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“You are not chaotic,” Nikolai says from beside me. I turn to look at him and see a pleasant smile on his face. “You are surprising.”

My chest warms at the way the word rolls off his tongue. See. He is a nice guy. Not cold at all. If we were teammates, I could see us even becoming fast friends. Partners in crime. But I need to rid myself of that thought. It’s ridiculous and not a possibility that either of us would want. As goalies, it just wouldn’t work. But hey, the NHL is a tight-knit exclusive group of players. We’ve all been crossing paths since we were kids. We can keep our rivalry on the ice, but enjoy each other as friends off it.

If there is one thing I never shy away from, it’s a friend.

SIX

Nikolai

I am surprised by how loud this stadium is. I don’t know why, going into this game, I assumed it would be calmer here than it was a few months ago when we were competing against the Blizzards for the Stanley Cup. Apparently, their fans are still out for blood. They are rabid in the stands as they cheer their team on during player introductions.

But that’s fine by me. I like the noise. I like that everyone in this building is convinced that the Blizzards are going to handily beat us again.

They’re wrong. They don’t know it yet, but they are wrong. We may have had a friendly dinner together last night, but today is different. This is about to be personal. Us Mules have redemption on our minds. No one more so than me.

“Are you all ready to shut this crowd up?” Coach Chris asks from his place behind the bench.

“More than ready!” Danton says.

“This is when everyone finds out that the Mules weren’t a fluke last season,” Coach Chris says. “This is when every team in the league is put on notice.” He holds his fist up for me to bump. “Lead ’em out, Ivanov. It’s your net. Protect it with everything you’ve got.”

I turn around and take a moment to bump helmets with each member of our starting lineup. Danton first, followed by Clemmers, then O’Shea, Ryan, and lastly Brandon who looks like he’s about ready to throw up. Which means he’s ready to play.

I place my goalie gloved hand on top of his head to hold him steady. “Do not waste time tonight,” I say to him. “If you score on your brother during first period, I will buy you steak dinner back in St. Louis.”

He grins at me. “What if I score on him in all three periods?”

A grin pulls my lips high as well. “If you do that, I owe you steak dinner, champagne, and entire chocolate cake.”

“Done deal,” he says, pushing me away. He turns to Ryan and the two of them skate off towards the dot as I head to center ice.

Once there, I wave Ander over. He’s smiling like he’s having the best time of his life. I can’t wait to wipe that smile off his face. I like Ander. I really do. In fact, in the short period of time I’ve known I’m starting to consider him a friend. But not for the next three periods. Now, we are rivals.

“Still friends?” he asks me.

“Tomorrow,” I tell him.

“That’s fair.” He shrugs like he doesn’t have a care in the world.

I hold my hand out to him. “I look forward to seeing you after game. I hope you are ready to celebrate our win.”

“You pronounced loss wrong,” he says. “I know it’s hard, Russian to English and all.”

“No, no,” I say. “My English is very good. I spoke correctly.”

“Would you two quit flirting?” Gavin growls as he skates by. “We have a game to play, for fuck’s sake.”

“Who says we’re flirting?” Ander asks. “This is just two goalies coming to mutual terms before a match.”

“Sure you are,” Gavin says.

I take my blocker and glove off and extend my hand out to him. He does the same, then grabs mine. “Good luck tonight,” I say, staring directly into his deep blue eyes. “You are going to need it.”

He gives my hand a tight squeeze, then lets go. “See you on the other side, Ivanov.” He skates away from me and I head to my net.

I’m ready. More than ready. This is going to be so much fun.

Ander