Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
MATTEO
“I shouldn’t have been staring at her, but I was merely studying the competition. We were brought together for a collaborative exhibition with the best artists in the world... and I had every intention of beating her.” - Julian Hart, Painted Inferno
“Matty, crash the net!” Shaw yells at me as he takes the lead, skating into our offensive zone. He passes over the blue line and I’m right after him. One of the D-men for the other team blocks him, forcing more space between Shaw and the net as he pushes him closer to the boards.
There’s less than a minute left and we’re tied with the other team, 1-1. Theo managed to sneak a goal past their brick-wall of a goalie early in the second period. We knew this one was going to be a tough game, but we have a chance.
Shaw’s up near the red line, waiting in the corner. The muscles in my legs fire as I push my way toward the crease, turning with the play as I knock my shoulder against one of their defensemen.
“Asshole,” he snaps, bumping into me harder.
The puck moves across the ice, leaving Shaw’s stick. Theo receives the pass, his head on a swivel as he looks for an opportunity for a shot. I’m shoulder to shoulder with the defensemen and he’s trying to tangle up my stick.
I skate half a stride in front of him, the puck sliding back to the point. Cross slaps his stick, calling for the pass. The goalie’s moving along the crease, trying to see past me as I use my body as a screen.
“Get the fuck off,” I bark at the defenseman who’s still fucking with my stick. My eyes are glued to the puck as the guys try to get a scoring chance. “Net, net!”
Shaw fakes their players out, his body shifting as if he’s going to pass the puck, but instead he shoots it at the net. I’m too far to the right of the goalie and somehow, he sees it coming. He slides to the right, catching a piece of the puck with his blocker as he stops it from soaring past him.
It all happens so quickly, although for a moment, it feels like time is suspended.
The puck deflects off his pad, coming right at me.
I don’t waste the chance to take a shot as it connects with my stick’s blade.
My body shifts, the muscles in my arm firing.
A quick flick of my wrist as I spin in front of the net sends the puck right past the left side of his torso.
He slides across the ice, but he’s just a fraction of a second too slow.
The horn sounds through the arena. My heart pumps harder, faster at lightning speed. Holy fuck, it finally happened.
“Fuck yes!”
The four other guys on my line skate over, gathering around me as we take a second to celebrate. “It’s about damn time, Ford,” Cross says, laughter wrapping around us as he taps the backs of my legs with his stick.
I lead the way, skating past the bench, giving all my teammates fist bumps before heading back to center ice for the faceoff. Whenever a line scores, Coach has been keeping those players on the ice to keep the momentum going.
Theo skates to the dot, checking on me, Shaw and the defensive pair on our line, Cross and Vasily Volkov before he gets into position. My knees bend slightly, my hands gripping my stick as I place it on the ice.
“Finally broke your streak, huh, Ford?”
I glance at the winger from the other team who’s lined up with me. A smirk tugs on my lips as I see who it is. “Yeah,” I nod my head, shifting my gaze back to the ice, waiting for the puck to drop. “Thanks to your ex-girlfriend.”
“What the—”
The puck drops before he gets the last word out. Theo tangles up his stick with their center, pushing his body into him, creating space between them and the puck.
My feet move quickly from muscle memory and I take possession of the puck, dipping past Aiden Scott with a smirk on my face as I head down the ice. We enter their defensive zone and get another shot on goal before the final buzzer sounds.
Scott gives me a smug look, although there’s a hint of curiosity in his expression. I’d be willing to bet he doesn’t even know which ex-girlfriend I’m talking about. Rolling my eyes to myself, I ignore him. I don’t need to instigate anything, not after the game is already over.
I skate over to the net, falling in line behind Theo as we all skate past Gray, tapping the top of his goalie helmet. “Great game, Gray. You played your ass off.”
“So did you, Ford.” He gives me a toothy grin. “We’re fucking back, baby.”
Theo wraps his arm around the top of my shoulders. “Matty! You were unstoppable tonight.”
“That’s a little generous. I scored one goal.”
“After not scoring any in the last few weeks, I’d say you were on fire.”
Theo laughs, releasing me and bumps his shoulder into mine. We all file off the ice and down the tunnel to the dressing room at the end of the hall. The energy in there tonight is vastly different than it has been the past few weeks.
“Matty fuckin’ Ford!” our assistant coach, Coach Frost, calls out as I walk in. The guys break out into hoots and hollers. “Goddamn, we missed you.”
“Asshole,” I mutter under my breath, laughing as I pull off my helmet and walk over to my spot. Physically, I’ve been here, but recently, I disappeared on the ice. Until tonight.
