On the Ice (Stick Side, #1)

by Amy Aislin

Spinney sighed at Mitch’s evasive answer. “Okay. You know where to find me if you need to talk.” Spinney paused, then said, “Think you could maybe skate better during the third?” Mitch actually huffed a real laugh at that. “I’ll do my best.” Turned out his best was mediocre, but it was enough so that the Mountaineers at least got a few shots on goal during the third period. Compared to how well his team had played last week against Colgate, tonight Mitch felt like a bumbling toddler learning to skate. Was Alex watching this game on TV? Fuck, Mitch hoped not. But he also kind of hoped Alex was, which meant Mitch was all kinds of fucked up in the head. It was on the tails of that thought that Yano passed him the puck and, without thinking, without evaluating where the other players were, without calculating the best angle, Mitch shot…and scored. Well, shit. That shouldn’t have worked. The team took a few moments to celebrate, but considering it was their first goal against Denver’s four and there were only three minutes left in the period, their celebration was lackluster at best. With that, the Mountaineers lost their first game of the season. It wasn’t the end of the world and it was only one game. But still, seeing as they had to play Denver again tomorrow night, morale was predictably low as the team trudged back into the locker room. Mitch wanted to apologize to his teammates for his shit playing on the ice, but as he’d heard from every coach he’d ever had, there was no...