Losing an Edge

by Catherine Gayle

  I kicked anything I could connect with, preferably something soft. But Cam still didn’t come to my rescue. Was this a test? Were they trying to prove something to me? Must be. My brother wouldn’t allow anyone to attack me while he was standing by and watching. I tried to calm down enough to remember what he’d told me to do. Distract him with something and then kick him in the nuts.

  With the way he was holding me, I couldn’t punch him under the jaw like he’d suggested, but I could sure as hell bite his hand. So I did. Hard.

  Hammer shouted and ripped his hand away from me.

  As soon as possible, I twisted around and kneed him.

  He released me, holding both hands to his groin as he stepped back. I collapsed to the floor, thoroughly spent and sucking in air.

  But then he laughed, and he winked at me again. “See? I knew you could do it.”

  Cam came over and helped me to my feet. “You okay?”

  I nodded, trying to reassure him. But then I thought better of it and punched him as hard as I could in the stomach.

  “Oof! What was that for?”

  “Heavy-handed tactics,” I said, and Hammer only laughed harder.

  “At least we know she can do it,” Hammer said, as I stalked out of the gym.

  “YOU SHOULD’VE PUNCHED him in the nose,” Anthony said later, when I filled him in about everything that had happened since yesterday’s non-practice. Ellen had a family emergency to see to, so we were on our own today. Whether we’d been partners for long or not, the two of us both knew exactly what we needed to work on, so it wasn’t the end of the world for us to have a practice without our coach every now and then.

  The bigger problem for the two of us was simply staying on task.

  Now was a prime example of that. We should be working on our combined spins or our split twist. Instead, we were shooting the breeze. Yes, I needed to be sure he stayed abreast of the situation, but that didn’t mean we should waste our ice time.

  Yet that was exactly what we were doing.

  “My arms are too short,” I explained. “I can’t reach Cam’s nose to punch him there.”

  He grinned at me. “Good point.” Then he skated over next to me and stretched my right arm as high as it would go.

  “What are you doing?” I demanded.

  “Measuring to be sure you can’t reach mine.”

  I punched him in the belly with my free hand, for good measure, although not hard enough to do any damage.

  He laughed and skated away, so I’d have to chase him if I wanted to cause him any true pain. He was as bad as Cam, only in his own way.

  “You need to hit harder,” he called out over his shoulder.

  “You need to work on your abs,” I shot back. “They’re soft.”

  Anthony chuckled. “Your man wasn’t there to help with the lessons?”

  I couldn’t stop myself from blushing. Good thing he wasn’t looking. “What do you mean, my man?” I started skating until we were doing spirals across from each other.

  He automatically mimicked my posture, trying to match me. Yes, we were talking and teasing each other. That didn’t mean practice was over, especially since we’d completely bailed out yesterday.

  “Levi Babcock,” he said, dry as ever. “Who else would I be talking about?”

  “He was probably sleeping. It was earlier than the butt crack of dawn.” I intentionally avoided saying anything about whether he was my man or not, or how it made me feel. Since I hadn’t sorted out my thoughts on the matter, I definitely didn’t need to be talking to Anthony about it. Or anyone else. No one but maybe Levi.

  “Was he up late with you last night? Is that why you’re blushing?”

  Now I blushed even harder, which didn’t help matters any.

  “Give me details. I need to know everything so I can fill Jesse in later. He’ll eat this up.”

  “There’s nothing for him to eat up.”

  “There is. You said he stayed after the cops left. Was he still there for dinner? Maybe you played footsie under the table?”

  “Footsie?” I rolled my eyes. “What, are we twelve?”

  “So it was better than footsie. Please tell me you made out.”

  “I’m not telling you anything.” But the fierce heat in my cheeks was probably all he needed to know.

  “Mm hmm,” he said.

  The longer we were out there, the closer together we moved on the ice. In no time, we were touching again. Anthony took me into a hold, and we started spinning, gradually shifting positions to experiment with what worked well for the ways we each moved.

