*Being Published in 2022*
❝You can't deny that you're attracted to me, Nyx. Instead of fighting it, let's see what happens,❞ he grumbled, hands roaming my body. His thumb brushed my bottom lip. ❝Open up for me, baby.❞
...
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I stared long and carefully at all of the men jammed into my living room. There were a lot of them, twenty, to be exact. Two full teams, which were the first and second teams, and two teams that were missing a goalie because we only had two. The third and fourth teams would customarily play smaller matches against other university teams and the goalie that accompanied them was Elijah because Grayson stayed with the first and second teams. It was us that took on the heavier matches, more specifically; the championships.
Settled comfortably on the couches were Grayson, Jasper, Zeke, Sebastian and Oliver. In front of them, on the floor around the coffee table was; Elijah, Levi, Maddox, Aiden, Danny and Jonas - the full second team. I glimpsed at the others that were pitching against the wall. It'd been a while since all four teams were in the same space since the third and fourth were away for most of the time, playing community matches. But that didn't mean that I knew them any less than the two that I always played with. I was still their captain, and we all were affected by our recent losses against Ravenwood. It put them off which affected their matches against other schools.
"It's been a rough couple of weeks," I started, taking a second to run my eyes across all of their characters. Most of them looked defeated and I felt guilty. I let my emotions get in the way of doing the right thing for my team and that led to our two recent losses. I was their captain, my head was supposed to be screwed on perfectly during matches. "And I'm talking about more than just the losses." At those words, I peered at my first team and they stared back tiredly.
"I think this timeout will do us all good," I maintained. "Contrarily, to what everybody else thinks, our lives most definitely do not revolve around ice hockey. We don't live and breathe on the ice." There were murmurs of assent. "We have lives outside of it, lives that are sometimes overlooked because of our dedication to the sport. And I don't think that's healthy."
Jasper beamed. "Preach, sister."
I disregarded him but couldn't stop the tiny twist of my lips. "Before I was captain," I didn't say Rafe's name, not wanting to perturb anyone, "there was no such thing as breaks. We worked our asses off and received nothing in return, not even acknowledgement. The praises were taken by our previous captain." Some of them stilled. "But a captain is only as good as his team. And right now, we all aren't doing well. I want us to be able to say we're okay before we step foot onto the ice."
Zeke leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "Ravenwood won't know what hit them after we come back." I nodded, savouring the fact that enthusiasm was being passed around the room. Some guys added in their own little thoughts and I watched, nodding.
