Chapter Four
BECKETT
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I snapped, tossing my stick in rage. Few people had ever gotten me to this point, but Caden Fucking Jones was one of them.
Our first real game was weeks away and we were still like a band of urchins that someone rounded off the street to form the world’s saddest hockey parody.
In the history of the Arctic Titans, this was probably the first time when the more we practiced, the worse we performed. And it ate my soul away.
Caden had just allowed the puck to slide right by his side. He’d barely even noticed it.
“What the hell are you thinking about? What’s so important that you can’t keep an eye on the goddamn thing?” I demanded answers, but Caden cocked his head and shrugged.
“Sorry, Cap,” he said flatly. “I was miles away.”
This wasn’t the first time he’d been miles away. And it wouldn’t be the last, either. These three weeks of keeping this team together with prayers and duct tape were starting to take a toll on me. And Caden fucking loved it.
Perhaps I’d gone too far in the locker room.
Then again, Caden had been the one to heat the fire poker and come after me.
I was sick of the mutterings that undoubtedly Caden spread.
I was sick of everyone undermining Coach Murray’s integrity and accusing me of nepotism.
I wasn’t stupid. I knew how the story went.
Coach Murray told me to stop by his office when he dismissed us. So I did. After we showered and dressed, the guys went their way. Caden wasn’t around when I passed and I went down the hallway to Coach Murray’s office.
“Coach?” I called as I entered the office.
Coach Murray leaned back in his worn-out chair, fingers twined on his stomach.
The stocky man’s hair was more salt than pepper, and his mustache matched it.
His bushy eyebrows dragged up as I shut the door on my way in.
“Partridge. Sit.” His metallic rasp never failed to make me nervous when he was as curt as this.
I sat in one of the chairs in front of his desk. None of the assistant coaches were here when I longed for a friendly face. “Sir?”
Coach Murray observed me for a short while. His gaze was sharp and determined. He measured me, inhaled through his nose, and held his breath for a heartbeat.
“Sir, I don’t know what else to do. I can’t force him to do better.
He’s deliberately failing just to show everyone how terrible I am.
I tried speaking to him.” Well, communicating was a better way to call it.
And it hadn’t been the friendliest of communications.
But even if I’d been glazed with honey, I doubted Caden would have a friendly word to spare for me.
I stood by that locker room encounter. I only wished I hadn’t stumbled over my words when he’d torn the towel off and forced me to look away. Classy motherfucker.
Coach Murray simply cocked his head and exhaled, a few hairs of his mustache trembling on the wind.
“It’s him you should speak to, Coach. He’s the problem.” I insisted. Then, as Coach let the silence hang a while longer, I realized what the tactic was. Sometimes, silence could be so persuasive that you spoke the truth that was never asked of you.
But Coach nodded. “Do you suggest we take him off the team?”
I concealed my surprise by stiffening my jaw and dug my fingernails into the armrests.
An odd sort of fear uncoiled in my belly.
Take Caden off? That was…drastic. But I had absolutely no fucking reason to fight for Caden’s spot.
He could burn in hell for all I cared. Except, to cut his career short just like that seemed harsh.
Not that he deserved any better, the righteous fucker. But could I sign the execution warrant?
“I thought not,” Coach Murray concluded.
The silence lasted for what felt like hours. I avoided Coach Murray’s gaze.
“Captaining a team is one hell of a responsibility, Son. It doesn’t just mean leading those who want to follow.
In fact, that’s the least important part.
It’s when you can lead those who oppose you that you’ve mastered it.
” He gave me a moment to let the words sink in.
“Partridge, you are a risk taker. You’ve got an original style.
It’ll confuse your enemies, but your team needs to be on board.
Otherwise, you’re playing a game no one understands. ”
I looked into his eyes. A sense of loyalty to my team made my chest expand.
“You wanted this, Partridge. Be the captain, now.” It was short, clipped, and not unkind. Coach Murray dismissed me when I nodded heartily, and I made my way to the house in a much better mood. Whether I should have jumped at the opportunity to be rid of Caden crossed my mind several times.
For one, I doubted Coach would have actually done it.
That was a big fucking deal. Another reason was that I hated the guy but knew what he could do out on the ice.
