BECKETT #3
But that had become my strategy this semester.
Coach Murray gathered us and cut to the chase, although I glanced around the audience to where Uncle Nate was sitting and cringing.
It made me smirk. I had been letting cocky teams get the upper hand on us for half of this season.
I knew how to play this game like 4D chess.
Coach Murray spoke a few words of encouragement and then pointed out our weaknesses. Our defense wasn’t as unified as it should be. They were slow to react and easily spooked by the merciless charge the Vikings used against us.
In the middle of it, Asher spoke up. “I don’t think I can do this,” he croaked.
Silence fell over us.
“I’m sorry,” he said, panic in his voice. He was shaking his head, trembling all over. “I fucked up. I can’t do this.”
I inhaled a breath of air to speak, but Jordan got there first. He seized Asher’s upper arm and held him in a tight grip. “Pull yourself together,” he growled. “You’re here for a reason. We all are. The best of the best, do you hear me?”
Asher was taken aback. His mouth worked, but not a sound came out.
“You’re not quitting in the middle of the game,” Jordan said.
Our supporting players were good, but Asher could be much better than any one of them if he tried.
The trouble was he often tried too hard.
“You’re not gonna betray us now, Asher. Just get out of your goddamn head.
” I wasn’t sure Jordan’s motivational speaking skills were that good when Asher was his audience.
“Son, are you sure you need to step aside?” Coach Murray asked.
Before Asher could reply, Caden jumped in.
“He’s staying, Coach,” he insisted. When he turned to Asher, I was in awe.
He threw his arm over Asher’s shoulders and pulled him close, yanking him free of Jordan’s grip.
“You know how this goes, Asher. We get humiliated for twenty minutes, but we get to know our enemy. Nobody’s blaming you, man.
We all fell short out there. But now’s the time to get it together and show those bastards who they’re messing with.
Just by getting absolutely wrecked in the first period, you have more experience against the Vikings than any of the guys on the bench.
And we’re gonna show them where to stick it. Isn’t that right, Captain?”
I blinked, surprised as much by Caden’s easy tone as I was by Asher’s newfound calm and determination. The guy straightened and inhaled, then nodded.
“That’s right, Jones,” I said with all the bravado I could gather.
“If you paid attention, you’ve noticed it already.
They are quick; they are mean. But we can fool them.
They think we’re a defensive team. I didn’t waste any energy trying to push through their lines.
We can’t take them by surprise, but we can let them get cocky.
I need you all to think with a single mind, boys.
Nothing fancy in the second period, alright? We’re serving them the usual.”
Murmurs of assent went around the circle and we returned to the game with a newfound courage. If I had hoped to catch Caden alone in the short break, I knew deep down it was impossible. I hadn’t even tried.
The Vikings saw us as a disorganized mess against their machinery.
Their tactics remained unchanged. At the very start of the second period, they raced to body-check our wingers and pass through our defenses.
It was a predictable move after the easy win in the first round. And that was their mistake.
Jordan and Caden aligned with me as we soared past the Vikings.
Where they expected me to stumble in the dark on my own, like in the first run, they received three guys with clear goals in mind and a synchronized movement.
And when the initial surprise wore off, Caden and Jordan followed my lead as I pulled every card I had up my sleeve.
The old bait and switch had never failed me, so long as I used it sparingly.
And even though our guys were struggling behind our backs, we managed to catch up by the end of the second period.
Caden grinned more times than I could count, and I had tried counting.
My eyes never completely left him. Even when I focused on the puck, Caden was in the periphery of my vision.
I skated across the ice, aware of his presence, and waited for the right kind of opening to send the puck his way, only to fool the Viking meatheads and send it to Jordan instead.
The period ended with our numbers in a deadlock.
It set the stage for the third and final act.
My nerves were going wild in anticipation of some hardcore fighting.
I had gotten checked more than once, my body tapping the reserves of its energy.
Fury kindled in me more and more, especially when Caden avoided me during the longer break.
I needed to tell him, dammit, or I would die.
But the anger he sparked was a precious tool in my arsenal.
