"Good. Get dressed. We have warm-ups and then Skaarasgard will give a talk before we take the ice."
Kabanets left, clipboard still in hand.
Jack felt his excitement rush through his body. Somehow, that speech was enough for him to want to play now. He forgot about everything—Lily, his mother, and anything else that might have cropped up into his head. Now, all he could focus on was hockey.
Alec came back a few minutes later and plopped down on the bench next to Jack.
"You ready for tonight, buddy?" he asked.
Jack nodded his head, twisting the stick in his hand. His eyes went over the blade, looking at it, making sure the tape was even. He leaned over and flattened a piece before grabbing a piece of wax from his bag and rubbing it on the tape.
"You nervous?"
Jack stopped what he was doing to look at Alec. Alec was never nervous. If he was, it wasn't something he showed. The fact that he was asking about it now…
"Of course I am," Jack said. "Are you?"
"Nah." Alec shook his head, pursing his lips together before catching Jack's eye. "Okay. Maybe a little."
Jack chuckled and shook his head. He looked down at his stick in his lap and inspected the blade once more, rubbing wax over it again.
"My mom called," he said quietly.
"Oh." Alec sat back. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"Not really." He put his stick aside, balancing it against the edge of the bench, and turned to the equipment in his locker.
"Don't let it throw off your game tonight, man," Alec told him, making sure to keep his voice low so people wouldn't overhear. Jack appreciated that. He didn't like talking about his mother at all, let alone in public. "Get her out of your head. If she's in there, she wins. You know what she does to you."
"What about your mom?" Jack asked, deciding the safest thing to do would be to change the subject. "What's she up to? Is she coming tonight?"
"Yeah, her ticket is at will call but because I grabbed Lily's so late, they won't be sitting next to each other." He pulled on his undershirt and smoothed out the wrinkles over his abdomen. "She has work early so she's taking off right after. I don't think she's even going to say anything to Lily, but at least she'll be here."
"That's great." Jack felt the corners of his lips lift. He picked up his feet and turned one hundred and eighty degrees so he faced the locker and started to pull on his shin guards. "She's been to every single one of them. That's what a mom should do for her son."
"Yeah, Lil and I lucked out." Alec leaned into Jack, nudging his shoulder before he resumed putting on his shoulder pads. "You did too, though. Don't forget. She's your mom, too."
Jack's grin widened. He continued to focus on getting dressed rather than let his mind dwell on Lily and his mom. Taping the stick helped until he finished. Now, the motions of putting on his equipment would help focus him as well. Every hockey player had a particular way of how they got dressed, and Jack was no different. He liked to get dressed from the bottom up, leaving his skates last. Alec, on the other hand, liked to get dressed from the top down, leaving his helmet for last. If they were in a rush and couldn't do things the exact way they wanted, it threw off their game.
"Hey."
Jack looked over his shoulder. A tall Mayhem player with crisp blue eyes and sharp cheekbones looked down at him with an intense stare. "Good luck out there. Wer'e lucky to have you."
This was the captain. Eric Skaarsgard. The Mean Swede—his nickname on the ice. Jack had yet to actually talk to him.
"Hey, thanks," Jack said.
He slipped on his gloves and bent his fingers. It was time. He was ready to leave it all out on the ice.
8
Lily
Because Alec had all but forced her to attend all of his games, Lily was in the lower level of the arena, just behind the penalty box. She was across the ice from the players' bench, so she could see everyone.
The AHL coach, Scott Kabanets, was a man probably in his forties, with pale skin, strawberry blond hair, and blue eyes. Lily had only met him one time—at the draft where they officially signed Alec—and he had a low, crisp voice. Hailing from Boston, he had a very East Coast mentality, and his accent would come out every now and then, especially when he was getting frustrated with his team and how they were playing. From what Alec told Lily, he had two sons that participated in the Jr. Gulls program—one, a twelve-year-old Triple A PeeWee and the other a five-year-old Mite and he coached both teams, but the Gulls were his primary focus.
