolls his eyes.
Trying to smile back, I think it turns out to be more of a grimace, and he chuckles before turning his attention back to the game.
Guessing that women must do that a lot, he brushes it off, and I feel a sense of satisfaction when one of the arena employees gives her a stern telling-off.
Not that she seems concerned and will probably do it again.
The first period comes to an end, and the Titans are in the lead.
“Yes!” Patty shouts, clapping her hands. “Good job, boys!”
I love her enthusiasm. It’s infectious, so I clap too and forget about the boob-woman trying it on with my man.
My man.
Hugging myself as the thought warms me, I go ice cold again when I inadvertently glance at my friends, and they’re glaring at me before they whisper and start laughing again.
Giving them a filthy look, I smile at Patty. She returns it before we turn our attention back to the game.
The ebb and flow is exhilarating. My emotions swing with each scoring opportunity, each foul.
Storm scores again, sweeping the puck gracefully over the ice to smash into the back of the net before he’s slammed on his back by his opponent.
Gasping, I stand with the rest of the crowd, hoping he’s okay.
He’s gripping his shoulder but quickly gets back to his feet and seems to double his efforts.
There are moments of brilliance. Well, in my humble opinion, anyway.
The team’s strategic plays, blocking shots, and disrupting the opponent’s offense are working in their favor. The other team looks fucking exhausted.
United in the fandom due to their team winning, the engaging cheers, chants, and waves with fellow spectators is almost a sense of community.
The roaring cheers for the defense are deafening.
Standing up to cheer for Steele as he blocks an opponent allowing Storm to score again, the crowd goes ballistic.
Standing with Patty and screaming my heart out, hurting my hands, I’m clapping so hard, I suddenly get hit on the back of the head with something soft.
“Oww.” I rub my head and fix my glasses that go askew.
Turning around and shouting, “Hey!” to whoever threw it, I pick up the smallish stuffed penguin from my plastic seat and wave it around. “This is mine now, fuckers!”
Patty snickers as I turn back around. “You’re really getting the hang of this now, girl.”
Beaming with pride, I cuddle the penguin, the Titan’s mascot, and give him a name.
“I shall call you Puddles.” It’s adorable, and I wonder if Steele would like it if I gave it to him.
Determined to anyway, I decide instantly on the cutesy name he wants me to give him.
Smiling, I hold the penguin up high and wave it around, hoping it doesn’t belong to a child.
If that’s the case, I will give it back, but otherwise, the stuffie is fair game.
As the minutes tick by, Steele and Storm continue to dominate the ice, scoring a few more goals and making some fantastic saves—the tension mounts as the game reaches a crucial moment.
Witnessing a perfectly timed poke check, according to Patty, which breaks up a dangerous scoring chance by the other team, the Titans rally together as if they are one mind and land the puck directly in front of Storm to smash it into the back of the net, winning the game.
Leaping to my feet and high-fiving Patty, we join the crowd’s thunderous applause.
I’ve never felt so alive than in that moment, and when Steele skates over to the sideboards and presses his lips to the glass screen before darting off again to celebrate with his team, my cheeks heat up.
Hiding my face behind the penguin, I grin, catching Patty’s gaze as she wolf whistles loudly.
This has been the most exciting night of my life.
I wonder if this is only the beginning.