3. Cody
Cody
How is she here? Sloan Weathers is back in Rosewood and I had no clue? She was my entire world in high school. Then her parents moved and I lost her our junior year of high school.
Once she left, I threw myself into hockey. I needed to do something physical to keep my head clear and push my body to its limits. Since I was already on the hockey team, it seemed like the best option. Nothing tests your body quite like spending dozens of hours a week on the ice.
I forced Jax to skate with me. I made him practice just as much as I did. Mom and Dad loved it because they knew if Jax was on the ice with me, there was less of a chance of him getting into trouble with friends.
I swear the hours we put in from our sophomore to senior years are the reason we were able to go pro. I have Sloan to thank for all of that… yet if given the option, I would’ve given all of this up to keep her with me.
“What’s going on with you?” Jax tugs me to the side as the buzzer goes off, signaling the end of the first period. Coach is glaring at me from the bench.
I never have a problem focusing on the game. I leave everything in the locker room and only let hockey consume me on the ice… until now.
“She’s here,” I whisper, glancing over my shoulder at Sloan.
“She? Who are you talking about, man?” Jax follows my line of sight. When his gaze lands on Sloan, I see a flash of recognition flash in his eyes. “Wow, I never thought I’d see Sloan again.”
“Yeah, it’s kind of screwing with my head. I didn’t know she was back in town. Is she living here?”
“I don’t know, but we can figure all of that out later on. Right now, we need to win this game, then we can deal with her. Got it?” Jax grabs my shoulders and meets my gaze.
“Yeah. I get it. Hockey is the most important thing here.” I roll my eyes.
I used hockey to deal with a difficult time in my life, it doesn’t mean I'm as devoted to the game as most professional players are. I played to deal with the loss of Sloan throughout high school and college. I only went pro because Jax wanted to and there’s no way I wasn’t going to follow him.
Jax gets into position for the next face off.
As soon as the puck is hit, I take off on my skates and work like the team we’re known to be.
Everyone in hockey knows Jax and I work as one unit.
When Jax gets benched or given a penalty, I struggle on the ice.
I can read his body language and know what he’s going to do before he does it.
I'm not sure if it’s the twin thing, or if we’ve just been skating together our entire lives, either way, it makes us unstoppable when we’re together.
The center of the opposing team, Barry, is a sly jerk.
He likes to shove and trip players, but he does it in a way the refs don’t notice it’s happening.
I’ve watched so many games that he’s played.
I’ve studied him and what he does before he goes after someone.
Last year, Barry was the cause of another player falling wrong on his knee and it took the guy out of hockey permanently.
I'm not letting him get near my brother.
Hockey isn't everything to me, but it is to Jax. If I wasn’t able to play again, it would suck, but it wouldn’t be the end of my world. I’d get back up and do something different.
Barry glances around to see where the ref is and skates closer to Jax. I know what he has planned. He’s going to skate into him from the back and position his stick to take Jax down to the ice. If he does it right, Jax won't be able to finish the game.
I close the distance between us and slam Barry into the glass. He grunts at the force, he wasn’t expecting anyone to touch him. But the idiot put his sights on the wrong person. I’ll protect Jax with everything in me.
“What was that, Robinson!” He roars, taking off his gloves and shoving me.
“Stay away from my brother,” I growl, stepping closer and putting us toe to toe. I'm not afraid of him.
“What are you going to do about it?”
“Me? Whatever it takes. Maybe I’ll pull some of the crap you like to pull when the refs aren’t looking.” I smirk. I'm trying to rile him up. Anything to get him mad enough to throw a punch.
“Separate!” The ref, Steve, yells, but he isn't close enough to do anything.
“Maybe you should be a good little boy and skate away before the ref gets here,” I taunt him.
That’s all it takes. Barry pulls his arm back and tries to punch me. I duck just in time and the momentum of his punch throws him off balance. He tumbles to the ice, looking like a complete idiot.
“Off the ice, Barry. You get five minutes in the box for fighting and instigating.” Steve sighs. He doesn’t want to deal with fighting at the beginning of a new period. He knows it’s only going to get worse. Now the other team will be short a player for a large portion of the period.
Steve’s been working as a ref for as long as I’ve known him. He doesn’t play favorites and he doesn’t put up with fighting. Especially because I didn’t take off my gloves or try to fight back. If I was a willing participant, he wouldn’t have cared as much. Which is why I didn’t take my gloves off.
“Are you kidding me?” He roars, getting to his feet and right in Steve’s face.
