Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

KAGE

"Looks like you had a good time last night." I stopped beside Mitch and Jagger as they were getting ready for tonight’s game. They had matching satisfied, smug expressions on their faces. The one that comes with getting laid.

Mitch adjusted his padding and grinned. "The best time. Right, Jag?"

"Yep," Jagger said, his usual bare bones answer.

Mitch elbowed him. "Don't pretend you didn't."

"I'm not pretending anything," Jagger protested. He elbowed Mitch back. "What do you want, a blow by blow description of the whole night? And this morning?" He glared at Mitch, but there was a hint of playful mischief in his eyes that was new.

"I'll take that as a yes," I said, with an approving nod. "Good, I'm glad you're enjoying our girl. I was thinking we should surprise her by doing something together. All four of us." Or five, if Brock was included. Thinking about him made my cock throb, but I wasn't sure where he fit into all of this yet.

"Sooner or later, she's going to want a group date. I want to get in before it even occurs to her. Between us, I'm sure we can come up with something that'll impress her."

Was I going too fast with this? Potentially, but I wanted to do this for her. To show her how I felt about her. I could easily fall head over heels for Eden Wright. Where did that leave Brock? Did he want a relationship with any of us, or did he want to be the conductor of our little orchestra? He made it clear he wanted to fuck me, but how much further would it go? That was a question for later.

"This isn't an episode of The Bachelor ," Jagger said derisively. "Group date?"

"How do you know they have group dates on that show?" Mitch looked at Jagger sideways, teasing curiosity on his face. He was too cute for his own good sometimes, but he kept Jagger on his toes.

Jagger rolled his eyes at the other centre. "Because I've seen you watch it, dumbass."

"Because he's watched it with me," Mitch whispered loudly.

Jagger's jaw moved like he was trying to protest. Finally, he said, "Only when there's nothing else on. And I'm not watching it, I'm reading a book or on my phone. It's just on in the background."

"You were as invested in the relationship between Ashley and Brandon as I was," Mitch argued.

"I fucking was not," Jagger said. "But Brandon should have chosen Ashley, not Hannah. It doesn't matter anyway, he broke up with Hannah already."

"And you know that how?" I teased.

He turned his glare on me. "Mitch went on about it. He's obsessed with that crap."

Mitch rubbed his chin. "I don't remember mentioning that." He patted Jagger on the bicep. "It's okay to admit you looked it up."

Before Jagger could respond, I said, "It's time to get out there on the ice. Give them hell."

"We always do," Jagger said with a grunt. He grabbed up his stick and stomped towards the door.

From here, the sound of the crowd was audible, as was the music playing out in the rink. The excitement was electric. And contagious. It helped to tamp down my nerves somewhat.

Even after working with the team for two years, I was still nervous for them. We'd worked so hard to move the team to a professional level. Now they had to prove they deserved that, over and over. None of them wanted to go back to amateur status. Every so often, the conversation arose, and everyone was in agreement. They were going to fight to keep their spot in the AIHL, no matter what it took.

And me, I was happy to kick their asses into gear when they needed it. The same way I'd had my ass kicked when I was playing. Did I miss the rush of being out there, stick in hand, taking on the highly skilled teams in the NHL? Sometimes. But we'd made something special here and I had no regrets about making the move.

"For what it's worth, I think that's a good idea," Mitch said before grabbing his stick. "The group date thing. I think she'll like it." He shot me a grin before following Jagger out to warm up.

At the beginning of the fourth period, the Dusk Bay Demons were leading five to four. The Ghouls were quick and aggressive, but the opposition was faster, hungrier.

Under their new owners, the Demons were virtually unstoppable. If we weren't careful, they'd dominate from the moment the season started and take out the whole thing.

I was determined not to let that happen. We weren't going down without a fight.

The puck dropped.

Jagger snapped out his stick, gaining possession of the biscuit and slamming it past Coast Riggs. It slid across the ice, past the Demons' winger, and straight to Easton, who'd skated around to intercept.

Easton took a shot at goal, but Phoenix, the Demons' goalie, stopped the puck at the last second.

Jagger and Mitch switched out, and the Demons had possession of the puck. They wove through our guys, shoving them out of the way and slamming them against the boards.

The Ghouls fought back, a couple of them letting their frustration get the better of them.

I shouted at them to chill out before changing out a couple of the players when the Demons missed a shot at goal.

The puck was back in our possession, with Jagger switching again with Mitch. His face a mask of determined concentration, he drove the puck deep into opposition territory. Again, Easton was there to intercept. He slammed it back to Jagger, who swept it straight into the goal, past Phoenix's glove.