Tonight, it looked as though they were playing the San Francisco Bears. They were in their white away jerseys with gold lettering underneath a picture of a grizzly.
All the players looked like professional hockey players. It was difficult to distinguish age when they were bulked up with hockey gear and helmets with visors that covered the majority of the face in order to protect it.
The team had just finished skating on their side of the ice and were gathered at the bench for one more play Kabanets had drawn up for them before the anthem was sung. Lily's eyes were on Jack, who was standing with his stick in his hand, looking at the board. Though his helmet and visor blocked a good deal of his face from her view, she could tell he was focused on what the coach was saying.
Alec, on the other hand, was not. It was simply in his body language. He wasn't looking at the white board, his body wasn't tense and instead of keeping warm by moving his body everywhere, he stayed put in the same position, one hip jutted out. He looked the way he used to in high school when a teacher was lecturing the class about something and he was only half-paying attention.
What pissed Lily off was the fact that Alec could get away with it. He never needed to study and would get straight As. Even now, he might look like he wasn't paying attention—and he probably wasn't—but he would go out there and play his best game and be lauded a star of the night.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen, please stand and remove your hats for the singing of the national anthem."
Lily stood and placed her hand over her heart, facing the flag. The stadium was about half full. These weren't NHL stars—at least not yet—and it was summer, which wasn't exactly conducive to hockey. She wasn't surprised by the lack of audience, but she found it was more than she would have expected. Probably because this took place right in the middle of summer. The Irvine Mayhem brought in a fair amount of money during their season, and was one of the more popular franchises in the AHL.
Once the anthem was finished, Lily took her seat and waited for the referee to drop the puck. She placed her hands on her thighs and proceeded to rub them up and down, trying to warm herself up. She had never been a fan of the cold and tried to avoid it when she could, which made having a brother play hockey all the more difficult.
However, Lily found it difficult to feel anything at all—only because her mind was still narrowed in on the fact that her ex was willing to post a video of her having sex on line for money. How desperate did he have to be?
Lily had tried not to think about it the entire day. She focused on work or on customers or people or even fantasizing about Jack just to keep her mind off of Andrew. Now, though, she was alone, despite the fact that she was surrounded by a few thousand people, and she had no one to talk to. The possibilities crept up on her like a thief in the night.
"Come on," she muttered to herself, continuing to rub her thighs up and down. "Drop the damn puck."
The referee listened. The puck was dropped and the game started.
Jack was wearing number 9, for his birthday. Alec was next to him, wearing 66. Because the entire NHL retired Wayne Gretzky's—arguably the best hockey player to ever live and play the game—number, Alec never chose it, even when he was younger. However, he chose 66 instead in honor of his favorite player and a way to bring himself good luck. It was a strange decision because Alec never typically cared for honor or tradition but Gretzky seemed to be the exception.
Jack won the faceoff without an issue.
That was one of the amazing skills Jack had—he was good at winning faceoffs. His stat in that skill was something crazy like 67.4%. The highest percentage in the NHL was 60%. And the only reason Lily even knew these things was because Alec liked to recite stats as often as possible. Her brother never cared about math in school before and now he couldn't shut up about stats and percentages.
Jack dumped it in the Grizzly zone. Alec sped off after it. Alec was tall and lean with muscle, but somehow, that translated into more speed than anyone expected from him. He reminded Lily of a rocket ship, blasting off.
Alec grabbed the puck and pulled it to him but got crunched in the corner by a Grizzly defenseman. Alec somehow managed to stay on his feet. Jack skated up to assist Alec, causing one of the defensemen to cover the point.
Hockey players reminded Lily of arms on a clock. When one moved the other had to move and then everyone had to do the same thing. They all had to fall in line to cover all bases.
Alec passed it to Jack. Jack one-timed the shot but the puck was swallowed up by a Grizzly goalie. Everyone skated over to the left faceoff circle in the Grizzly zone. The linesman dropped the puck. Play resumed.