I could use it against the guys who were bigger, and meaner, and more experienced than any of us.
And when the third period started, we continued our hard-won deadlock. For every point the Vikings scored, we took one of our own.
The minutes trickled away faster than I would have liked, but my body was burning more energy than I could afford.
I wasn’t sure if I could keep this up if we remained deadlocked.
But for now, I managed to race across the rink, shoulder to shoulder with Caden, and evade the vicious fight the Vikings put up.
“Jones,” I practically shouted after we lost the puck, then got it back under our control. “I was thinking.”
“God, spare us,” Caden shouted back.
I laughed, although it took me effort to find the energy for it.
“Seriously, I was. I was thinking.” I needed to outmatch the crowd’s cheers and the blades slicing through the ice, the cries of guys getting blocked from aiding the two of us.
The final moments were upon us and I wasn’t sure we could get through the enemy line and score the winning point before time ran out.
But if we didn’t, we would surely lose after.
I was out of tricks and out of strength.
“Are you really doing this now?” Caden demanded. He moved a little further away from me to fool a Viking defender into covering him, then spoke over the enemy. “I swear to God, Beckett. Your timing sucks.”
“I know,” I called at him, nearing Jordan on my right wing. Caden was suddenly too far from me as I followed the trail Jordan’s dedicated work left open for me.
“What are you doing?” Jordan demanded.
I sent the puck his way. “Having a little chat.”
He snatched it with his stick and led with it while I distracted a Viking and let Avery, who trailed me until then, block him.
“Focus!” Jordan’s stick swiped across the ice and I caught the puck just as Caden freed himself on my left flank.
“Jones,” I called, heading in his direction. “I have a question.” I evaded another attempt to steal the puck from my control thanks to Avery, who had caught up with me. The crowd cheered louder. “And you have to say yes!”
“Are you out of your fucking mind?” Caden asked, nearing me enough to make his words perfectly clear.
“I am, I am.” I was out of breath. “Take over.” I swiped my stick around and let him lead.
I was risking the entire game, but I finally had him somewhere where he couldn’t just walk away.
He needed to hear me out on the ice. “Jones,” I called again, taking the puck back when he sent it to me. “Go on a date with me, Jones.”
“What?” Caden was shocked.
I hadn’t realized that Jordan was just next to me until I noticed Caden’s worried glance. “What?” Jordan also asked. Fear lurched in my stomach, but I was out of time.
“Let’s go on a date, Jones,” I insisted. “I’m in love with you, dammit, and I want to be with you. And I want us to go on a real date. In public. Okay?”
“Now?” Caden was incredulous.
“Every day! Be my boyfriend, Jones.” And I had drawn his attention for a moment too long. In an instant, he collided with a Viking beast, all limbs tangling, sticks crashing against the ice. He cried out in shock, but I had to go on.
I signaled to Avery to take Caden’s place while Caden got dragged across the ice and into the boards. Again. Avery did as he was told, expressionless and focused, but I sent the puck to Jordan. “All good?” I demanded of him, aware that he had heard my words when Caden had.
Jordan led the puck away to the right end of the rink. We were closing in on the few remaining Vikings. “Fucking amazing,” he shouted in reply.
My heart leaped. If only the man I loved had said as much. But he was far behind me and I didn’t even know what state he was in. Was he conscious? Was he hurt? Was he free and on my heels by now?
I signaled to Avery again. “Far left,” I called. We both moved in the same direction, leaving a confused Viking between us and Jordan. The carnage behind us was plentiful, buying us the space and time to work.
The Viking in the middle chose to follow Avery and me, expecting the puck to cross the ice and one of us to catch it.
But Jordan and I had done this plenty of times before.
I slowed down while Avery continued and the enemy had no choice but to follow Avery now that the laws of physics were in motion.
With the last of my strength, I pursued the center-left and bypassed the last defender between me and the Viking goalie.
Jordan sent me the puck and I fought the urge to close my eyes as I smashed my stick into it, flinging it straight ahead.
The goalie had had his attention on Jordan and my swiftness caught him by surprise.
The puck flew between his legs and right into the net.