Power Play - Brittney Mulliner Page 0,30

the direction of the arena. “How are Kendall and Wyatt?”

“They’re good. Wyatt’s not going to be back in time for the series, but he’s pushing through physical therapy,” Lucy answered.

“That’s good.” Their energy was so much lower than the previous games. “How’s the rest of the team?”

Sydney shrugged. “They’re tired and beaten up, but trying to pull it together for the last few games. I don’t think they have the fight in them to turn the series around, but they don’t want to make it easy on the Storm either.”

“I wish it was any other team,” Lucy grumbled. “I’ve hated them for years.”

“It just doesn’t feel earned. If both teams were playing their very best and we got to see really great hockey, and then the Fury lost I would be okay with it. But it’s not like that at all.” Colby shook her head. “It’s infuriating.”

“A bit different from your basketball boys, huh?” Lucy nudged her.

“Completely,” she agreed.

“Basketball boys?” I asked.

“Yeah, I still have a few basketball clients I work with.”

“I didn’t know that. I thought it was just Noah.” She told me at the first game, as she introduced everyone else, that she was a personal assistant and that was how she met Noah.

“There’s only two or three I can’t seem to shake.” She winked. “They’re so easy to work with and the extra income makes it worth it.”

I smiled and we entered the arena through a side entrance and headed up to the third floor where one of the boxes was reserved for the Fury’s friends and family to hang out and eat before the game. Most of them stayed to watch, but the girls liked to be closer to the action. I did too.

As the guys came out on the ice, I noticed their slumped shoulders, some favoring one side, and they were overall slower than ever before. Sydney was right, they were beaten up. Not just physically, but I could only imagine how low morale was. How could they get hyped up without their captain? With so many guys out injured? I didn’t know their team as well as the other girls, but the loss of Reese Murray and Grant Fisher was huge. Grant was on Jason’s line and they had a chemistry that made them a real force on the ice. How would that affect him tonight?

I got my answer in the first period. The game was so hard to watch. There were more fights than any of the previous games. Checks into the boards happened one after another. The referees weren’t calling anything.

During the third period, there was blood on the ice.

The Fury was giving everything they had, but it wasn’t enough.

We held hands as Porter Vaughn left through the tunnels. He was able to stand, but the hit he took looked like it hurt.

“Upper body injury,” Colby said quietly.

Jason was hanging on by a thread. Two kids they brought up from the farm team were working their hardest to keep up, but this wasn’t a normal hockey game. It was an execution.

“Can’t they just call it already?” Sydney said behind her hands.

“Only five minutes left.” Lucy’s knee was bouncing a mile a minute. I looked around and realized that the majority of the crowd was already gone. The Storm was up by two and there was no chance for the Fury to make a comeback, not tonight.

Finally, the buzzer sounded, and we stood to head back to the hotel. None of us spoke until we were outside the arena.

“That was painful,” Colby admitted.

“Now we know what it feels like to be the other team.” Lucy cringed. “I hate it.”

“Winning is much more fun,” Sydney said with a dazed expression.

“I can’t wait to leave this stupid city and never come back,” Colby announced as we crossed the street.

“I can’t wait for Taylor to come see Salt Lake.” Sydney looped her arm around mine. “You’re going to love it.”

“I …”

Colby stopped walking and faced me. “What do you have to lose?” I stared down at the ground. “Exactly. You might as well give it a shot.”

“She’s right. Worst case, you don’t find anything and decide to leave,” Lucy said.

“Best case, you find a great job and get to stay with us.” Sydney squeezed me closer.

“I really don’t want Jason thinking I’m moving for him.”

They all blew off my concern. “You won’t even have to see him if you don’t want to,” Lucy argued.

“Yeah, you’re coming because of us. Because of how awesome and supportive