Read Online Empty Net by Avon Gale - Free Book Online Page A

in, because his presence usually made everyone too uncomfortable to engage in it around him. “Isaac’s a good captain.”
    “This is the weirdest day of my life,” Griffin said. He peered at Laurent, shrugged, and went to tie his skates.
    The banter went back to other people, and Laurent’s awkward outburst was forgotten. But the mood in the locker room was the easiest it had been since Laurent showed up, and that was something.
    While everyone got ready, Laurent found the thing he’d put in his bag and took it out with trembling hands. He walked over to Isaac and sat next to him. “I, um… brought this for Huxley. I saw him reading this comic, and I get them every week.”
    “Yeah?” Isaac looked over Laurent’s shoulder. His breath was warm against Laurent’s neck, which made him jump. Isaac casually moved away a bit, as if he knew his proximity was bothering Laurent.
    Laurent was torn between being grateful and wanting him to come back. “Yeah.”
    “Right now everyone is dying of curiosity. Like seriously, they’re staring at us like we have three heads.” Isaac laughed. “This is mean of me, but it’s kind of funny.” He cleared his throat. “Not that you should get any ideas.”
    Laurent looked down. He was so tense he thought his entire body was going to crack into pieces. “I know.”
    “No. Hey, Saint, look. Go give that to Hux,” Isaac said. “He’ll be surprised, but he probably won’t punch you.”
    Laurent stood up, gave Isaac a doubtful look, and then quietly made his way over to where Hux was talking to Murphy.
    “No. I mean, I’m just saying, if we rented like, a van and shit, we could get more people. And that’d be more gas money.”
    “I know, Murph, but the van takes more gas than Drake’s Jeep.”
    Murph scowled. “I hate this. It’s like those math problems about trains and apples and shit…. What do you want?”
    Laurent felt them both staring at him, and he held out the comics with a hand that was visibly shaking. “Huxley—you read this comic. I, uh… saw you. These are new issues. You can borrow them. If you want.”
    Hux took the comics, clearly out of surprise more than anything. “What the fuck?”
    “Say thank you,” Isaac’s voice said threateningly, from over Laurent’s shoulder.
    “Thank you,” Hux said flatly, without looking at Laurent. He did glance down at the stack of comics, Demon Detective, and there was a glimmer of pleasure in his expression.
    Laurent nodded wildly and then looked at Isaac. He didn’t move, because he couldn’t. Not until he knew it was okay.
    “Hey, Saint. Get your shit, and let’s go.”
    Laurent practically tripped over his own feet on his way back to his locker. Everyone was staring at him, but luckily Coach Ashford came in with his whistle and his ingratiatingly pleasant smile, and that was that.
    Usually the guys said shit to him on the ice during practice, but that wasn’t necessarily because they hated him. Suddenly they were a little less vicious during drills, though a lot of them just didn’t say anything at all.
    Cold shoulders were better than insults, weren’t they?
    After practice Isaac was going to give him a ride home. Laurent had not had a say in that, as Isaac had simply stated it as a fact. Laurent usually didn’t mind walking, and sometimes he took the bus and listened to his headphones and zoned out, but he didn’t argue with Isaac.
    After practice, though, Coach Samarin called him into his office. If that happened a few days earlier, he might have been hoping to be traded or kicked off the team. But he realized he didn’t necessarily want that anymore. And that wasn’t a good feeling. When Laurent wanted something, it was usually taken away to teach him a lesson—like the puppy he had as a child.
    Coach Samarin was as formidable as ever, but Laurent thought there was a hint of warmth in his dark eyes as he indicated Laurent should take a seat in front of his desk.
    He didn’t mince his