“Are you going to be an issue the entire game?” Steve doesn’t backdown. The linesman comes over and backs up Steve. They work well together and don’t put up with much.
“I didn’t start this!”
“Of course you didn’t.” Steve rolls his eyes. “You can't get your panties in a bunch over being slammed into the glass. This is hockey. You’re the only one throwing punches.”
“And I'm about to throw another one.”
Barry pulls his arm back, more than ready to go after Steve this time. Instead, I lunge for him and wrap my arms around his waist, taking him to the ground. As soon as he’s lying flat on the ice, I scramble to my feet.
“Sorry, Steve. Wasn’t trying to fight, but I'm not letting him go after you either.” I hold my hands up like I'm innocent.
“I appreciate that.” Steve chuckles. “You know I have to give you two minutes for roughing, right? I don’t really feel like fighting with their coach and he’ll keep his mouth shut if you get some time in the box.”
“Yeah, I’ll take it. How much extra time does he get for attempting to go after you?”
“Another ten minutes. He’s going to be a beast to deal with the rest of the game. You better watch your back.”
“Yeah, I'm not worried about my back, I'm worried about Jax’s.” I stare at my brother, making sure he knows I did all of that for him. I want him to know I always have his back no matter what.
I skate over to the penalty box and take my seat. After taking off my gloves and helmet, I drop my head and run my fingers through my sweaty hair.
“Robinson! What the heck was that?” Coach takes a seat next to me, a scowl etched into his brows.
“Barry was going after Jax. You’ve seen how he works. He tries to take guys out for the entire game, if not season. I'm not letting him take hockey away from Jax.”
“So, you’d rather he goes after you?”
“Yes.”
“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. Why would you put his career above your own?”
“He’s my brother.” I lift my shoulder in a shrug. “He loves the game more than I do.”
“Does this mean you’ll be in this box the entire game?” He sighs.
“Nah, but I got Barry off the ice for almost the entire period.” I smirk
He grins, but shakes his head. He knows I'm right. Having Barry benched for most of the period will help us win the game. Instead of saying anything, he walks away, turning his full attention back to the game.
I glance up to see who’s sitting next to the penalty box and come face to face with Sloan. How did I not realize she was sitting so close? I would’ve gotten into a fight earlier if I had noticed.
‘Are you ok?’ She mouths to me.
I nod my head. She’d never be able to hear me over the roar of the crowd. I’d give anything to talk to her though.
I watch her intently. I don’t miss how the guy next to her has his arm draped over her shoulders or how he presses soft kisses to the top of her head.
She doesn’t seem interested in him at all.
It makes me wonder if she’s not really interested in him, or maybe they’re not dating, but he wants to be.
‘Hi.” She mouths again as a slow smile takes over her lips.
“Hey.” I mouth back, wishing we didn’t have thick glass separating us.
“Cody! Are you ok?” My little sister’s voice rings above the rest of the fans. I chuckle as I turn around to find her in the crowd. She always picks seats around the penalty box. She says it’s the best way to see Jax the most often during a game.
“I'm good!” I call back to her, nodding my head in case she can't hear me.
Sloan glances over her shoulder to see who I'm talking to and her eyes widen when she sees Sophia. The last time she saw her, Soph was probably in middle school.
“Sloan?” Sophia’s brows draw together and she tilts her head to the side. Her attention snaps to mine and when I nod my head, letting her know it’s definitely Sloan, she starts climbing over people to get down to where Sloan is sitting.
“Baby! Where are you going?” Pecker, my brother-in-law, watches his wife like she’s crazy.
I tried to warn you, bro. She’s as crazy as they come.
Sophia gets all the way down to Sloan and positions herself between Sloan and the guy she’s with. She wraps her arms around her and murmurs something I can't quite hear.
Sophia’s talking a mile a minute and her hands are moving all over the place.
I grin at my sister. She might be slightly crazy, but I love her to death.
I guarantee she was going crazy when Barry took a swing at me.
She acts like if she screams loud enough, she can make a difference on the ice.
We don’t have it in us to break it to her that we can't hear her on the ice and the refs don’t care about her opinion.
“Let’s go!” Jax skates by and pounds on the wall, letting me know it’s time to get out of the penalty box.
I take a deep breath and blow it out slowly as I secure my helmet and slip my gloves back on.
I need to focus on the rest of the game.
Now that Sophia has seen Sloan, there’s no way she’ll leave without getting her phone number.
If I can count on one thing in life, it’s that my siblings will always have my back.