Thin Ice

If you want, I'd be more than happy to re-break your nose

The referee blew his whistle, and less than a second later, I was shoved in the chest with enough force to send me falling backwards. I landed on top of Tony, who was still down in butterfly position covering up the puck, and I swore loudly as I scrambled to get up off of him. I’m normally solid on my skates, but that was a really hard hit.

“Watch yourself next time, bitch.”

My head snapped up to see that the guy who had hit me was the one who I had tied up in front of the net. Obviously, I’d caused him to miss the chance to screen Tony or tip the puck in, and he was pissed. The minutes in the last period had dwindled down to less than two, and the other team didn’t want to lose. Any missed opportunity was sure to piss them off.

I opened my mouth to say something back, which would probably have been along the lines of a very profane insult about his intelligence, but before I could, two players stepped between me and him. I saw the last names of Dane and Alec on the jerseys, and when I glanced behind me, Tony was already standing up and glaring at the guy who hit me, who had just been joined by some teammates.

I didn’t need a fight; not when this game was so close.

“Damn testosterone,” I muttered, and I pushed myself back onto my feet and shouldered my way between Dane and Alec so that I was between my teammates and the other team.

“Got yourself some bodyguards?” the guy who hit me asked, his voice incredibly condescending.

“No,” I quipped lightly, and then my eyes narrowed, “I have anger control, but some of my teammates don’t, so I suggest you back the hell off, Jackass.”

The guy’s eyebrows shot up, obviously showing that he hadn’t expected me to snap back at him so quickly. He probably didn’t like that I’d returned his condescending tone either, but I wasn’t really here to please him. I was here to beat him and his team.

The guy opened his mouth like he was going to spout some half thought-up comeback, but the referee clumsily put his hand on my chest and the guy’s and pushed us apart.

“Let’s keep this clean, guys,” he said loudly, “There’s only a minute and a half left and I don’t want to have to throw anyone out.”

No one said anything to the referee, but rather, all of us turned away and started skating towards out respective benches. Compared to the referees at our home rink, these ones were incredibly oblivious but still pretty fair. They didn’t catch many cheap shots, but I know that a few had been thrown by my teammates, and they weren’t getting called either. It was all balancing out.

“You know,” I said as I climbed over the boards and sat down next to Dane, “I can handle guys like that by myself. I’m fully capable.”

“I know,” Dane replied with a frown, “I just don’t like when other players harass my teammates.”

“Is it because I’m your teammates?” I asked, raising an eyebrow, “Or is it for the secret that I’m not going to name?”

C’mon; you know that I’m perfectly fine to handle physical altercations myself. The whole “harassing of the teammates” excuse probably would’ve been more readily believed if Dane and I hadn’t already been on two dates. However, because he’d never really stood between me and another player before, I was questioning if he was telling the truth.

Dane opened his mouth to reply, even though he looked pained, but Coach Hannover came over and tapped the top of his helmet. “If you two are done chatting over tea,” he growled, “I need Kelsey to get back out there with Owen. We need to keep them out of our end, and the other defense pair is doing jack shit.”