Page 65 of Two for Charging

“Yeah, you looked down, bro!”

“Denisov had it out for him, not the puck,” Luca argued. “In the third period—”

“Yeah, but the hit wasn’t in the third period,” Mooney said smugly. His hand rested on Mara’s thigh, playing with her fingers.

Luca’s blood boiled. Anger at himself for wanting things he couldn’t have already heated him up; disappointment at giving them up and frustration with the whole situation compounded his irritation. An argument was precisely what he needed.

“My point exactly,” Ben interjected before Luca could start. “You guys are professionals, you’re on Howie’s team, and it’s still a matter of opinion. And the journalists on the sports beat make it worse. This is why I spent so long avoiding jobs where you stay in the same place.”

“Why?” Tom asked. Far from being insulted by his sport being maligned, he seemed amused.

Luca could grant it was funny to see buttoned-up, grumpy Coach Morris a little inebriated.

“American media has this weird insistence on always showing both sides of an issue.”

Frowning, Luca asked, “But that is good, no? Otherwise, you are reading propaganda.”

“It’s fine when both sides are legitimate, but American media isn’t interested in quality control. Look at the hit on Howie! You’ve got sports broadcasters discussing whether Denisov should have gotten a major penalty or even a game misconduct. But then they also have to hear from some old guy in Muskoka who thinks hockey is a sport for real men, and back in his day, everyone could take their hits and like it.”

Luca snorted around his sip of the gin and tonic Howie had pressed into his hands. It wasn’t an inaccurate picture of sports media.

“Watch it,” Howie said mildly. “The old guy in Muskoka is my grampa.”

Heedless of the interruption, Ben took another big gulp from his wine glass, after which Phil pried it out of his hand. “And that’s sports! It’s so much worse in politics! It’s like, here, let’s get an opinion from this one old white guy who thinks maybe it’s okay for gay people to have equal rights as long he doesn’t have to talk to any. But our news segment is not complete without also hearing from Arty McFartface, octogenarian owner of a private gun range in Florida, who thinks all gay people have AIDS, and women shouldn’t have the right to vote.”

Beside Luca, Mara shook with poorly suppressed laughter, and he had to admit to being amused as well, some of his grouchiness dissipating.

“Okay,” Phil said. “I mean, you’re not wrong, but maybe go easy on the wine, babe. No one here disagrees with you. Except about the hit on Howie, maybe.”

From the corner of his eye, Luca spotted Hayes looking up from his phone and mouthing, Babe?

Luca’s entire body clenched up.

He was not ready for this team fight. He’d barely come around to the idea that he ought to make an effort to get along with the team. If Hayes continued to be a bigoted shithead, Luca wouldn’t be able to keep it up, not when he now knew that he had to stop suppressing half his identity and pretending it was enough. How could he get along with the team when the team wouldn’t get along with him?

No wonder Chris worried so much about fights.

Thankfully, or perhaps not thankfully, Howie chose that moment to say, “Lighten up, man. The media might suck here, but at least we’re not in Russia.”

Chapter Eleven

Hayes [reading from a notecard]: You’re moving tomorrow, and the moving company cancelled on you last minute. Who on the team are you calling? Oooh, okay. Well, I’d call Mike [Vanderbilt], but honestly, he’s a lazy [bleeping noise]. Tom never picks up his phone. I think my best bet is Breezy. He has a sweet baby-blue pickup, and he’s the most reliable dude I know.

Jax: Breezy. He’s the kind of guy who wouldn’t even complain about carrying the heavy boxes.

Howie: Have you seen Breezy? There’s the guy you want lifting your stuff.

Fedorov: I think Breezy.

Tom: Breezy, no contest.

Luca: Chris.

Breezy: Oh, God, that’s terrible! Why would a moving company cancel? I don’t know. I guess I’m calling Luca. He’d complain all day, but he always shows up for me.

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