Tricks Of The Game

Chapter 5

*Kelsey's POV*

        I whipped into the parking lot of Johnny's IceHouse. The clock on the dash read 7:45. Shit, I thought to myself. I wanted to be the first one here this morning. Joel had texted me the night before saying he had a family matter to attend to, so I would be in charge of practice. Today was the first scrimmage, and I was excited. This would be the first time I would get to see how my boys worked together as a team.

         I made my way into the locker room. All the guys were lacing up.

        "Morning boys!" I said, my usual bubbly attitude coming out.

        "Morning," they all mumbled. It was obvious no one on this team was a morning person.

        "C'mon guys, I want some excitement! We're scrimmaging this morning!"

        "Yippee!" Ben Smith said sarcastically. Somehow I expected that from him.

        "Alright Benny, watch the attitude. Okay guys, finish lacing up, then head out to the ice. I want 25 down and backs before I get out there. Joel isn't here this morning, so I'll be in charge of practice today."

        The boys finished lacing up and headed out to the ice. Well, everyone except for Ben Smith.

        "Hey, Kels. We need to talk really quick."

        "What's up Benny?"

        "Look, you need to watch out for Patrick," he said, putting his arm around me. "He's just going to hurt you."

        "Look, Ben. I appreciate the concern, but I'm a big girl. I can make my own decisions. I know you care, but you need to realize that eventually I'm going to find someone and settle down. Can you handle that?"

        "I suppose I'm going to have to," he sighed. "Quite honestly, I don't know how you escaped Martin St. Pierre while we were in rockford," we both laughed at the memory.

        "Alright Benny, get out there. I'll be out in a second."

        Ben left the room. I sat down on a bench for a moment, thinking about how I was going to run this. Just go with the flow, I thought to myself. The head coach in Rockford told me that on my very first day coaching. It was a motto I carried with me to this day.

        I made my way out to the ice to see the guys had already split themselves up into their usual scrimmage teams. I skated out to center ice to drop the puck. The faceoff was Toews vs. Sharpie. I dropped the puck, and Jon won the faceoff. Patrick had been looking at me the whole time. He grinned, tapping my ass with his stick before skating away.

        It was quickly 2-1, black team in the scrimmage. Sharpie continued to lose faceoffs, and I knew it was because he was looking at me. After the third loss in a row, I blew my whistle.

        "No, no, no! Sharpie! We cannot go into the season with you losing this many faceoffs. Kaner, drop the puck."

        Patrick and I lined up for the faceoff. He was looking right into my eyes. Kaner dropped the puck, and Patrick didn't even make an attempt at it.

        "No!" I shouted. "The puck, Sharpie. I know this isn't your first rodeo. Let's go. Kaner, again."

        We lined up for the faceoff again. Kaner dropped the puck, and I got the same result from Patrick.

        "Sharpie, are you really okay with losing to a girl? Let's go."

        We lined up for the faceoff a third time. Kaner dropped the puck. This time, Patrick won.

        "Nope," he smirked as he skated past me. Just then, I heard the locker room door open. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Out walked Kris Versteeg.

        "I'm back bitches!" He shouted, skating onto the ice. The guys began skating up to greet him when I blew my whiste.

        "Steeger! I don't know how they ran things in Florida, but this isn't how we run things in Chicago. Go change your jersey. You're on the red team. Back to your positions everybody. Let's go!"

        The rest of the practice went by without incident. I was amazed at how well I composed myself with Kris being back. I thought if I ever saw him again, I would be a disaster. It was as if there was no history between us. I was his coach. Nothing more.

        We all walked back to the locker room. The guys got changed and left after they finished visiting with Kris. I noticed Patrick didn't even say hi to him. He got changed and stormed out without a word. Before long, the locker room was empty. I packed my things in my duffle bag and changed into a pair of basketball shorts and a Hawks sweatshirt. I wasn't even halfway out the door before Patrick grabbed my shoulder.

        "Hey...we need to talk," He said. He didn't look very happy.

        "About what?"

        "Is there something going on with you and Benny? I want a straight answer."

        I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "She told you? I can't believe she told you..." I shook my head with disbelief. I couldn't believe Brianna would betray me like that. She knew that my past relationship with Ben was under wraps for a reason.

        "Honey, calm down...." Patrick said, grabbing my hand. "I just want to know if there is still something going on with you guys. I saw you two in the locker room, and honestly? You looked pretty comfortable with his arm around you."

        "If you were in Rockford, you would understand why we are no longer together and why we kept it a secret," I pulled my hand away and turned around, beginning to cry. He should have no idea about Ben. Before I could say another word, Patrick stepped in front of me, trapping me between him and the wall.

        "Okay. That's all I needed to hear," Patrick said before grabbing my face and giving me a kiss that left me breathless.

        "Patrick...."

        "Go out to lunch with me."

        "What?" I was baffled. I couldn't even think straight after that kiss.

        "Go out to lunch with me. It doesn't even have to be a date if you aren't ready for that. I just want you to know that whenever you are ready for whatever this is to become something, so am I," he said, giving me the gorgeous smile I was already falling for.

        "Okay," I said, smiling. He took my hand and we walked down the hall to his car. Little did we know, Joel was standing at the other end of the hallway and saw the whole thing.