Breakaway by Avon Gale

Author:Avon Gale [Gale, Avon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay romance
ISBN: 978-1-63476-486-5
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2015-11-26T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

THE REST of winter—such as it was in Jacksonville—moved in a hurry toward the playoffs.

The Sea Storm won the next two games with their rivals, which was great, even if one of them again ended in the third round of a shootout. Bridey was thrilled that it had ended because, as he said, “Next they’re going to send the defensemen out there. I’ve seen it before when shootouts just keep going.”

Bridey didn’t have to take a shot, but in the next game, he took a slap shot to the knee and ended up out of the lineup indefinitely. It was an accident, and the Renegades’ player who shot the puck even came to apologize and ended up hanging out with Bridey in his hospital room for an hour. It turned out they played with a few of the same guys in the juniors, and there were clearly no hard feelings.

The fans didn’t feel that way, though, and the Renegades and Sea Storm rivalry was notched up a few levels. The crowds were steadily increasing, and Lane was both embarrassed and ridiculously pleased to see Zoe wasn’t the only one sporting a Courtnall jersey. That was weird.

Lane was finally able to buy a car, which was an eleven-year-old Toyota Corolla with a sunroof. Which was good, because the air-conditioning was broken and that would suck in the summer. He and Jared sometimes met for a night in Brunswick, Georgia, in the middle of the week. They spent a lot of time on the phone and on Skype. But the middle-of-the-week meetings became rare, and Lane looked forward to their next one—until he was told to pack a bag, grab his gear, and drive like hell to the Jacksonville airport.

He was being called up to play a game with the Syracuse Crunch.

Everything happened in a blur. Ryan hit him on the back three times, saying “all right, Courts, fucking all right!” Lane flew through his room, grabbed a Dr Pepper, and jumped in his car like a superhero on the way to battle dark forces. Since he was going to catch a commercial flight, it was pretty much the same thing.

He texted Zoe with omg syracuse!!! and called Jared, who he knew had a game that night. He left him a message that said, “Holy fuck. Going to Syracuse. Hate sex-canceling, but omg, man, Syracuse!”

Jared called him back when he was on the plane. He had a message when he got out into the freezing winter air—wearing only his Leafs hoodie, which in hindsight was a bad idea and made him feel like a failure as a Canadian.

“Holy fuck” was Jared’s voice mail message. “That’s awesome! But I can’t believe you just said ‘omg.’”

It was awesome but it was also stressful. He had to jump into a morning skate with a team he didn’t know. And no matter how much professional hockey he’d played, these guys were a level above Lane, and it showed. He could compete with them. He knew he could, but it was hard to do so with only one day and very little sleep.

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