Shootout (Northbrook Hockey Elite Book 6)

by Sophia Summers

  “I know we’re tired. Maybe we’re sick of the ice.”

  A couple of the girls snorted.

  “If you focus for our dance routine, I’ll try to get this done as quickly as possible.”

  With just a few groans, the girls moved back into their starting formations. Janae waved to the sound box, and her warm up music started again.

  “We’re already warmed, but after all that muscle use, I need a good stretch. Join me if you’d like.”

  She was pleased that everyone did. Her warm up was essentially an adaptive yoga she’d put together, yoga on the ice. If the Comets didn’t work for her, maybe she could start a YouTube channel. She reached in a large arc above her head and then dropped down, feathering her fingertips on the ice, her head up against her knees.

  The music picked up, and they ran through the part of the routine she’d already taught the girls. For the most part, they remembered all the steps. She spent some time on the finishing touches, on defining space and position so that the girls would look sharp and poised. Then she showed them the next sequence. It was fun, with a good amount of hip hop moves and some sass. The girls seemed to like it. They learned it quickly.

  Janae really pushed them, and they worked hard to learn a good portion of the next bit. If she could do this much with them when they were tired, she had hope they could do the last bit before the next game.

  At the end Janae felt better about things. A little. The girls were trying, and the dance looked good. She was actually proud of her choreography. She’d never considered working in choreography until now, but in a lot of ways it was more fun than doing the actual dancing. Maybe there was something to it.

  When she dismissed them, they waved at her, most of them cheerfully.

  Janae called out, “We did amazing today girls.”

  Todd waved her over. Janae hadn’t seen him sitting there.

  She swallowed the nervous lump in her throat and tried to act confident. “Hey! What did you think?”

  “You looked great. I’m liking what I see.”

  “Yeah, they’re really picking it up. We’ll be ready by game time.”

  “Happy to hear it. If this takes off, we’re talking sponsorship money. And between you and me, the team could use it.”

  “Sponsorship money for the girls, though, right? Not just the team.”

  “Some. But the bulk of it will go to the arena, the team, and even the players.”

  Janae frowned.

  “And the girls. I said the girls, didn’t I?”

  “You did, but I would hope the money could go straight back into the ice girls first. We’re building a program, and re-investing right away in them will be a show of faith and make the program that much better.”

  He eyed her. “Shrewd observation.” Then he started to move toward the off ramp. “I’ll take your thoughts into consideration. But I give you my word on one thing. Even if it’s not all of the money, some of those sponsorship funds—the fictional ones we are just hoping for at this point—will go to you and the girls.”

  “Thank you.”

  She watched Todd leave the rink, hoping that he would give them the credit and funds they deserved. Most of all, she hoped anything she taught them would be a success. How would people respond? Could she use this experience to spring board into anything else? She entered the locker room ready to take off her skates. Her calves were sore already. And she was tired of holding herself up on thin blades. Tiff had a space beside her on the locker room bench so she sat there.

  As they untied their skates, Tiff nudged her with a shoulder. “Hey. How you doing?”

  Janae moaned. “I feel like I might not be able to stand again when I get these skates off. You were right. She busted my butt out there.”

  “Yeah, she’ll do that, but we all got used to it. Some workouts are better than others.” Tiff packed up her gear. “And we had double workout today.” She eyed Janae and then looked away.

  “You okay about that?”

  “I think so. At least it’s not boring around here.”

  “So, how do you think it went?” Janae looked around. “Like honestly.”

  “Great. It’s fun. And the steps are easier than I thought. I think we’re going to be ready. You?”

  “Yeah. I think we are.”

  “So, you wanna go get something to eat with us? We have a tradition. Smoothies and More after practice.”

  “Do you think the others will want me there?” Maybe she’d been forgiven for grabbing Trane’s attention right away? She still didn’t know what any of that meant to Trane, but she wasn’t planning on giving him up no matter who felt salty about it. However, being friends with the ladies would be nice. But would they rather sit and complain about her?

  “Sure. You’re one of the team. You should come.”

  “Yeah, I’d like that.”

  “Okay, come on.”

  Janae finished packing up her gear and followed Trish out with the other girls.

  Tiff linked arms with her, and Janae was brought back to her early college years when she actually had girlfriends. Friends had been hard to come by in New York. She only had cast mates. And they became her biggest competition as soon as a show ended. But she sensed that Tiff was a good person, a relatable person, maybe someone she could be friends with.

  “So, Smoothies and More?” Janae asked. “After today I’d think you’d want a hamburger or something. We worked hard.”

  “Yeah. Have you received the emails with the suggested diets and things?”

  “I think so, I’ll have to take a look. Is it doable? Or am I going to be dreaming of Danishes my whole time on the team?”

  “Danishes might be gone from your life, but the diet is totally doable. The calorie count is good for our activity level. I’m not usually hungry. Once you read, you’ll notice that there is a good amount of attention placed on our being in great shape. For our costumes we just wear the halter tops with our leggings, and even with a spray tan, there’s not much we can hide.”

  Janae hated conversations like this where girls felt pressured to keep their bodies on display and therefore perfect. But she understood. She was playing a part. The look was part of the costume.

