Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 115838 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115838 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
“If we lose tonight,” Knox says, “I’m not talking to any of you motherfuckers until next season.”
I chuckle as the bus fills up and we head over to the arena. Fans are already pregaming as they line up outside. There are games and music blasting through the parking lot and the sea of red jerseys fills the entrance, with a couple of the white and purple ones that we will be wearing tonight.
The bus pulls up in the underground parking, and you can hear the camera shutters going off as we get ready to walk inside and pass the press waiting to snap our pictures. “I’m also going to look forward to shaving,” Kirby gripes, scratching his neck. “I don’t know how Coach does it all year-round.”
“He looks like a mountain lumberjack,” Jaxon jokes, making me laugh. I followed the guys and stopped trimming my beard when the playoffs started and even though it was long before, it’s becoming too much. I can’t wait to trim this fucker.
The walk down the hallway, everyone is quiet and in their own thoughts. Even before the game, it’s the quietest they’ve ever been. “There really isn’t much left to say,” I tell the room before we take the ice. “I’ve used up all my speeches in the last games.” That earns me a chuckle. “Go out there and do what you guys do best.” I smirk. “Hopefully, it’s win and not a loss.”
I look over at Eric, who shakes his head. “Nice speech,” he deadpans when we walk out after the guys. We get out there and I look up to the suite, just like I have done each game. I see Victoria right away. Our eyes meet, and she gives me the smile I’ve grown to search for in every room. Right next to her stands her father, wearing Jaxon’s jersey. Ariella is on the other side of her with Jagger on her hip as she points to the bench. The team has flown everyone’s family down and rented out five suites to make sure we are all here. The lights go down as they play the pregame video. I look up, watching the Jumbotron as they show how Florida got here and the last three games we won, and I can’t help but smile.
The anthem is sung and the crowd is deafening as the puck drops. After we win the face off, I swear I hold my breath every single time the puck is in our zone. When Kirby intercepts the pass and starts to skate up the ice with Jaxon, he passes the puck to Knox, who skates it into the zone and then shoots it on the net, but it’s deflected as the defenseman grabs the puck and tries to clear the puck out of their zone. Except Jaxon intercepts it and he winds his arm back and aims at the net and it goes in. The horn blares behind the net and our bench gets on their feet. The rest of the crowd puts their heads back as Jaxon skates over to the bench, giving everyone a high-five as they replay it on the Jumbotron.
It doesn’t take them much to get even with us, the puck bouncing over Sammy’s pad. The crowds roars out and we feel the floor move under our feet. “Even score, guys. We aren’t out of it yet,” I snap.
We start the second period and when Knox gets a shot at the goal, we are all watching as their goalie saves it. Five minutes later, he gets the puck again, skating it into the zone and around the defensemen, snapping it back and it flies into the net. The bench erupts as he’s congratulated on the ice. We end the second period leading by one.
The guys get on the ice at the start of the third period, and Florida is out for blood. They push hard and it pays off for them when they score two minutes into the third period. For the rest of the period, it’s back and forth, each of us having a chance but being shut out. “Figures,” I say right before we get on the ice for overtime, “that you guys would not only force a game seven, but you would take it into overtime.” I shake my head. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’d really like to shut this team up and tell everyone who doubted us to go fuck themselves.”
We get back out there and I look up, seeing Victoria hasn’t moved once since the game started. With her all-black outfit and custom jacket with my name in purple on the back, one hand is across her stomach, the other is folded up and covering her mouth.
Everyone is on their feet, not one person is sitting down as the puck drops. Two minutes into overtime, the puck flies over Jaxon’s stick and they get a breakaway of sorts. I close my eyes, not willing to watch, and when I don’t hear the crowd go crazy, I open them and see Sammy getting up, tossing the puck in his glove. I sigh, the lump in my throat getting bigger. I watch the replay on the Jumbotron.