  I lifted a foot, stretched my head and arms back, and let Anthony’s momentum spin me at high speed.

  “For as tiny as you are, you get some incredible extension like that,” he said. “You’re like a cat. Weird spine or something. How do you do that?”

  “Lots of stretching,” I said when we slowed to a stop. “Maybe you should try it.”

  “Maybe.” He waggled his eyebrows at me. “You think Jesse’ll like it as much as your man does?”

  “He’s not my man.”

  “Whatever. You keep telling yourself that, honey.”

  “I will,” I said, laughing. “At least for as long as you two are just fiancés. If you finally set a date, maybe I’ll change my mind.”

  “Is that all it’ll take?” Anthony gave me a Cheshire-cat-worthy grin. “Nothing more than setting a date?”

  Something told me I might have to eat my words. “Why? Don’t tell me you finally made plans.”

  “Valentine’s Day. I was going to give you your invitation after practice. So…” He reached for my hand and pushed off, so we were skating side by side. “He’s your man. Give me deets to give my man.”

  I couldn’t stop myself from smiling as big as he did. “Fine. Be that way. There might have been some making out.”

  “Only some?”

  “Not enough,” I admitted. “He thinks we need to take it slow. Because of Guy and all.”

  “I think,” he said slowly, “he might just be good enough for you. Even if he wasn’t helping you learn self-defense.”

  “SHOULD’VE PUT ON a cup first,” Harry said to Hammer, and half the guys in the room cracked up laughing.

  Hammer included. “Maybe so. But at least she knows she can fucking knee a guy in the balls and it’ll work.”

  “Which means 501 has officially been put on notice,” Harry said.

  Another chorus of laughter and lighthearted ribbing followed that, and Jonny winked at me. He fucking winked. What the hell was that about? One of these days, I needed some time alone with him. Figure out where his head was. I knew where mine was, and I was almost positive he knew, too, but I hadn’t figured him out in terms of whether he intended to murder me the next time I fell asleep on the team plane or if he was on board with the relationship Cadence and I were building.

  Hammer met my eyes once the rest of the guys quieted down and went back to preparing for tonight’s game against the Blackhawks. Winked at me, like maybe he was trying to reassure me.

  I tossed him a roll of stick tape. “You’re a crazy motherfucker, you realize that?”

  “Took a risk,” he replied.

  It was all he needed to say, taking me back to his earlier advice for me. Take chances. Stick your neck out. Maybe take a risk or two. I nodded my understanding and finished tying my skates as Harry came to his stall beside mine and pulled on his pads.

  I glanced around to be sure no one was paying us any attention. They weren’t. Everyone was busy doing his own thing to get ready for the game. Nicky was showing off the newest baby pictures of little Molly, and Ghost was telling stories about Koz’s party to anyone who’d listen—mainly telling stories about how shit-faced drunk most of us had been. He’d be aware, since he’d been the only sober guy of the bunch that night.

  Then I turned back to Harry. “So what happened?” I asked, keeping my voice down.

  He cast his eyes around the ro
om before answering. “Nothing anyone needs to worry about. My lawyer’s sorting it all out.”

  “You’re not in any trouble, are you? Because we can—”

  “I’m fine,” he cut in. “It was only a misunderstanding. Not a big deal. Jim and the coaches know everything they need to know. My lawyer’s handling it. Shouldn’t slip out in the public, but if it does…”

  “What kind of misunderstanding lands you in jail overnight?”

  “I was at a party. Someone called the cops. Disturbing the peace, whatever the fuck that means. I don’t know. They ended up arresting everyone in the place, but I wasn’t part of the problem. I was…um…in the back. I wasn’t around where they were being loud and giving the cops problems. Didn’t know what was going on until they busted into the back and arrested us all.”

  I raised a brow. “Sounds like your party was even more out of hand than Koz’s.” I wasn’t convinced that meant it was absolutely better than strippers, though. No one at Koz’s party ended up in jail.

