11. Braden
Chapter 11
Braden
I ’m on fucking fire tonight.
I track the puck as it flies across the ice, ready to block and catch whatever the opposing team wants to throw at me.
We’re playing Toronto, one of the better teams in the league, and they’ve definitely brought their A-game.
But so did I.
I still can’t believe how well I’m playing. It’s almost the end of the second period, and I haven’t let in a single goal. There have been a few close calls. Like a few minutes ago when Toronto’s star defenseman faked me out.
I dove when I thought he was about to shoot, but he held back right as I flew forward. When he took his shot, it bounced off my skate when my leg was in the air after I had lunged ahead a second prior.
It was pure luck, but I don’t care. A save is a save.
My blood pumps hot through my body and my muscles are warm. My entire body is like a livewire, ready to react at a split-second notice. It feels like my body is actually cooperating with what my brain is telling it to do, which is a hell of a nice change from how clumsy and uncoordinated I’ve felt since the start of the season.
I feel more alive and energized than I have in a long time. And I think I know the reason why.
Bella.
Hooking up with her broke me out of my rut.
Yeah, that sounds crude as hell. But it’s true.
We hooked up two nights ago. The following day at practice, I fucking killed it. I felt energized and powered through all the drills that Coach Porter ran us through. I blocked more shots than I had in weeks. Even Coach Sadler was blown away by how well I did.
And tonight, it’s been more of the same. My reflexes are sharper. I’m blocking and catching more pucks. I’m not even sore from my shoulder injury the other night. I feel like I’m in a brand-new body.
I still can’t believe that all it took to get me out of my rut was one hot hookup with Bella.
I watch as Del swipes the puck from Toronto and takes a shot at their net. Their goalie blocks it, and it ends up in the possession of their right winger. He rockets down the ice, weaving around one of our defensemen. Theo tries to catch him, but the winger’s too fast.
He closes in on me and raises his stick. He’s going for high up in the net, right past my shoulder, I can tell by where he’s looking. Right as he hits the puck, I raise my glove and catch it. The home crowd screams at my save. Theo skates by and gives me a pat on the helmet.
“Nice fucking save, man,” he says.
A few minutes later, both teams are fighting for control of the puck in front of me. I’m on high alert, watching the puck like a hawk while covering the net .
Matt Boucher, defenseman for the Titans, moves right in front of me, making it impossible to see what’s going on.
This fucking guy. I can’t stand him. Every time we play the Titans, he makes it a point to set up camp in my crease. He’s always getting in my way and blocking my view so that I can’t see the puck, and then he tries to get a shot past me. It’s so fucking annoying.
I shove him hard in the back. He stumbles forward, almost falling over.
“Stay the fuck out of my crease,” I bark.
He turns around and shoves me back. “Fuck you.”
Before I can even react, Del comes over and shoves him so hard that he falls over. When he stands up, he goes after Del, punching him. Del hits him back. The ref blows the whistle, but the two of them scuffle anyway. The linesmen pull them apart and take them to the penalty boxes.
I nod “thanks” at Del for taking care of Boucher on my behalf.
The rest of the second period ends without either team scoring. During the third period, Xander manages to score, putting us ahead at two to zero. Right after that, a Toronto defenseman hits a puck against the post, and it bounces into the net before I can smack it out.
“Fuck!” I yell. My teammates tell me it’s okay, that it was a lucky shot.
We manage to hold off Toronto for the rest of the game. When the buzzer sounds, the crowd cheers. My teammates and I holler in celebration.
Once we’re in the locker room, Coach Porter takes the center and praises us for our win.
“Damn good game, gentlemen,” he says. “Toronto isn’t an easy team to beat, but you did it. Be proud of yourselves.”
We all cheer .
“Our offense was solid tonight, but our defense was stellar.” He turns to me. “Especially you, Blomdahl.”
Del, whose locker is next to mine, pats my shoulder.
“Hell yeah, Blomdahl!” Theo yells.
I fight a grin. It feels good to kick ass after sucking so hard for so many games.
“Keep it up,” Coach Porter says to me. “I wanna see more of what I saw tonight.”
“Will do, Coach.”
He leaves, and we all strip off our gear and get cleaned up. I finish getting dressed and grab my gear bag.
“Drinks at Spanky’s?” Theo asks. I tell him I’m in. Xander and Del say they’re in too.
We head out of the arena to our cars in the lot.
“You were a brick wall tonight, dude. Holy shit,” Xander says.
“Yeah. What was up with that? You doping?” Theo jokes as he nudges me with his shoulder.
I laugh and roll my eyes and laugh. “I guess I’m finally out of my rut.”
“What do you feel like drinking tonight?” Xander asks me. “You’re the one who’s on fire, so you get to choose.”
“No more vodka. Please,” Del says.
I chuckle. “Okay, no vodka. How about the usual: beer for you guys and Scotch for me?”
The guys all say that sounds good to them. Del’s phone buzzes, and he pulls it out of his pocket. He glances at the screen, then looks up at me.
“Ingrid says you’re dominating social media,” he says.
“Really?”
Del shows me his phone, and I skim a bunch of the comments under the most recent post on the Bashers’ Instagram account. It’s a photo of me mid-save during the game .
Blomdahl is back!
Did you see that glove save? What a beauty!
Goalie is on fire! Hell yeah!
Blomdahl was out for blood tonight. Love to see it!
Now THAT’S the Blomdahl I remember from last season. Let’s fucking go, Bashers!
I smile, pride and relief surging through my chest. Tonight is only one game, but it’s enough of a boost to pull me out of the spiral from the last few months.
My performance tonight is proof that I’m not washed up. I’m not on the downslide.
I’m still a good goalie. I can still go out there and play my heart out. I can still help my team win.
“I’m fucking dying for a beer,” Xander says as we reach our cars. “My trainer’s got me on this new clean eating diet and I’m not allowed to have beer at home.”
Theo pats his shoulder. “We’ll load you up tonight.” He turns to me. “That pretty bartender that hates you isn’t going to spit in our drinks, will she?” he teases.
I chuckle. “I don’t think so.”
Thankfully none of them saw me kiss Bella the other night at Spanky’s. When I left the bar with her, we went out the back, so no one saw us then either. I texted them that I wasn’t feeling well and decided to go home. I felt kind of bad lying to them, but I didn’t want to tell them I was leaving to hook up with Bella. Not that I’m ashamed of what happened. I’m not. But what happened between us is private, and I don’t think I should be telling my teammates about it.
“So she accepted your apology then?” Del asks.
I clear my throat. “You could say that.”
We all get into our cars and head toward Spanky’s. I think about Bella and what her reaction will be when I walk into Spanky’s tonight. We haven’t seen each other since the night we hooked up. I don’t even know if she’ll be happy to see me.
I smile to myself. I can just picture her rolling those bright golden eyes the second she sees me. I picture the corner of her lush mouth quirking up the slightest bit, like she’s fighting a smile.
Excitement flares up inside of me. I can’t wait to see her.