14. Severed
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
SEVERED
TARYN
Our performance before the game between Cove Knights and Portland Bobcats went without a hitch.
I was on the platform again, but this time Carole and Lexi put two lines of dancers performing on center ice.
Dancing on the relatively small platform with eleven other dancers was challenging, and I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t nervous; especially when it was time for the kickline.
I was hyperaware that Gen was right behind me, but this time everything went to plan without anyone being kicked in the head.
I guess Gen draws a line at ruining a performance. It’s good to know.
I’ve never been much of a hockey fan before coming to Star Cove, but I must admit that the sport is growing on me. Maybe it’s that I’m dating two of the Cove Knights—and my crush on Nash is alive and well despite the distance he’s been keeping from me since that night in the laundry room.
Maybe it’s that my job is literally to be excited and cheer for the hockey team, but I love watching the action on the ice.
The Bobcats are a fast, scrappy team that challenges the Cove Knights with aggressive stick handling and a ferocious dedication to puck possession.
The game is intense and exciting, and despite their scrappy attitude and strong defense. The Bobcats are no match for Mack’s speed and his on-ice chemistry with Colsen.
Our defense also does a job to be proud of, and very few pucks get past Nash and Haller. That means that Tucker has time to get bored in the crease. But on the few occasions the opposing team gets to take a shot at his goal, his reaction time and flexibility deny them any scoring chance.
In the third period, the Cove Knights are leading by two goals, and the game is shaping up to be a shutout.
The action begins with a face-off at center ice that Mack wins easily. The whole arena begins shouting their support for the Knights, and I realize that, despite this being a pre-season game, the town came out in numbers to support our team.
Mack dekes the Portland defenseman easily, leaving him disoriented as he propels forward on a breakaway. He unleashes one hell of a slapshot that flies past the Bobcats’ goalie and gets into his five-hole, bringing our lead to three-zero.
We’re all still cheering and jumping, and the Jumbotron is showing a replay of the action when all hell breaks loose.
Mack is skating at a leisurely pace toward center ice, and there’s no puck in play when the defenseman he smoked before grabs him by the back of his jersey.
Mack barely has the time to turn around and doesn’t even see the fist that hits him square in the jaw, knocking off his helmet.
He goes down like a sack of potatoes, and the defenseman who hit him jumps on top of him, straddling him with his fist in the air, ready to strike again.
“Mack, watch out!” I yell with the rest of the arena.
“Oh my God. I can’t look.” Gen covers her eyes.
“Ref, where the hell are you?” Jodie screams at the same time that the referee blows his whistle, headed to break the fight.
Nash and Colsen get there faster than the referee. The Portland D-man, however, is able to land one more blow that causes blood to spurt out of Mack’s nose before he’s yanked off of our left winger.
Nash’s gloves hit the ice, and a few seconds later, the Bobcats’ D-man hits the boards with a deafening sound, louder than all the voices in the arena.
As Colsen leans down to check on Mack, another Bobcat player joins the fight.
He takes Colsen by surprise, using his stick to trip him.
I brace myself for the blows that I’m sure are headed for Colsen, when Tucker appears to support his best friend.
Seeing the goalie leave his crease to join a fight isn’t an everyday occurrence, so the Jumbotron leaves Mack and Nash to focus on Tucker.
I’ll never be one hundred percent sure about what he said after he rips his helmet off his head. But reading his lips on the big screen, I’d say it’s close to “Fuck with my best friend and I’ll end you.”
From that moment, it’s chaos as all four referees converge to restore order. Two of them separate Tucker, Colsen, and their aggressor, and one goes to end the fight between Nash and Mack’s attacker.
The fourth one calls on the Cove Knights’ bench to come and check on Mack, who’s still clutching his bleeding nose and looks disoriented.
After order is restored, it’s time for the referees to decide on how to handle what just happened. The crowd watches with bated breath for the penalties we’re sure are about to rain on both teams.
We cheer with glee when the Bobcats’ D-man is assigned a five minute major penalty. But then it’s the Cove Knights’ turn. Nash gets two minutes for fighting. I guess the referee is being lenient because the Bobcats started the fight.
Fortunately for Tucker, the referees decided on a minor penalty rather than eviction from the game because Tucker intervened in defense of his teammates when the Bobcats were the offenders.