Lily glanced down at the small pamphlet filled with pictures of each team member and history on each team as well as on the rivalry between the two. There was a letter in the front, apparently written by Seraphina Hanson herself, as well as cool trivia on the players and games kids could play in case they got bored, like word searches, tic tac toe, and coloring.
From what Lily could see, it appeared as though the majority of the team were all young—the youngest being eighteen and the oldest being twenty-four. Skaarsgard, the Mayhem captain, was the oldest, hailing from Sweden. He moved to the States when he was fourteen years old to a small town in Michigan so he could break into the United States hockey scene. Each summer, he would return to Sweden and play more hockey. The guy was a monster, standing at six foot four and two hundred and twenty pounds that was nothing but solid muscle.
Many of the Mayhem players were built the same way. The shortest player on the team was five foot eleven, but he was probably the fastest skater. Jack was barely six foot, while Alec was a solid six foot two inches. The Mayhem definitely had size.
The period went by. It was only when the buzzer sounded that Lily realized she had been tense the entire game. She laughed at herself and shook her head. Hockey had been boring when Alec was a mite, probably because she was a year younger and was dragged to freezing ice rinks for ridiculously early games she did not want to watch. When Alec was a squirt, it got a little bit better because at least the games were full ice and players were actually starting to play position. PeeWee things were intense because the parents were intense and kids were more uncontrolled than their adult counterparts so many games were chippy. PeeWee was also when Lily was aware how crazy parents got as well. Each parent thought their kid was the next professional hockey player so cheering was deafening at some points, yelling and insulting the fourteen-year-old refs was common—to the point where even one of Alec's coaches was thrown out from the game—and poaching players was something to expect. There was no honor among thieves, it would seem.
Lily got more and more used to watching hockey as Alec got older. Her mother always made it a point to attend every single game and Lily held herself to the same standard. Even now, she was certain her mother was somewhere in the stands with everyone else, probably just getting off her shift and grabbing a seat just after puck drop. She should really call her and see how she's doing.
At one point during the second period, Skaarsgard took a big hit against the boards. There was no call. People around her stood up and yelled at the refs. Even Lily knew that was a boarding call. He was facing the boards. There should have been a penalty.
"Fucking typical," the man next to her muttered. "Mayhem never gets the fucking calls."
Lily's eyes darted to the bench. The young coach was going off but the linesman skated right by, ignoring him.
Her heart slowly paced against her chest.
Lily moved her eyes to Jack. The coach slapped him, Alec, and their line mate, indicating they were next in. Skaarsgard hobbled off the ice and straight into the locker room.
Lines changed. Jack took the faceoff against the player who went after Skaarsgard. He won it, but instead of skating up to receive a pass or get in position, he dropped his stick, threw his gloves, and went after him.
From where Lily sat, she couldn't read the name on the back of the jersey. She saw his number though. 29. What a dick. However, did Jack really need to go after him? She bit her bottom lip and shoved her hands under her thighs. Everyone around her stood. Some cheered. Everyone was smiling. Hockey fights were an intense moment in a game. Everyone wanted in on the action. Everyone wanted the home player to win.
Lily knew Jack would win. Jack was an exceptional fighter. Even now, he somehow managed to balance on the ice. Even though they both had each other's jerseys, even though 29 had a long reach, Jack still managed to get the punches in. The dangerous thing about Jack was he didn't care who his opponent was. If he felt attacked or threatened or if he felt like someone was attacking his friends, he dropped everything to take care of business, no exceptions. She remembered when he found out Andrew had dumped her, he went after him. At the time, she was embarrassed, but looking back on it now, she appreciated the fact that he wanted to take care of her.
29 finally dropped. Jack didn't care. He still went after him until the officiating committee had to pull him away. Jack was immediately sent to the box, as was 29. The difference was, 29 had blood coming off of his brow where Jack cut him during the fight.
