It was overwhelmingly apparent that that was exactly what was happening. We were all letting our insecurities and anxieties get the betterofus.
Gavin continued with his speech. “We played our hearts out all season and it fucking paid off. We can’t go in and choke on game one. That is not theOtterway!”
All the guys yelled inagreement.
“Are we going to let a chance at the cup slip through our fingers because we’re a littlescared?”
“No!” we all answered inunison.
“Fuck right we’re not. We’re the goddamn New York Otters, the best hockey team in the NHL. Never forget that,gents.”
Chapter14
Jordan
Ihadno idea what to expect when I got to the arena that night, but it was really exciting to be going there after hours. Breaking the rules can be quitethrilling.
“What are we doing here?” I asked Crosby as he took my hand, leading me down some backhallway.
“You’llsee.”
He walked me into what looked like a souped-up garage and I gasped. We were standing in theZamboniroom.
I gripped his hand tighter as I skipped a few steps. “This is soawesome.”
“Just wait, it’s going to get better.” He dug the keys for the machine out of his pocket. “In high school, I worked at the local rink driving the Zamboni over the weekends, so I talked the guys into letting me borrow the keys for anight.”
My eyes got wide. “We get torideit?”
“Well, I figured we could skate for a while and then hop on this bad boy and take her for a spinortwo.”
“I don’t have skateswithme.”
Will held up one finger, going into the corner of the room to grab a duffle bag. “I took the liberty of calling Myla and getting your shoe size. She said these were the best ones to get.” He pulled out a brand-new pair of figure skates and handed them to me. “I had to guess if you would want a pair of these or hockey skates, but I felt like these were just morepractical.”
“They’re amazing.” I was elated as I took them from him. “Thankyou.”
“You’re welcome, baby. Now get them on and let’s have a little bitoffun.”
Crosby got his skates on too and then we were off to enjoy a little bit of time in thequietrink.
“It’s so weird to be here when no oneelseis.”
Crosby gripped my hand. “I love it at times like this. It reminds me of all the times I lay in bed at all hours of the night dreaming about something like this. It helps remind me how hard I’ve worked and how far Ihavecome.”
“Thank you for sharing thiswithme.”
He kissed the back of his hand. “Thank you for coming here tonight. I want to share everythingwithyou.”
“Aren’t you tired of skating after practicing for so long today?” I asked, trying to not look like a completeklutz.
“This is different. Practice is work, this is fun.” He pulled me closer to his side. “You need to loosen up a little though. How long has it been since youskated?”
“God, fucking years. As kids, we always skated, but as I got older, I guess life kind of got in the way of stuff like that. I work toodamnmuch.”
“I love how hard you work, but I hate how hard you have to work…if that makessense.”
I looked over at him, and his kind eyes locked on mine. “Yeah, it does. Hopefully I will be able to save enough to invest in my own bar some day and then I canslowdown.”