  Luckily, she’d trimmed down during her last six months in New York without work. She cringed. Those were rough times. The money had been tight, and emotionally she had not been in a good place. But the meager meals and the loss of appetite had helped her cast off some extra inches around her waistline. At least she’d found one good result to those hard times. Arguably. She was becoming a fast proponent of loving women’s bodies no matter what it looked like. And so naturally even the reception of an email from her trainer that dictated diet had the potential of sitting wrong.

  “You know, we’re just on an athlete’s diet. Their trim-down diet instead of their bulk-up.”

  “Good point.” She smiled at Tiff. “How did you know I was battling some women’s issues dealing with diet?”

  “You have one of those faces girl. Lots of emotion just skirted across your expression in a massive rebellion.”

  Janae laughed. “Good to know. I guess I’ve been training for this very thing during all that time in New York.”

  “Did you really work on Broadway?”

  “Yeah.”

  They climbed into Janae’s car and relived some of her funniest Broadway moments. Too soon they were walking into Smoothies and More with the other girls.

  They stood at the counter to take their orders, one big line of beautiful, tanned women.

  A tall red-headed man waved from behind the counter. She nodded. Was he just doing some kind of red hair solidarity? Why the wave?

  But Tiff called out, “Hey Sebastian. Good to see you.”

  His grin was large and contagious. “Always great to see you ladies. Should I just start your regulars?”

  “Yeah, but we have someone new.” Tiff called out over the customers in front of them. “This is Janae Terry.”<
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  “Great to meet you. I’ll start the others, and Janae can tell me what she wants when she gets up here.”

  Lily turned. “You can get a medium if you get low sugar. And then you have enough calories left to get a side.”

  Janae searched the menu. A side. They had hummus, vegetables, whole grain pitas, and fruit bowls. She was getting hungry. And if the girls weren’t all here following some strict caloric count, she would have ordered a huge steak gyro and skipped the smoothies altogether. But when she was finally at the front of the line, she just ordered the lean chicken kabob with the Green smoothie. Seemed safe.

  They filed into a set of corner tables, moving them all together like they’d done it a thousand times.

  As soon as everyone had their orders and they were situated, Lily leaned forward. “Okay, spill.” She looked right at Janae, her expression holding a challenge.

  “Spill what? I already spilled. You guys give me the tea around here.”

  Lily’s grin told Janae she had been hoping to do just that. “Well, Lou is the next hot item. After Trane.” She sipped her drink. “And he’s been responding to me like he might want to see where things go.”

  “See where things go? Or have a night with an ice girl?” Tiff looked skeptical enough that Janae learned to be on her guard. She couldn’t imagine Trane being anything but sincere. But not everyone was sincere all the time.

  “So, are the players pretty good guys? Anyone else off limits?”

  “Depends on your definition of good.” Kimmy, a tall brunette smirked in Janae’s direction, and about half the table laughed.

  “You took the only one that was truly off limits.” Lily lifted a shoulder. Janae wondered how long she’d be blamed for going out with Trane. And maybe it was just the one time. He hadn’t texted since.

  “What are their personalities? Do we ever do fun things for them? Or play practical jokes? What’s the relationship here?”

  “This is a pretty loyal team. We don’t get a lot of player trades—in or out. The coach is decent. The owner is fair. We’re winning right now, and people say we have a shot at the Stanley Cup.”

  Janae nodded, hoping they would share more.

  “So Lou is a bit of a playboy, I admit, but he’s a hottie. You’ll have to see what you think yourself when you see him. But don’t look too closely. One guy at a time around here.”

  “Is that a rule?”

  Tiff nodded. “We don’t really discourage dating, well, except for Trane. But we do want the girls to share. If you’re dating one player, you don’t start dating another until things are well and truly closed with the first.”

  “Got it.”

  “Our guys are respectful. What you have to watch out for are the visiting players.”

  “Oh, why?”

  One of the girls, Tami, shivered. “They’re so handsy. I wanted to kick one right in the nads last week.”

  “Why didn’t you?” Janae snorted. “Especially if he deserved it.”

  “I had my skates on. It didn’t seem fair to permanently maim the guy.” She looked down. “But when he just kept pushing, I wish I would have.”

  “Oh honey. Did you report him?” Tiff frowned.

  Janae raised her cup. “I’m so glad you have a system in place to report stuff like this.”

  Lily looked away. “It’s in place, but that’s all it is.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Tiff nodded. “This is important, so listen close. You watch your back. The team has all these anti-discrimination policies, anti-harassment and everything, but if it comes down to it, the players will always be right. You’re just not going to get too far trying to make a statement. Usually you tell the owner, and he makes the guys back off. But anything super serious where charges are involved—the attorneys come forward. And suddenly, you were making things up. An exaggeration of your past surfaces, and just like that, no one is listening anymore.”

  “That’s good to know.”

  “But this conversation is getting depressing.” Tiff raised her smoothie cup. “To the new girl.” She laughed. “To Janae.”

  “To Janae.” They all raised their cups together and tapped in the middle. “Ice Girls.”

  “Is that what we call ourselves?”

