Read Online Hat Trick (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) by Lynn Tyler - Free Book Online Page A

players from the crowd, but Jeremy swore he was about a breath away from jumping into the crowd and pummeling the man. Luckily, the coach had complained, and security had finally told the irate Sens fan to shut up and behave or be escorted off the premises.
    The buzzer sounded the end of the second period, and Jeremy trudged into the locker room with the rest of his team.
    “What the fuck is up with you guys?” the coach shouted, the vein pounding in his temple a testament to how pissed off the guy really was.
    Jeremy wondered briefly if the man was about to have a stroke when he said something that caught his attention. “What?” Jeremy asked with confusion.
    The coach practically growled at him. If he’d bared his teeth, Jeremy would have backed up. It really was a miracle the man hadn’t dropped dead from stress. “We need to switch things up, keep those bastards on their toes. Reiner, you are now on Vaughan’s line. Don’t fuck up.”
    Jeremy stood as still as he could, stunned that he’d just been moved up to the first string. It would mean an increase in his ice time even though he was playing like shit. Worse than shit, actually.
    The coach finished yelling at the rest of the team to man up before walking right up to him. Grabbing Jeremy’s chinstrap, the coach dragged him closer and got right in his face. “I know what’s fucking with your mind. It’s that damn gossip column. Leave it behind and keep your stick on the ice, Reiner. I know you can perform, and we’re about to show that to every one of those goddamn doubters. Now get out there and don’t make me look like a fucking idiot for moving you up.” Without another word, he turned and slammed his way out of the room.
    The coach’s idea of a pep talk might have been riddled with curse words and somewhat convoluted, but it worked. The adrenaline that flowed through Jeremy had nothing to do with the nerves that had been plaguing him since the column had come out six days ago. Clean, pure energy flowed through him, and he found himself practically bouncing with the anticipation of getting back on the ice. This was their game. It didn’t matter how far back they were, things were about to turn around. He could just feel it.
    His teammates swarmed around the room, stopping when Nathan stood up and raised his voice. “All right, men. I think what the coach meant was to get out there and just do our jobs. We’re the best at what we do. Let’s show them and all those Sens fans why we are so damn good.”
    Jeremy watched as his roommate, the man he shared a woman with, bumped knuckles with the other guys as they made their way out of the locker room and back to the arena. Finally it was just the two of them left to bring up the rear. Nathan didn’t say anything about how shitty Jeremy had been playing. He didn’t say anything about the gossip column. He simply placed his gloved hands on Jeremy’s shoulders and pulled him forward until their foreheads were resting together. “I believe in you, Jer. Let’s go do this.”
    Fifteen minutes and two goals later, they were halfway through the last period. His skates moved smoothly over the ice as he shot toward the opposite end of the rink on a breakaway, determined to score the goal they needed to tie things up. He could feel the body bearing down on his right side and braced himself for the impact even as he shot the puck toward the crease. He had just a moment to watch the puck fly past the goalie’s outstretched glove and into the net before an enormous weight plowed into him.
    He dropped his stick and allowed himself to go limp as he fell, lessening the impact of landing on the hard ice. The whistle blew, and Jeremy glanced up to see the goal counted as good before whooping gleefully. The defenseman on top of him growled out a curse and shoved Jeremy’s head down with his hand, grinding his face into the ice as he pushed upright. A hot bubble of temper welled up inside of him, but he battled it