Everyone starts stripping out of their gear and Cross rises to his feet.
“Alright, boys. I think we know who the player of the game is tonight without even saying it.” He holds up the hawk mask, his gaze pinning on mine.
“We’re a family. We all feed off each other’s energy, and tonight, someone truly brought what we needed.
He stepped up and pushed himself, which made all of us push even harder. ”
Our head coach stands off to the edge of the room, a hint of a smile on his lips, but he doesn’t dare to fully let it show. He looks over at me, his dark gray eyes meeting mine.
Coach Ford is ruthless. He has high expectations of all of us and me being his nephew doesn’t grant me any free passes. If anything, he pushes me harder than anyone else.
Cross strides over to me, holding out the hawk mask. “You earned this tonight, fair and square.”
I take it from him, pulling it over my face as the guys break out, chanting my name. “Matty! Matty! Matty!”
Adrenaline courses through me and I climb up onto my seat, curling my fists as I start to hold my arms out to the side, elbows bent. I tip my head back, letting out the most obnoxious, high pitched hawk call that sounds like a war cry.
The room breaks out in similar variations of the sound and honestly, we all just sound like a bunch of psychotic men mimicking raptors from a dinosaur movie. Shaw was the one who informed us that they actually use hawk calls when they make those movies.
A pointless piece of information, but oh well.
I jump down, my bare feet hitting the floor as I pull the mask off and toss it down. “We’re gonna do exactly what we did tonight, every night. We’re so fucking back. No one is going to be able to stop us.”
Theo whistles and the other guy’s clap. The energy in the room is insane, you’d think we just won the biggest game of the season. I sit back down on the bench, busying myself with my gear as I put everything where it goes.
“What’s your secret, Matty?” Anderson, one of the other centers, calls over to me.
“Yeah, did you break your resolution?” Tyson chimes in.
I shrug, glancing at the two of them. “I don’t know. Not really.”
“Not really?” Theo questions me, casually slipping into the conversation.
I grab my clean clothes to head to the showers. There’s no one I’m talking to, although, there’s someone I can’t stop thinking about. “I met a girl at the coffee shop the other day, but that was it.”
“What’s her name?”
Her name rolls off my tongue. “Jade.”
“No last name?”
I laugh, shaking my head. “I didn’t get it.”
“You get her number?”
A chuckle rumbles in my chest as my mind drifts back to Jade. She had such an attitude, I liked it. “She wouldn’t give it to me.”
The thought of chasing her has me by the balls. That’s got to be where the excitement and the distraction truly comes from. The chase before getting what I want.
“You gotta see her again. That will be the real test of the theory.”
“I will.”
“You didn’t get her last name or her number, but you guys made plans to see each other?”
“No,” I say, confidence welling inside my chest. “But I’ll see her again, I know it.”
Cross stares at me as Theo snorts. “You’re crazy.”
“He is, but somehow it always ends up working out. Just watch, he’ll end up running into her or something.”
My chest shakes with laughter. “I refuse to believe that what I want won’t be mine. It’s worked out so far in life.”
“It’s worked out pretty damn well, I’d say,” Tyson chimes in.
Without another word, I dip my chin and excuse myself from the locker room. “Matteo,” Coach’s voice follows after me as I stop into the hallway. “Good game tonight.”
I turn back to my uncle, meeting his gaze. “Thanks. I know I’ve been off lately, but I swear it’s gonna change.”
“I hope so,” he says, nodding at me. “I know your dad’s been worried about you. You should give him a call.”
The mention of my father feels like a thorn in my side. The last time we spoke, we ended up in a heated argument about my supposed lack of effort on the ice. My father didn’t raise his prodigy to not be producing during games.
“Uncle Cale, remember, here I’m not your nephew.”
The muscle in his jaw tightens. “At the end of the day, you are, regardless of where we are. You will not get special treatment from me or game time without earning it. Get over your pride and whatever your little temper tantrum was and call your father.”
“Coach…”
He gives me that look. The same one he used to give me and my cousins when we were about to get a stern talking to. “Get a shower and go home, Matteo.”
“Okay. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight,” he says, nodding once more as he pulls his keys from his front pocket. “Keep playing like you did tonight. It helped the team.”
“Yes sir.”
My uncle gives me one last look before spinning on his heel and heading toward the hall that leads to the exit. I run a hand through my damp hair, grabbing the back of my neck as I slip into the washroom.
The pressure settles on my chest. I scored tonight and we won, but that was just tonight. I need to do it the next game and every one that comes after.
And if the guys are right, if it’s because of Jade, I need to find her.