10. Caia
10
CAIA
The Frostwolves are playing at home against the Minneapolis Wild.
It’s still zero-zero in the last period, with five minutes to go.
I sit with anticipation in the company box. My hands grip onto the edge of my shirt in my lap, my eyes flicking from one end of the rink to the other as I watch the match. For the first time, I’m not just ogling Alexie, although I do notice that he is playing one of the best games of his life. He weaves through the opposition to strike sharp goals when his game begins to falter.
Alexie crashes into an opponent. It looks like an accident, but it’s questionable. The way the team is fighting it says that the moment was a bullshit call. “The less fight from the team, the more right the call is” is what we usually say. If you ask me, the incident looked more like the guy had just got his skates twisted up.
“Fear the frost!” I shout in rebellion, surging from my seat along with other Frostwolves’ supporters.
Alexie gets sent to the sin bin, also known as the penalty box, for “tripping” one of his opponents. Nearly everyone boos.
Only three minutes are left in the game. Alexie’s two minutes feel like forever to me and I’m sure an eternity for him.
Can this just hurry up?
On one hand, I don’t want this to whisk by, only for the Frostwolves to lose everything they’ve worked so long for. On the other hand, it’s dreadful seeing this play out with Alexie powerless over the final outcome. I feel his pain as if I’m right there with him.
As if he hears my thoughts, he looks back at the GM’s box and winks in my direction. I flush bright red, smirking.
Ever since that magical night where he broke the headboard, we’ve been going at it like we’re starving and sex is our favorite food. I crave him morning, noon, and night. And I think he’d say the same.
Harper pops her lips, giving me a knowing look. “Well, well… I guess things are going swimmingly.”
I twirl a lock of hair innocently. “You could say that.”
My sister giggles. “Do you think that…” She leans in and whispers, “He loves you?”
She got the real story out of me about a week back. Despite my bold personality, I’ll be the first to say that I did not plan on spilling everything to my sister. She, however, has known me all my life, and knows when I’m keeping something big. All she needed was a bottle of rosé wine and I was an open book.
I’m just hoping she never shares my Achille’s heel with Alexie.
I gnaw on the inside of my cheek. “I really don’t know. We have… fun.”
Harper shoulder checks me. “I bet you do.”
“And I love him, but can you really stay in love with someone who doesn’t return the emotion?”
My attention returns to the game. The Frostwolves hold off the power play. The time ends on Alexie’s sentence and he takes out like a lightning bolt across the ice.
Shit.
The opposition sees his determination and double-teams him. One whacks him with a stick to the lower stomach while the other trips him. It’s a horrible exhibition of retaliation. Their guy never went out with his injury, but I’m not sure we’ll see the same result here.
Time seems to pause as one of the most horrifying sights unfolds before me. Alexie tumbles onto the ice, and his helmet cracks against the barricade, sending something like an egg breaking through the arena.
I gasp, clasping my hand over my mouth to quell any sobs that are bubbling up. With everything he has gone through to believe he’s worthy of me and to overcome his past and to make me feel special and now he’s a crumpled heap of a man.
Alexie remains on the floor, writhing in pain. The other two are put into the penalty box. It’ll be a two-man advantage! The Minneapolis Wild plead their case to the refs and their coaching staff, but not as vehemently as ours did about the prior call that boxed Alexie. It was clear and when it’s shown on the Jumbotron, the crowd drowns out the Wild’s appeals to have it reversed.
Alexie crawls to his knees, cupping his gut, but in the next second he’s on his skates and the crowd chants, “Winter Wolf! Winter Wolf!” He shakes off attention from the medical team, grabs his stick and skates backwards in a defiant demonstration of his resilience.
The crowd increases the volume by ten times. Deafening and yet energizing.
But for some reason, a bad feeling creeps up inside me. He’s not skating right. He’s wobbly.
Everyone’s on their feet with thirty-five seconds left.
The two teams face off and the center, Frostbite, takes it, circling back, and then off to the right and then back. Alexie gets open and Frostbite sends the puck to him.
It’s a power play to beat all power plays!
Alexie glides the puck down and he slaps it and the sounder for a goal goes off just before the time buzzer.
The Frostwolves win!
I jump from my seat with Harper. I feel more excited than I have ever been in my life. Alexie won this essential game! I could be walking on air right now, and fuck, I’m going to treat him well for playing such an amazing game today.
As Harper and I do a silly dance, the mood shifts around us. I glance around— the crowd has hushed, looks of horror overtaking their expressions.
I bite my lip, reluctantly glancing at the ice and my stomach drops to my knees. A chill blasting through my body.
Alexie isn’t moving… still on the ice and the medical staff is on their way.
Harper’s arm wraps around me. “He’s going to be okay.”
You don’t know that.
The only thing I know is that I love this man and I can’t imagine my life without him.