Page 22

ERIK

B y now, you must think things between Kayden and I couldn’t get any weirder. Trust me, they could.

With the season only two days away, the team still hadn’t chosen a captain, and I worried it would never happen. Everyone gathered in the locker room after practice for an announcement. The team felt pumped about our first regular season game, but I felt nervous. How could I not?

My teammates hung around in varying stages of undress, from underwear to towels, and the rare mostly dressed player. You’d think I would be salivating over them, but I didn’t. None of that mattered, but I looked away from Kayden every time he entered my sightline. I had to.

Look, I won’t deny that I felt something for the guy. Any moron could tell you that. And I wanted him as badly as he wanted me. Oh yeah, he drove me nuts on principle, but he was sexy as hell and one taste of him commanded more. But I had to stick to my guns.

Kayden must’ve felt the exact same way…minus the common sense, I mean.

He must’ve known just how he felt about me but wouldn’t admit it to himself, let alone you.

It was more than just sex, and I knew it.

Surviving an entire season when your teammate drove you crazy in more ways than one was easier said than done, but I would do it.

Survival meant avoiding him at all costs, even if it looked awkward in front of others. Take this locker room gathering, for example. I stayed as far from Kayden as I could. Also, I would exit as soon as possible…for a team captain.

But the guys weren’t going anywhere. Usually, they were in a hurry to shower and get the hell out of there. Now they treated the locker room like a clubhouse with guys just hanging around. And why not? We had important news to hear.

“Okay, listen up, everyone!” Ryan Detenbeck said. “I’ve got a really important announcement to make.”

Everyone shut up. He commanded the room the way Kayden and I were supposed to. Maybe we weren’t the only ones made of captain material, but I didn’t need any more competition.

“We’ve named our team captain,” he said.

And then he paused, like he just had to hold me in suspense and drive me nuts.

Of course, he couldn’t just come out and name the team captain.

That would’ve been painless. For the first time, I actually doubted whether I would be selected as captain.

It didn’t matter whose fault it’d been. It’d still landed in a ridiculous on-ice fight with a teammate.

I was supposed to be the one discouraging that shit.

I shouldn’t have engaged in it myself. My picture-perfect reputation had been stained thanks to Kayden.

I hung my head a little, hoping to block out the results. At the very least, Kayden could forget about being team captain too. Think about it. He was as responsible for what’d happened as I was. Not that it healed my wounds or anything.

“We’re gonna do something that’s never been done in the history of the Larkin Lions,” Detenbeck said. “We allowed everyone a vote, but the result was so weird that we made sure everyone was on board with this before going for it..”

“For God’s sake, would you come out and say it already?” The words spilled out of my mouth.

The room fell silent, and everyone stared at me. Normally I had complete control. I was cool and calm. I was patient. But Ryan Detenbeck had tested me by taking as long as humanly possible to get to the freaking point.

“It’s okay, Erik,” Detenbeck said. “I think you’re going to like this.”

“I am?”

“Just stay tuned, okay?”

Since I’d already made an ass out of myself Kayden-style, I wouldn’t make matters worse.

“The team had decided that its best chance at bringing a championship home to Buffalo is to start with the best team captain we can find.”

And then he paused, maybe for dramatic effect. I didn’t give a shit. I just wanted to know their decision before I split in two.

“And we have chosen Kayden Preston as?—”

“Yes!!” Kayden shouted, pumping his fist. Then he threw his arms into the air like he’d won the Stanley Cup.

If he’d started dancing or jumping up and down, it would’ve offered a refreshing note of subtlety.

“I knew it, I knew it! In your face, De Ruiter! Didn’t I tell you they’d never pick you over me? ”

He looked straight at me with a smirk when he said it, like he’d forgotten that the whole team had been standing there to see how gracious he was. Tell you what, I felt relieved—and even surprised—that he hadn’t directed an obscene gesture at me.

“But hold on just a second.” Braxton Wilson emerged from a cluster of players. “You’ve got to let him finish.”

Kayden Preston paused, looking like someone had popped his balloon. To him, it must’ve felt like winning ten million dollars and then being told “just kidding” moments later.

