Page 396 of Faking the Goal

"You've been staring at me for ten seconds."

"Just wondering who decided giving you authority was a good idea."

Chase snorts from somewhere behind me.

"Fuck you," Cody says, although the grin spreading across his face ruins whatever intimidation he was going for.

I shake my head and start pulling on my gear.

Yeah.

Things are definitely different.

Elijah and Zach are gone. Cody's our captain. We're seniors. There are new faces wearing Ridgewater colors, and sometime during the past few months, the guys who used to follow somebody else's lead became the ones everyone else is going to be looking at.

And in less than a year, it'll be our turn to leave too.

That's the part I don't think any of us are ready to talk about yet.

So we don't.

For now, we have one more season.

One more Frozen Four to chase.

One last year of these assholes making my life significantly louder than it needs to be.

And after that?

Vegas is waiting for me.

"All right, assholes, bring it in!" Cody's voice cuts across the rink.

A chorus of complaints immediately answers him, mostly because apparently making Cody captain has given everyone else a moral obligation to make his job as difficult as possible.

We skate toward center ice, gathering around him while Coach Hopper watches from the bench with the expression of a man already reconsidering his decision to put the C on Cody's chest.

"We're scrimmaging," Cody announces. "Dark jerseys against white. Same lines we ran yesterday. And if any of you freshmen are planning to make me look bad during my first week as captain, I'll make sure conditioning tomorrow lasts until your legs fall off."

"Wow," Luke says. "Power really changed you."

"Shut the fuck up and get in position."

I snort behind my mask and skate toward my crease.

Maybe having Cody as captain won't be so bad after all.

An hour later, I'm sitting on the bench during our break, helmet beside me and a water bottle pressed to my mouth, when Cody drops down next to me.

"Taylor moving today?"

I swallow and nod. "Yeah. This afternoon."

Finally.

She's getting out of that fucking apartment.

Just thinking about that place still leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Too much happened there. Too many months of her looking over her shoulder, too many nights wondering who was watching her, and then that final night with Charlie.