  “Never mind all that. Let’s get out there and beat these fuckers.”

  GETTING OUT THERE and beating those fuckers was exactly what we did, too. The Blackhawks were perennial Stanley Cup favorites these days, one of the teams that ended up on the preseason lists of who was most likely to win. We were on those lists, too, these days. Especially after last season, when we’d come within a few games of accomplishing our goal.

  Every guy in our locker room intended to make sure all those talking heads knew we belonged on those lists every bit as much as the Blackhawks, and this game would go a hell of a long way toward accomplishing that goal.

  We beat them two to nothing. Nicky came away with the shutout, despite facing forty-seven shots. And that only accounted for the shots that got through to him. Apparently fatherhood agreed with him. The whole team was black and blue after the game from all the shots we blocked, Harry and me in particular. Ghost scored both goals. Koz got a crazy hair and decided to fight Shaw in the third; he came away bloody, but not as bloody as the other guy. Jamie had hit every Blackhawk he could line up, playing like a human battering ram all night. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t scored. He’d done everything possible to prevent the other team from landing on the scoresheet and had dug his way under their skin with his physicality.

  In the end, it was a statement game, and maybe our best game all season long. We had served notice to the Blackhawks and the rest of the league that we meant business—and that if anyone but us was going to win the Cup, they were going to have to go through us.

  It felt amazing.

  We headed back to the room in high spirits, with “Uptown Funk,” our celebration song for the season, blaring from RJ’s iPod and speakers. Winning games like this one always seemed to make aches and pains hurt a lot less.

  I stripped off my jersey and tossed it in the laundry bin as I danced my way to my stall. Harry held out a hand for everyone to fist-bump on our way past him. They all did, until Webs came into the room. Webs glowered at Harry like I’d never seen him glower before, but Harry didn’t even duck his head. He stared straight back at Webs, almost daring him to say something. What I wouldn’t give to find out what had really happened that night… Maybe I could get him drunk some night and see if he’d talk then. It was worth a shot.

  Once everyone was in the room and changing, Bergy said a few words. He focused on how we’d stuck to our game plan, played a solid team game, and no one had shirked his responsibilities in either zone. It was a real team win, and an important two points.

  Then Ghost stood and fished the obnoxious purple umbrella hat out of his locker. It was a stupid thing we awarded to the best player of the night each time we had a win. He’d gotten it last game, so it was his responsibility to decide who got it tonight. No chance he’d select himself, even if he’d scored both goals. That wasn’t how it worked.

  I was all ready to go pat Nicky on the head again once he had this abomination on his melon, but then Ghost threw me for a loop.

  “Hell of a win tonight, boys. And like Bergy said, it was a true team effort. Everyone chipped in and played their parts. Nicky held down the fort with a monster game in the net. But there’s someone I think deserves this tonight more than anyone else. We all know the boys on D have been playing above their heads all season long. Each of those guys is being asked to fill a role bigger than he’s ever filled before, and they’re kicking ass and taking names while they do it. But tonight, 501 blocked probably as many shots as the rest of the team combined. Every time I looked out there, he was dropping to the ice and absorbing rubber. Then he’d limp over to the bench, walk it off in the tunnel, and go right back out for his next shift. The guy never complained even though he’s probably purple from head to toe tonight. Not only that, but he and Harry did it while shutting down the Blackhawks’ top line, which is no small feat. So 501, this is for you.”

  He crossed the room and placed that fucking thing on my head, then opened the umbrella top.

  I looked like a fucking idiot. Didn’t need a mirror to realize that.

  The rest of the boys hooted and hollered, and Hammer slapped me on the back. “Too many more nights like tonight, and those other guys are going to have a real fight on their hands to reclaim their spot on the top pairing.”

  I wasn’t so sure about that, but I wouldn’t deny it felt damn good to do something right. Not only that, but it was something I felt like I could do again and again. Maybe it wasn’t a one-time thing. Maybe I was starting to find my stride at the NHL level, finally.

