Chapter 35: Bryn

Sawyer is on fire once I’ve cleaned him up. Apparently he had thrown his helmet off in a rage so when he got hit there was some damage done, but he has shown no signs of confusion or being unsteady, so I guess he’s good. These guys are used to being shoved around and have grown a thick skin when it comes to getting hurt.

Thankfully, there are no more fights through the rest of the game. It gets down to the wire and we’re so close to winning when the other team does a trick play that has the guys confused. The other team scores and ties everything up. Sawyer and the guys aren’t shy about being upset that one more point and they will either win or lose this. Game one and at home…a lose would be devastating to them.

I remember this time when Sawyer faked out the guys on the opposite team and made the winning point with what should have been an impossible shot. It was his signature move throughout high school. Yeah, I went to all his games and sat too far away from him to see me, but even when we weren’t friends, I still supported him.

Anyway, if there ever was a time to use his signature move…this is it. I remember his old coach had a hand signal for it, so I call out Sawyers' name.

“What the hell are you doing?” Coach asks.

“Trust me.” I tell him before waving to get Sawyer's attention.

When he looks my way, I lift my hand to my face and slide my thumb across my cheek once. Sawyer nods and move into position.

“What was that?” Coach asks.

“It’s the signal Sawyer’s high school coach would use for this special move Sawyer would do. It saved their butts a ton of times, and since this is game one on our home turf, I say we need a miracle.”

Coach makes some sort of grunting sound that could be approval, but who knows? What is it with older men and using grunts to communicate? Don’t they know us real people don’t understand any of that? I ignore him and watch Sawyer move. It’s been years since I’ve seen him play in person, and the energy from the crowd is making my skin buzz with excitement. I fist my hands tight as I wait to see the move that will win the game. It feels like everything slows down and the whole crowd is holding its breath.

Then he shoots…to people who’ve never seen this play. They may think it won’t work, but they don’t know Sawyer like I do. He never misses this shot.

The puck hits the goal post at just the right angle and flys past the goalie’s head and into the net. The whole room erupts with cheers, and that’s the end of the game. All the guys surround Sawyer and hit his head playfully and celebrate while the other teams guys make their way off the ice. There is a strong urge inside me to run out on the ice and throw myself at Sawyer and kiss him, but I keep my cool. I don’t know if or when he wants everyone to see us together, so I need to keep my distance.

I know it might sound bad that he doesn’t want people to know about us, but I get it. There is some expectation with men in sports. Fans, especially female fans, prefer the players single so they can imagine having a shot with them. Not all female fans but some and unfortunately, with social media, they can cause a mess if they aren’t happy with how a player spends his off time. If our relationship lasts long enough for him to feel comfortable announcing it, then I’ll have to deal with some angry puck bunnies. Not exactly something to look forward to, but I would do it for him. Maybe I should be more of a feminist and stand up for my right to claim my man and not give a damn about what anyone thinks, but I can’t. This world is tricky and image is unfortunately a big factor.

“I’m going to head to the locker room and get their after game smoothies ready.” I tell Coach.

He nods and congratulates the guys as they exit the rink. I glance toward Sawyer for a second and he sends me one of his devastatingly handsome smiles and a wink before going back to celebrating. I take that as my cue to leave and I weave through the crowd to get to the locker room. Coach was nice enough to set up a space for me to prepare special juices and smoothies for the guys, and they’ve been enjoying all my creations so far.

Being vegan has some advantages in that you really have to get creative in what you make. Making vegetables taste good and incorporating them in every aspect of your meals is important and takes time to learn. Thankfully, I’ve had a lifetime to tweak my recipes to make them taste just as good as the non-vegan versions. The smoothie I decide to go with this time is what I call my blueberry muffin smoothie.

It has frozen blueberries, frozen bananas, unsweetened vanilla soy milk, and dates. It’s creamy and tastes so good that it’s hard to imagine it’s so good for you. For the guys, I make sure to add some vanilla vegan protein powder. They were using Whey Protein powder before and I put that to an end quick. Those powders are basically made from the leftover stuff in milk that they can’t use for anything else. If you learn more about it, it’s not great for you at all. Don’t get me started, or I’ll go on forever about what hides in what the food industry calls ‘healthy’ foods.

I digress.

A few minutes later, I’m pouring the smoothies into the guy’s tumblers and they start filing in. There is a lot of shouting and rowdiness as they line up to grab their smoothy and I can’t help but smile at them. When it’s Sawyer’s turn, he smirks at me and puts his hand over mine before taking his cup and walking away. I can feel my face warming up, but I look away before Coach catches me blushing like a schoolgirl.

“Alright! Quiet down!” He yells.

The guys slowly get quiet, and all attention is on Coach.

“You guys pulled out a win today, but that fight was unacceptable.”

“Come on, Coach- “

He cuts off the guys before they start to make excuses for their little scuffle with the other team.

“I get it. You get pushed around and you’re wound up so tight that you act without thinking, but that’s going to get you all in serious trouble if you don’t learn some restraint. I don’t want my best players kicked out of the game because they're a bunch of hotheads. Y’all need to wise up and get your heads on straight. Now I know you want to go out and celebrate, but I am limiting each of you to no more than two beers tonight. We will have practice the day after tomorrow, but I expect you guys here for weight training tomorrow and I don’t want you drunk off your asses. Plus, Miss Raven would have your asses if you show up drunk off your feet. Got it?”

“Yes, Coach!” The guys yell back.

“Good. Now hit the showers and get out of here.” He turns and heads for his office.

The guys start laughing and talking again while I clean up my little station.

“Hey B! Are you coming to the party tonight?” Mitch asks.

I turn to face him and see he’s already got his shirt off. These guys seem to forget that I’m a girl sometimes and have no shame in stripping in front of me.

Anyway…I cross my arms and raise a brow at him. “Of course. Who’s going to make sure you guys don’t get drunk?”

They playfully boo me and I get pelted with gross sweaty towels. I take that as my cue to leave or I’ll start seeing a whole lot more than I want to.

“See you guys later.” I head for the door and wave at them over my shoulder.

I nearly run right into someone and have to step back to get a good look at them. It’s a little hard because my eyes are watering from the amount of perfume I’m being hit with.

“Watch it skank!” The person says, and I don’t need to see them to know they’re a puck bunny.

When I’m finally able to see them, I notice there are four girls waiting. The main one is wearing a jersey cut into a crop top, booty shorts and four-inch heels. The others look awfully sillier and they’re all glaring at me.

“Sorry about that.” I say and try to move past them.

“Who did you sleep with to get lock room access?” The main girl calls out.

I so badly want to say something snarky and tell her I’m with Sawyer, but it bite my tongue. Instead, I turn and give her a big smile.

“I’m their doctor, sweetie, and that gives me special privileges you won’t ever get. Have a nice night.” I walk off feeling pretty good.

For all of two seconds…