Tucker avoids the sin bin and gets to stay in the game, but that means that another player needs to serve the penalty on his behalf.
Colsen is sent to the sin bin for two minutes in place of Tucker.
“So wait a second,” Jodie muses. “Colsen is being punished on Tucker’s behalf? Not because of the fight?”
I think about it for a second. “Yeah, I think it’s right. Colsen didn’t really hit anyone. He just went to check on Mack. Even at the end, he was just trying to separate Tucker and the Bobcats’ D-man.”
To my surprise, Genevieve agrees with me. “Taryn is right. Colsen didn’t really fight. But Tucker should have stayed in his crease and not gotten involved. Now they have a powerplay.”
No one is surprised that being down one player results in a goal for the Bobcats.
When the action resumes, Mack is taken off the ice to have his bleeding nose tended to. Coach Harrison sent the second line on the ice in the meantime to give everyone involved in the fight a breather.
A few minutes pass with both teams fighting for possession of the puck, but no one seems to be able to gain any real momentum.
With two minutes left on the clock, Mack returns to the bench and the crowd reacts with a warm welcome. My teammates and I join all the other Cove Knights fans, jumping and screaming to celebrate seeing Mack back unharmed.
“Is it wrong that I think the way the guys fought to protect Mack is a little hot?” I whisper to Jodie.
“Nope,” she chuckles. “I think it was super hot.”
The rest of the third period is uneventful, with the referees paying close attention to the action and nipping any further squabbles in the bud.
There’s one minute left on the clock when Mack receives a pass from Colsen and takes off on a breakaway. The Bobcats’ goalie has no chance to stop the killer slapshot that hits the top right corner of the net.
The Cove Knights celebrate piling on top of Mack.
“By the way they’re playing,” Talia says on the way to our locker room. “You’d think this was the playoffs, not a preseason game.”
Gen chimes in. “This is how they should always play to show the world that Star Cove deserves its very own NHL team. Between the highlights of this game that will be shown by the reality show and the game being televised, there’s going to be a huge spotlight on the town, like the sponsors want.”
“Televised?” Jodie asks.
“Yeah, didn’t you see how many cameras there were? That wasn’t just the reality show crew. And they filmed our performance too.”
Between the idea of being on TV in front of a wider audience than the one following the reality show and the prospect of a cocktail party with the sponsors and the whole hockey team in attendance, the locker room is buzzing with excitement.
We’ve all brought the cocktail dresses Carole and Lexi have chosen for each of us to the locker room, and we’ll be getting ready here to save time. We have one hour before a few limos will pick us up to take us to Star Cove Country Club.
Colsen and I have a plan to slip away once the official part of the night is over.
I’m more excited to spend some quality time with him than about the party.
A part of me hopes that Colsen asked Tucker to hang out with us too.
But even if it were just me and Colsen, I’m really looking forward to it.
I’m gonna need a shower before I put on the sexy underwear I chose to go under the pink cocktail dress that’s hanging in my locker.
The showers in the cheerleaders’ locker room are supplied with excellent toiletries. But I don’t have time to wash my hair, so I open my locker to get the shower cap I ordered online.
“Fuck!” I scream, slamming the locker door shut.
My heart is pounding in my throat, and I squeeze my eyes shut. What in the ever loving fuck is that?
“Tar-Tar?” Jodie’s fingers brush my bicep, and I jump. “Babes, you ok? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“I’m fine.” I answer more as a knee-jerk reaction than anything.
But Jodie wasn’t born yesterday, and she’s been my best friend and roommate for four years. At this point, she knows me better than even my own mom; there’s no way I can fool her.
“You don’t look fine.” She argues. “You look like you’re about to pass out. There are goosebumps all over your arms. Is it a spider?” She asks, pointing at my locker’s door.
I don’t blame her. The last time I screamed like that, I found a huge spider inside a mug back in our college dorm.
Jodie and I have always joked that we’re a perfect match because I can cook while she can’t make microwave popcorn without burning down the house, and she isn’t afraid of spiders and other creepy crawlies, whereas I’m terrified.
“Not a spider.” I bite out, putting myself between Jodie and the locker when she attempts to open the door. She knows my combination; we’ve always shared each other’s passwords and stuff. We’re like an old married couple.