3. Sam
3
SAM
Sam
I ’m so focused that nothing else even exists to me outside of this rink. We’re playing against the Vegas team, one of our biggest rivals. They’re skilled, but it’s not even just that. Their players are fucking dickheads.
We’re halfway through our third period, and we’ve been battling closely for the lead the whole game. Right now, we’re losing, three to four. If we don’t score a goal in the next ten minutes, they’ll win as soon as the time is up.
At this point, I’m just hoping to drive us into overtime so we can make a comeback. If we can make a shot, putting us at a tie with them, we’ll go into overtime and gain five minutes to potentially take the lead. But in order to do that, we need to keep control of the puck.
We have it right now, but I see their right defenseman sneaking near the boards to steal it. I skate towards him, ready to intercept, but he dashes forward and steals the puck before I’m close enough.
“Fuck off,” I mumble.
Before he can turn around or do anything with it, I check him with my right shoulder, slamming him into the boards. As I’m doing it, our center steals the puck from him and skates away with it.
I back off before he can try to get me to do something that will result in a penalty. I’m smarter than that, and I’ve played this guy before. I know how he thinks.
Turning around, I watch our center steering the puck towards the red line. Just before he gets there, he gets checked, and they steal it back.
“Fuck!” I shout, skating closer to the blue line.
The opposing right winger has the puck now. He skates forward and passes it to their center. Their center inches closer, getting ready to set up his perfect shot.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Matthew dart towards him. I start following, in case he needs help. But then he does something unexpected, and it happens so fast that there’s nothing I can do to stop it.
He uses his stick to trip their center, causing him to fall to the ice. My jaw drops out of pure shock. This is the last thing I expected him to do. Mainly because he definitely just handed them their win because of it.
As soon as our center swoops in and takes the puck, the whistle blows, and we all stop. Matthew starts heading towards the penalty box. Once he’s in, we resume playing without him.
“Fucking bastard,” I mutter.
We’re shorthanded for two minutes now, and there are only four minutes left in the game. The chances of us getting a tie are even slimmer than they were before.
I’m gonna fucking kill him.
Our center still has the puck, and he looks pretty confident as he skates forward.
“Hurry up,” I mumble to myself. Every second counts right now. We have no time to waste.
He gets checked again. The puck is stolen by their center, who immediately takes the opportunity to send a slap shot towards our net.
I watch as our goalie has no way to see it coming. They have two other players near our net, blocking his vision. It hits the back of the net, and I feel my anger fully consuming me. I welcome it.
For the remaining minutes, my only focus is on Matthew. When he comes back onto the ice, he avoids me as best as he can. He knows it’s over for him, at least where I’m concerned. And he’ll probably get benched for the rest of the season.
This was fully his fault. What fucking dumbass gets himself thrown into the penalty box when we’re already down one, with four minutes left in the game?
Now that we’re down by two points, the rest of the game is pointless. Our energy has taken a significant decrease, and I can practically feel my teammates' disappointment.
As soon as the game is over, I make a beeline for the locker room. He’s going to try to sneak out of here, I already know it. But I’m gonna beat him to it.
I change as fast as I can, watching him do the same. He skips a shower, just like I knew he would, and heads out of the locker room. I follow after him, the rage in me only increasing with each step.
Matthew turns down a hall, heading towards a door that leads outside. I grab his arm and swing him around, before throwing him into the wall.
“What the fuck is wrong with you, huh? Is this funny to you?”
He tries to push me away, but I just shove him into the wall even harder.
“I was trying to get us the puck!”
“You knew what you were doing. You’re not that stupid. My question is, why do it? What do you have against this team, huh?”
“Nothing, man! I thought James was gonna steal the puck and do a slap shot.”
“Wow you really are stupid. You should never, ever assume that someone else is going to do something. Especially when he was nowhere near in position to do a slap shot.”
“Okay, I messed up!”
I scoff, a cruel laugh coming out of me. “Oh you have no idea just how bad, do you?”
Before he can answer, I swing my fist back and hit him square in the jaw. Again. And again. And again.
Pulling Matthew away from the wall, I slam him back into it, letting his head bounce off of the bricks. Just as I’m about to do it again, I spot someone to my left.
I turn to tell them to fuck off but stop short when I see that it’s one of the ice girls standing there. I remember meeting her weeks ago, her name is Kim.
She’s just as breathtakingly stunning as she was that night. And to my surprise, she doesn’t move, or say a word when she sees us. She just stares and looks completely unphased by it.
Keeping my eyes on her, I slam my fist into Matthew’s face again. Then again, even harder this time. I can feel his blood dripping down my hand, but I’m not even close to being done.
After another punch, I finally look away from her and back at Matthew.
“Pathetic,” I mutter as I look at his bloodied face.
This time I punch him in the stomach, using every ounce of force I have. He gasps for air, and it's honestly kind of hilarious to watch.
Eventually, I see Kim walk away out of the corner of my eye. But I think about her long after she leaves. The fact that she seemed almost intrigued by what she was witnessing, really stands out to me.
Once I’m finished with Matthew, I head back to the locker room to clean up and get my things. By the time I leave, I still can’t get Kim out of my head.
The way her eyes stayed latched onto mine as I beat the daylights out of someone… Well, it leaves me wanting to do a little observing of my own.
“Sam, you coming with us?” James asks.
“Not today, you can leave without me.”
He nods and exits the locker room. I follow behind him, but I don’t head in the same direction. Instead of walking outside, I head back to the rink where we just finished training not too long ago.
When I open the door, I immediately hear the music. And then I see her.
Kim dances, her posture absolutely perfect. She moves her hips in ways I can’t say I’ve ever seen anyone do before.
But it isn’t just her hips I’m watching, nor is it the rest of her body. What I’m most interested in is the look on her face. The passion and focus I see in her eyes. It’s something the rest of the girls just don’t mirror.
She flips her curly brown hair around, her hands gliding seductively down her body. For a split second, I imagine my own hands in place of hers. Only mine would travel much further down. And mine would make her scream so loud the entire building would hear.
Once the dance number is over, she soars across the ice in sync with the rest of the girls. I watch her land a jump perfectly, before spinning around three times without falling or even wobbling.
She’s impressive by anyone’s standards, and she almost makes the rest of the team look bad. That’s how much she stands out.
I watch for a little while longer before forcing myself to leave. I’m trying not to attract any attention to myself just yet. It’s not time.
I’ve been watching her in practice almost every single time I’m here. It’s become almost like an obsession.
She’s become an obsession. And I don’t mind it one bit.