"And we have a tie!" The announcer declared over the loudspeaker. "We might just go into overtime." She sounded delighted at the prospect. Why wouldn't she? Everyone liked a close fought, nail biting game. Although, I personally didn't mind a shut out either.

We might just , I silently agreed. Unless we could close it out now. Forcing the game to a tie with a team as strong as the Demons, gave the players confidence. It might just be enough to see them through until the end of the period.

Another face-off, this time with Mitch back on the ice. The Demons' centre was quicker this time, slapping the puck away the second it touched the ice.

They drove it hard towards our goal, but the Ghouls weren't letting them anywhere near it. They shoved back and blocked every shot, until I thought gloves might come off.

While fighting was discouraged in the league, it happened, like it did with the NHL. During some games, it felt like blood flowed more freely than water at the break between periods.

I glanced at the time. The clock was counting down the seconds till the end of the period. Unless something happened in the next couple of heartbeats, overtime was inevitable.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

The buzzer finally sounded, giving us a break. Overtime wouldn't stop until one team or the other scored. We need to be ready.

"You guys are kicking butt out there," I said. "You've got this. The Demons are on the run now. All we need to do is finish them off."

I caught the eye of Aidan Draeger, the Demons’ head coach. He was a difficult man at the best of times, but he gave me a respectful nod before turning back to talk to his own team. He'd supported the Ghouls, voting for them to become a professional team, when the rest of the committee was still unsure. That didn't mean I wouldn't push my guys to beat his. Anything else would be an insult to all of us. They wouldn't hold back and neither would we.

"We've got this, Coach," Mitch said, cheerful and loud. "Right team?"

"Shit, yeah, we do," Cruz agreed. "It's time to hand those Demons their asses on a silver platter. This is our season to take out the cup."

The guys all shouted their agreement with fierce determination. Being one of the newer teams in the AIHL they were always under a microscope. There were those still convinced the league made a mistake in choosing us, but we'd prove them wrong.

I glanced back at Aidan. He was nodding at something one of the Demons’ owners said. I didn't know much about the Brantley twins, but they seemed to care about their team more than the previous owner. For that, I'd give them all the credit they deserved.

Before them, and before Aidan, the Demons were the biggest losers in the league. Now, they were difficult to beat. As a team, they were cohesive and united. The rest of us could learn something from watching them interact on and off the ice. They had a bond I'd never seen before with any team. Something I worked towards with mine.

Hashtag team goals.

Coming second to them in the play-offs would suck, but it wouldn't be the end of the world. Of course, beating them would be better.

I nodded to my team. "Okay, time to get out there and get this done. Don't let them touch the puck and we can finish this off in a minute or two."

"On it, Coach." Mitch gave me a salute before all the guys put their water bottles aside and took their positions, either on the ice, or waiting to celebrate.

"That sucked hairy donkey balls." Mitch was still smiling, but his shoulders were slightly slumped. He tossed his stick roughly in the direction of his locker and flopped down onto the seat in front of it.

Some of the guys headed off to burn off excess lactic acid, but Jagger sat beside Mitch and gripped his shoulder. He shook him a couple of times before slapping his bicep.

"We'll get them next time," Jagger said.

"Exactly," I agreed. "You guys put up a good fight. There's no reason why we can't win the next game against them." They'd come painfully close to doing just that tonight.

They'd lost possession of the puck right before making a shot at goal and never got it back. With an assist from the Demons' centre, their winger made the deciding goal.

The moment after that happened, I spotted Eden in the team box. She'd been cheering us on the entire game, Marley and Cat beside her. She gave me a wave and even blew me a kiss. I responded with a small wave of my own, and a silent promise to see her soon, before turning my attention back to the team.

"I need a shower." Mitch started to pull off his skates and shed his clothes.

I watched for a few moments before forcing myself to look away. That was another thing we needed to work out. What might my relationship with them be like? I didn't know, but I knew having a boner for any member of the team, right here in the locker room, was probably not the most professional look for the head coach. Especially not with the rest of the team present.

Totally naked, Mitch stepped past me. On the way, he stopped and whispered in my ear, "I don't mind you looking." Grinning, he moved past and headed to the showers.

Apparently his usual good mood was back, in full force. Nothing ever kept him down for very long. He couldn't have been more different to Jagger. They were night and day in looks and personality. In their case, opposites definitely attracted. Not just attracted, but gelled together like a tight unit. They balanced each other, on and off the ice.

"Okay," I said slowly. I caught a glimpse of his bare ass before he disappeared into a shower cubicle. He didn't even close the door behind him, but the partition blocked him from view. The man was definitely not shy about his body. Neither was I; I was just trying to keep things cool and do my job without being too distracted. So much for not getting hard.

I shook my head and stepped out of the locker room. I had work to do before I could catch up with Eden and the others.

And planning to do for our group date.