I knew it even if he wouldn’t do it for me.
There was plenty of time to kick his ass off the team if he persisted in this charade.
As for turning Caden around to be an ardent follower, I highly doubted he would ever do that.
He would probably rather step away on his own. And that was fine by me.
The house was eerily quiet. The first week of the semester always meant a time of responsible behavior.
Guys sat around with notebooks, laptops, and books in their laps.
Some were in their rooms, others were in the common room downstairs.
I headed to the basement after dropping off my duffel in my room.
Jordan wasn’t up there, so I assumed I’d find him at the soccer table.
But when I entered the basement, Mr. Prim-and-Proper saw me first and stiffened.
He said nothing, but his body language screamed.
Caden was by the vintage arcade machines in the corner with Asher, while Jordan paid more attention to the soccer game Sebastian and Tyler were playing.
“What did the coach want?” Jordan asked with zero talent for diplomacy.
I rolled my eyes. “What do you think? He’s unhappy with how things are.”
Caden snorted, looking firmly at the arcade game Asher was playing.
Asher glanced away from the game to me. Jordan looked over his shoulder and coolly returned his gaze after it grazed Asher’s curious face.
Tyler and Sebastian noticed nothing and cursed at each other while ramming their bodies against the soccer table as if that would give them an advantage.
“Got something amusing to share with the rest of us?” I demanded of Caden.
He turned his head lazily to me as if he had forgotten I existed in the minute I spent here. His eyes narrowed in thought, then he shook his head. “I’m good,” he said. And if that wasn’t annoying enough, the fucker added, “This clusterfuck you caused is amusing enough.”
I threw my head back and laughed. “You think you could do better?” I demanded.
Jordan instinctively crossed his thick arms on his broad chest like a bouncer catching a whiff of trouble.
“Picture this,” I said, waving my hand through the air like an eager real estate developer showing their client a swamp that would soon be a luxury hotel.
“You’re the captain of the Arctic Titans.
Finally, all your dreams are coming true after so much sweat and blood.
War is extinct. There’s no more hunger in the world.
In the first game you play, you discover the cure for cancer… ”
“Fuck off, Partridge,” Caden snapped.
“Whoa,” Tyler said, ogling Caden.
“That was a fair shot,” Sebastian retorted. Tyler snorted in return and the two seemingly checked out again. Their perking ears said otherwise.
Asher stopped playing the arcade game and Jordan held himself like a bodyguard. The two made no eye contact.
“Or, imagine this,” I continued a second later.
“You’re the captain. You’ve worked and you’re talented.
But in walks a troublemaking fucker with a grin on his face and a death wish in his heart.
And everything you try to do is spoiled because he’s an ungrateful little asshole who’d rather let the whole team fall apart than accept he wasn’t good enough to lead. ”
“How about, ‘He had a total of zero influential family members to beg favors for him?’ That sounds about right.” Caden’s stone-cold expression when he dropped those words so bluntly and openly triggered every horrible reaction in my chest. Every negative emotion I had ever harbored bubbled to the surface and the meltdown was instant.
I swiped my hand for Sebastian’s beer can.
It contained three drops. I changed strategy mid-swing and threw the can in Caden’s general direction.
It startled Caden enough to pull back, but the impact was lighter than the touch of a feather.
Still, it was excuse enough and I realized that immediately.
Caden shouted some profanity as he lunged at me, all limbs and murderous expressions. Asher leaped after him, although I wasn’t sure what he’d hoped to achieve.
As Caden strode toward me, I stepped forward to meet him.
“I warned you not to talk about my family,” I growled as I closed my fist. I discovered that I wasn’t willing to ruin his entire life without giving him another chance on the ice, but I was willing to break his perfectly straight nose.
That way, he would at least have more character than a stack of print paper.
He was as ready for my attack as I was for his. Neither punch landed. I stopped his right fist with my left hand, and he did the same to me. We grappled instead, chests clashing.
“You are a stealing, privileged, son of a…”
“…say my family’s name one more time…”
The curses and threats overlapped as Caden brought his nose right to mine. His hateful glare was enough to make my lips stretch in amusement. I never knew someone could dislike me this much. But the feeling was mutual and I showed him as much when I kicked him in the shin.