  It’d taken long enough.

  I passed Ghost doing a post-game interview with Anne Dennison on my way up to the owner’s box. She was making googly eyes at him, and he was eating it up with the biggest shit-eating grin I’d ever seen. I had to fight down the urge to tell him they should get a room. They were on live TV. Not the right time for that.

  Besides, I was hoping to collect Cadence and take her out somewhere. Not to do something of the get-a-room variety, although that thought had merit, and I hoped we were heading in that direction and would arrive sometime in the not-too-distant future. But for now, I simply wanted to be with her for a bit before we had to leave town again.

  She looked up and smiled at me as soon as I came through the door, warming me all the way down to my perpetually cold toes. She’d been sitting with Katie again—no Dani, this time—but once she saw me she came over and rose onto her tiptoes to give me a peck on my chin.

  It wasn’t quite the kiss I wanted from her, but at this point in our relationship I’d take whatever she’d give me. Pecks on the chin were still a hell of a lot better than being only friends.

  I took her hand and led her into a quieter part of the room to give us some semblance of privacy. Not that I was deluding myself. No doubt every ear in that room would be on high alert, trying to figure out what was going on between us. Sometimes it seemed like that was all the Storm WAGs did all the time—try to hook up all the single guys. Hell, they’d gone above and beyond their usual level of interference at Christmas with the general manager, going behind his back to set up a profile for him on a dating website. It had all worked out in the end, but that was a ballsy move if ever I’d seen one. These women could be relentless when it came to being sure every guy involved with the team ended up just as happy and settled as they were, preferably with a boatload of babies on the way sooner rather than later.

  If all went according to plan, though, they wouldn’t need to interfere with what Cadence and I had going. We were managing just fine on our own, thanks. Not that anything would keep these women out of it if they thought they might need to help. They hadn’t ganged up on me yet, but something like that could happen at any time, whether their interference was necessary or not.

  Cadence wrapped her arms around my waist and rested her cheek on my chest. “You had a good game tonight,” she murmured, her voice muffled against my suit.

  “You noticed? I thought I was nothing more than a gu
y on your brother’s team,” I teased.

  “You are a guy on my brother’s team. But you’re also…” She shook her head and burrowed closer.

  The sensation of having her pressed up against me like that was too much. Despite the layers of clothes between us, I felt every curve of her body. The soft mounds of her breasts and the hard peaks of her tits. The gentle slope of her waist and the smooth flare of her hips. My thoughts were heading south, fast. Needed to redirect my thoughts.

  “Also what?” I prompted.

  She shrugged. “According to Anthony, you’re also my man.”

  There wasn’t any point in trying to stop myself from grinning. “What do you have to say about that? Am I your man?” Because I sure as hell wanted to be.

  “I don’t know. What would that mean?”

  “Well, to start, it’d mean I can kiss you. And hold you, like this. Maybe take you out sometimes.”

  “So basically like before but with kissing and all that other yucky stuff that Connor doesn’t like, hmm?” There was a definite teasing quality to her voice.

  “All that other yucky stuff?”

  She went rigid in my arms as soon as the words left my mouth. But then she laughed. “Not right away.”

  “Right. So not tonight, but tomorrow is a new day.”

  “Watch it,” she said, laughing. “I’m getting pretty good at punching guys in the belly.”

  “And kneeing them in the nuts,” Jonny said as he came into the owner’s box.

  Hammer was right behind him. “Amen to that.”

  Cadence whirled around, blushing. She was too fucking hot when she blushed. Made me think all sorts of things I had no business thinking with her brother standing three feet away. Still, I didn’t care. She was gradually letting down her walls and welcoming me in.

  Slow and steady, I reminded myself. One step at a time.

  “Come out with me tonight?” I asked once the guys made their way past us and we were as alone as was possible surrounded by all the WAGs and kids, not to mention half the team.