The crowd sat down, rejuvenated. The score was still zero to zero, but it felt like the Mayhem had won something.
"Crawford, five for fighting," the ref said at center ice. "Ruby, five for fighting, two for instigating."
Everyone booed. Of course Jack would be the only one sent to the box. Crawford wouldn't be allowed to play in those five minutes, but it was the Mayhem that were forced to kill off a penalty.
As Jack skated over to the box, he glanced up and caught her eye. She felt her throat close up at the sight of it. Instantly, she noticed a small smile on her face. She rolled her eyes to herself. Despite the penalty, he still thought it was worth it.
9
Jack
The game was thrilling. Jack had never felt more alive.
Afterwards, the guys invited him out to go bar hopping on PCH. Even Alec was waving him to come join, but for some reason, Jack didn't want to indulge.
"Come on, man," Alec said, hitting Jack's chest with his hand. "You played one of your best games tonight. Let's go celebrate."
"You celebrate for me," he said. "I want to get back home."
The word came out of his mouth before he could stop it, but it felt right. Lily's apartment was home. More so than the place he grew up in with his mother. Alec and Lily were family. The small apartment was somewhere he could sleep without worrying about seedy people trying to break in, or hearing the moaning of strange men in the middle of the night.
"Suit yourself," Alec said with a shrug. "I'll grab a ride with Bruno."
"Are you sure?" Jack asked. "I could ask Lily."
"Oh, I forgot she was here. Yeah, that would be great. I might leave early if I find anyone, and I don't want to be the asshole without a car, if you know what I mean."
"We've been over this before, Alec," Jack said. "I always know what you mean. And hopefully the Taurus will get you a lot of action."
They quickly showered and changed. When Jack stepped out of the locker room, Lily—as well as a handful of other girls—was waiting. Jack emerged and was instantly surrounded by three or four of them—strange but beautiful girls he had never met, all asking for his autograph, his picture, and what his favorite position was in bed. Jack took the pictures, signed the autographs, but gave them a charming non-answer that they groaned about. One even playfully smacked his shoulder.<
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To say he was surprised by the attention was an understatement. Jack knew he was a good-looking kid, but he knew these women were trying to sink their claws into him now, so by the time it came for him to move up to the professional level, they would be established as his girlfriend.
As flattered as Jack was, he wasn't interested. He pulled himself away and headed straight for Lily. He couldn't help but notice her surprise. She had been watching him, he knew. He could see the way her eyes narrowed, could see her purse her lips.
"Hey," he said.
"Hey." She shifted her weight. Her eyes darted back to the girls he had left behind, like this was some sort of trap.
"Can you take me home?" Jack asked. He felt a stray strand of hair fall into his face, but his hands were full so he couldn't move it himself. "Alec wants to celebrate."
"S-sure," she said. She was surprised by the request and Jack grinned as he watched her fumble for her keys in her purse. "So, don't wait for Alec then?"
"I think he'll be fine," Jack said. "We can go."
They walked out of the stadium and to the car. The drive home was silent and heavy, filled with tension; tension Jack didn't quite understand. When they got home, it took Lily three times before she finally slid her key into the right slot and was finally able to open the door.
"Sorry." She cleared her throat. "I, uh, I have a lot on my mind."
"Oh." Jack followed her inside, not quite sure how to respond. "Don't worry about it. No apology necessary."
Lily flipped on the light and hung up her jacket on the nearby coat rack. The silver piece of furniture already held so many of Alec's different jackets, it was a surprise Lily was able to find room at all.
"Jack," Lily said. He noticed her hands clasp together in front of him, her fingers locking together, and her wrists pushing back and forth. "I just wanted to let you know that you played your best game out there." She released her grip on her hands and a smile lit up her face. Whatever had been haunting her had vanished for the time being. "I thought you were so good. They're lucky to have you on the team."
Rookies Do It Better: Book 1 in The Minor League Mayhem Series Page 5
