Chapter 5
THEO
Theo had been a Serpent for two seasons by the time Rowan showed up.
Theo’s path to NHL success had been a long one, going from the team that drafted him and never cared about him at all (Carolina), to a team that gave him a mostly fair chance (Ottawa), then finally to a team that appreciated him and helped him develop his game.
He loved wearing his forest-green Serpents jersey.
He loved being on the ice with his boys. He especially loved winning.
This season, having Rowan on his wing was a mind fuck. He had all of the anger and annoyance and pathetic rage that came along with any Rowan Foley thought that came into his head, but when they were on the ice together, Theo barely even had to think.
They were on Vegas’ ice, in an arena full of screaming Spades fans cheering against them as Theo’s passes kept finding Rowan’s tape, perfect and crisp like they were running drills in practice.
The Spades weren’t a bad team this year, but the Serpents were good, feeling themselves off of a preseason sweep, still high from acquiring Rowan Foley, Generational Talent?.
As annoyed as Theo was about Rowan being in his state and worse, in his house, he couldn’t be mad about Rowan being on his team. No matter how Theo felt about him, Rowan was, unfortunately, just as good as everyone said he was. And Theo wanted to win.
Their power play was going to be top of the league as soon as there were enough games to start building meaningful stats, Theo could tell.
The Spades had high-sticked Vic, who was manning the blue line with a bit of blood drying under his nose.
He had kept all of his teeth, which was what really mattered.
Despite the blood, they had only been awarded a single minor instead of a double, and Theo had already decided to punish the Spades for it.
Rowan fought for the puck in the corner, and Theo got net-front, patiently waiting for Rowan to dig the puck free and send it his way.
The moment it landed on his stick, he flicked the puck up and over the Vegas goalie’s metallic gold leg pads and the net rippled out from where it caught the puck, buried deep behind the goal line.
The goal light flashed behind the net, and Rowan came crashing into his arms, his smile making him look seventeen years old again.
Then Vic was there, and Drew and Link piled on, and Theo could pretend that whatever moment they had briefly shared when the celly had been just the two of them hadn’t happened.
Theo felt invincible on the ice, and by the time the final buzzer rang, they’d put up five goals to the Spades’ one, their victory decisive and fun. Theo knew they couldn’t win every game, but he wouldn’t be mad if the rest of the season felt this good.
Even if that meant Rowan was lurking in the corner of every thought.