37. Colton
COLTON
I stood there, staring up at the score board.
Holy fuck, we did it.
The boys hopped around me on their skates, clapping their hands above my head. Some of them jostled me, wrapping their arms around my shoulders and shoving me closely against them. We all made our way back to the locker room, the guys cheering at the top of their lungs.
I had things I needed to say first.
“Aaaaall right!” I bellowed over their heads once the locker room door closed behind me.
Their cheering immediately ceased before they dropped down onto the wooden benches in front of their lockers. I clasped my hands behind my back and slowly trolled my way to the front, turning myself around to face them.
I turned my attention to Rhett and Jett before I lowered my voice to a deadly level.
“I don’t give a flying fuck if someone on the opposing team is dry-humping your goddamn leg in front of the whole fucking stadium.
You don’t start fights on my fucking ice, and you don’t engage useless motherfuckers start them, either.
” My eyes slid to Jett specifically. “And if you ever get your ass thrown back into a penalty box during a game as important as this one? You’re going to find out exactly how replaceable you are for the rest of the season. Do you hear me?”
Rhett and Jett both swallowed hard before they nodded in unison.
Then a shadow of a grin tugged at my cheeks.
And that’s all it took.
"We fucking won, my guys!" Moose exclaimed as he shot to his feet and pumped his fist in the air.
"Fucking 3 to 1, boys! Them's good odds in a betting ring!" Frank yelled out.
Rhett stood up on the bench and pointed straight at me. "Yo — that's our coach right there! That's our fucking coach!"
The room lost it. Someone threw a towel. Jett knocked over a trash can just for something to do with his energy. Moose got me in a bear hug before I could do anything about it and nearly took me off my feet, which had never happened to me in my life and I was not going to acknowledge it.
"Get off me," I said.
He did not get off me.
"Moose."
He squeezed harder.
"Moose, I swear to God—"
The room was still going. Guys slapping each other, yelling, Jett doing something inadvisable on top of a bench that I chose not to look at directly.
I let it run for a minute because they'd earned it.
I didn't expect to win this game. It's why I hadn't made them dress in suits.
A team had to earn that right, sure, but that wasn't the whole reason.
I didn't want them getting their hopes up.
Didn't want them expecting too much from themselves after only a couple of weeks with a new coach.
Fucking hell, did they show me up.
"All right, all right!" I barked when the noise peaked. "Settle down."
It took them a while to simmer, but I gave them the space. They'd just won their opening game of the season. They could have a minute.
"Now," I said as I paced slowly up and down the locker room aisle, looking each of them in the eye, "we just have to do that eighteen more times this season if we want a championship."
Rhett spoke up from the bench. "Do you really think we have a shot at something like that?"
"Yeah, Coach," Frank said with a shake of his head. "This team hasn't taken a championship home since—"
I turned to him, placed my hands on my knees, and dipped down to get into his face.
"Listen to me and listen well, because I'm only going to say this once.
That entire stadium didn't think any of you would pull a win out of your asses today.
" I reared back up and looked around the room.
"There wasn't a single person in those stands who thought we'd win tonight.
" A smirk pulled across my face. "Do I think we've got a shot at the championship?
That's a question for the end of the season.
But do I think we can win next week? Hell fucking yes I do. "
The guys erupted. I raised my voice over them. "And if you play like that every game and listen to me — even when you don't agree with me — we'll take this entire thing by storm and leave them bleeding in the dust."
Thunder. That was the only word for what went through that locker room. I hadn't heard a room erupt like that since my early years with the Titans. If one win was this big of a deal to them I had a whole world to introduce them to this season.
The noise gradually dropped and Rhett looked around the room. "Hey — where's Miss C?"
Jett craned his neck like she was supposed to be somewhere in the room with us.
"I didn't see her go up to the box before the game," Frank said.
"Wait, she wasn't in the VIP box?" Rhett asked.
Moose shrugged. "We usually see her head up there before warmups."
I furrowed my brow. "Does she come to all the games?"
The entire team turned to face me at once. Rhett cleared his throat. "She hasn't missed a game since her husband died. She's usually in here with us when we win."
Something shifted in my chest that I didn't have a name for yet. I cleared my throat. "All right boys. Get cleaned up. Practice is at seven."
The collective groan that went through the room only tugged a smirk across my face.
"What? You think championship teams take breaks?" I pointed at Moose on my way to the door. "Sharpen those blades tonight and bring them to practice. You and I are doing different endurance drills tomorrow."
He nodded. "Can do, Coach."
I slipped out of that locker room on cloud nine.
Opening game. New team. Two weeks of practice.
And we won. That play Rhett and Jett pulled off in the third — I'd seen it maybe a handful of times in twenty years and they ran it like they'd been doing it their whole careers.
I needed to get into my playbooks. I had so many things I wanted to teach this team now that I knew what they were actually capable of.
I pushed into my office and closed the door behind me.
And stopped.
Because right there in front of my desk, kneeling on the floor, was Brynn. Her curves on full display. Her hair a wild, untamed halo around her face and shoulders.
She gazed up at me with the most trusting, most disarming smile I'd ever seen in my life.
Wearing nothing but my hockey jersey.
I was going to need to get her one with my name on the back.