  “Yeah.” Tiff laughed. “Should we spice that up too?”

  “We could. Honestly, it’s generic. Isn’t every girl on every team an ice girl? And, girl? I mean…” She stopped. She could tell she was starting to suggest too much change all at once. “We can talk about that next year.”

  “One thing at a time for this old girl.” Tiff laughed.

  And Janae scoffed. Tiff couldn’t be more than thirty. Did ice girls age out?

  Instead, she asked what she’d been dying to ask, but hadn’t dared. “So, Trane’s a good guy?”

  “Oh yeah, honey, he’s the best.” Tiff glanced at Lily and then shrugged an apology.

  But Lily surprised her and chimed in. “He’s the best. That big hulk of a man is nothing but a softie. He’s got a thing for the underdog. And he’s the best goalie in the league right now. He hardly ever lets a puck get past him.”

  Tami laughed. “Have you guys followed his team from Chicago, the Northbrook Elite?” She fanned her face. “They’re all like him. Good guys. They’re not gonna mess with you. They’ll stand up for you. Trane told me once if I ever need a strong arm, I could ask any one of them and they’d help. If they didn’t, he said to tell them Trane sent me.” She looked away. “Sometimes it helps to know stuff like that.”

  Janae hadn’t expected to get such an earful, but she was grateful and now knew to be more on her guard at games, in dark hallways, or even the parking lot.

  “This is great. Thank you. It’s great to get all this info.”

  “We’re a sisterhood Janae. We hope you can feel that. We’re gonna let you whip our dance in shape, and we’ll see where this new path takes us.”

  “I appreciate that. Wow. I’ve never had such a group of sisters before.”

  “Welcome to the family.” Tiff leaned over so their shoulders touched.

  “Thank you.”

  “Now a little business before we hit Hawaiian Glow.”

  “Hawaiian Glow?”

  “You really don’t read your emails. It’s for our spray tans. The team pays for us to stay tan. We go once a week for maintenance, more if we want to get a little darker. You’re gonna need to go twice a week for a couple months.”

  “And what about you?” Janae laughed. Tiff’s gorgeous, dark skin was flawless.

  “I just wait for everyone to get done.” She pulled out her phone. “We have a photo shoot coming up for next year’s Calendar. Good timing for you, Janae. And I’ll need three of you to go make appearances next week.”

  Janae watched them all work together and plan things as if they’d been doing it their whole lives. Honestly the whole thing did sound a bit like a family—or a board meeting.

  “Last of all, I’ll host the next Vets slumber party (from us old timers) to welcome our newest rookie.” Tiff pointed to herself and started hip rolling in her seat. “It’s gonna be a dance off in honor of Janae’s new routine. And even with all her training, I’m planning to pull out all my moves. We’ll see who wins. Genetics,” she pointed to herself, “or training.” She kept rolling her hips while the girls cheered.

  Janae grinned. “Okay, you’re on. But I don’t know if I can do anything half as real.”

  “Don’t I know it!” Tiff laughed. “I’ll give everyone a date for the party soon.”

  The girls seemed more comfortable with Janae now. Tiff was being really awesome. Janae hoped she might find a good home with the ice girls. At least until she could get the offer she was hoping for and hightail it out of there.

  Chapter 7

  Trane picked up his phone to text the Pit. He checked in with the guys every day. Not all of them had been tight during their club days, but something about that connection, combined with t
heir constant work to save the old Northbrook Hockey Center, kept them close. Now, they even ran some of the serious life stuff by each other. And Trane had some serious life stuff he wanted to talk to the guys about. But he wasn’t sure how to bring it up.

  Maybe this morning he just needed some friendly conversation. As he scrolled through their messages, he laughed to himself. They did not disappoint.

  At the moment, Jax was posting pictures of himself in a new, brightly colored tux. The guys had opinions ranging from questioning his masculinity, to showing off the new products in his girlfriend’s store, to digging the look. Rocco said he was going to buy a matching jacket and threatened to wear it to the coach’s party.

  Trane joined the conversation. Hey, so let’s talk about Coach’s birthday party.

  Should we meet at Northbrook?

  What about a cruise?

  Does Coach do cruises?

  A series of GIFs and images of people on vacation followed.

  Trane snorted. We can’t do a cruise. We’re all mid-season. Focus. How about we just have a party at the center. Invite alumni from all over, the current players and their families, that kind of thing.

  Sounds great.

  The other guys sent thumbs-up emojis. Trane could tell he’d be the one putting it together. I’ll cater Julio’s. Everyone has to come up with something to say. And bring him a gift.

  More rounds of thumbs. Okay, Trane was definitely planning this party. By himself. Well, that was fine. Maybe he could reach out to Bree Stone, and… He rubbed his chin. Maybe Janae would want to help? Were things too new for him to ask things like that?

  He started a new text.

  Hey, so how many dates till you can like, be something with someone—Nope. He deleted that before it sent. He could only imagine the responses and speculation from the guys.

  Hey Diesel. How’s the girl?

  Who? He laughed at himself. They all knew who. Declan had sent a picture of Janae the last time they were together.

  Each one responded by posting the image Declan had sent.