Scoring Position (Hockey Ever After #2)

by Ashlyn Kane

RYAN WAS in a pickle. His first meeting with Kirschbaum had gone… predictably. He’d felt obligated to tell Rees it was going to take time to get Kirschbaum to stop resenting his presence, and not to expect progress on the friendship front for a while. He’d thought Rees might be angry or disappointed, but he took it in stride: “Probably should’ve seen that coming,” he chuckled. “You’ll figure it out.” But right now, after practice, Ryan was just trying to figure out the locker room. Some folks rolled their eyes at the idea of acquiring players who were “good in the room,” and Ryan could see their point. Who cared if you were good in the room if you sucked on the ice? But he had always been comfortable in locker rooms, with the guys. He knew these spaces, how to read them. He had a knack for pumping up his team before a game or between periods, keeping them from getting frustrated when games got chippy, and cheering them up after a loss. He liked it so much, he’d studied sports psychology. But Ryan had no idea what to do with this room. He knew that Rees had brought him down here hoping he’d do some Freudian shit on Kirschbaum and get him performing like they wanted him to—like the kid was a dancing monkey instead of a real person. But even if Ryan could do that, that was only the beginning of this team’s problems. No training-camp locker room should feel this oppressive after a practice. The boys were as tense as a team after a game six loss. Dealing with this sort of thing...