“That’s right,” Detenbeck said. “There’s a lot more to this announcement, so I’ll need everyone to keep it down for a minute and let me finish.

Team captain is a big job, and we know anyone filling that role needs a lot of help.

That’s why we’ve decided that you won’t be the team captain alone, Kayden. ”

“I won’t be?” All the life drained out of his voice.

Ah yes, he was the child who’s been told he has to share his toys.

Detenbeck shook his head. “Nope. The ballot was actually tied right down the middle between you and another player. The Larkin Lions as a team has decided to make you a co-captain. You’ll be sharing the reins with the other teammate.”

“Wait a minute, you can’t do that. You’re supposed to pick a captain. That means one guy. Me! ”

He aimed a cocked thumb at himself as if the word ‘shame’ could be found nowhere in his vocabulary.

There my teammate went, being all Kayden Preston again.

He couldn’t just savor the glory of being named team captain, even if he had to share the honor with someone else.

He should’ve just felt glad the team wanted him for anything after his display in practice the other day.

That was a hell of a lot more than I could say.

In true Kayden Preston form, he put his hands on his hips and glared at Ryan Detenbeck like he wanted answers right this minute.

“So, who’s my co-captain going to be?” he asked. “You? Braxton Wilson?”

“I asked you not to interrupt, didn’t I?”

“Yeah.”

“What are you doing right now?”

“Interrupting.”

“Right. Think you can shut up for two lousy seconds, so I can finish this announcement?”

I couldn’t help snorting. I even had to clap a hand over my mouth. At least I’d restrained the belly laugh that that one deserved. Detenbeck spoke through gritted teeth, and Kayden shuffled back, wearing the closest look to sheepish I’d ever seen from him.

“Congratulations, Erik.” He smiled and shook my hand.

“Congratulations for making team captain, you mean?”

“No, congratulations for not making an ass of yourself like Kayden just did.”

Kayden perked up, like he meant to give Detenbeck an earful but kept quiet. Nothing worse than proving someone else’s point for them, right?

“And congratulations for being selected co-captain.”

“I really appreciate the thought,” I said, “but are you sure this is a good idea?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Oh, I don’t know. We don’t get along. Not that we haven’t tried. We’ve been at each other’s throats, and you guys know that.”

“Yeah,” Kayden said. “Erik can be a total pill, totally unstable. Didn’t you see how berserk he can get when you had to pull him off me?”

Everyone turned to him. No one needed to roll their eyes to say he was acting like a dope.

“Dude, we know how weird this must seem,” Braxton said, “and, trust us, we know about all the bickering.”

“That’s what worries me.”

“It doesn’t worry us. It shows how passionate you two are. You’re both committed to winning.”

“You just have different ways of trying to do it,” Detenbeck said.

“Right. Erik, you want to win in a cool, calm, and rational way. Kayden, you try to win games like a raving madman.”

“Oh, come on!” Kayden sounded ready to burst at the seams. “I didn’t want this honor so you could beat me up, you know.”

“I’m just saying you guys have what it takes to win—and you complement each other.”

Obviously, they saw something I didn’t. But I couldn’t tell them that, not after they’d given me such an honor. Okay, half an honor.

Kayden’s lips pursed then turned into a frown.

He looked so sour. He obviously felt way differently about this than I did.

He looked away before revealing too much, but I knew what he was thinking.

He would share nothing with me, the Canadian who’d made him question everything he thought he knew about himself.

After all, he was the master of his own destiny and could control everything, right?

They needed an answer, and I couldn’t just stand there looking like an idiot.

“You’re not having second thoughts, are you?” Braxton asked. “Because if you are?—”

“No, no, of course not. Don’t be crazy. You guys are right. We do complement each other.”

Kayden half-smiled and lifted an eyebrow in what I considered a speak for yourself look.

“It’s settled then,” Detenbeck said. “We’ll leave you two to figure out the details. We know you guys can handle it.”

And we could—as long as they didn’t leave us alone in a room together. Things could get pretty heated and in all the wrong ways. I wanted to tell him to ignore any panting and moaning he heard from behind our closed door. We were just tackling some serious business.

Just not hockey business.