Shot at Love: Renegades 8 (Renegades #8)
Melody Heck Gatto
CHAPTER ONE
Luc
“Yo! Rock-Star!” Luc heard one of the guys call when he took control of the puck in the Renegades’ practice rink.
Luc grinned. He was one of the young guns on the Pittsburgh Renegades, and the guys had dubbed him Rock-Star after hearing the music he usually blared from his sports car. Personally, he preferred to be called Puck-Star. But he’d take what he could get. And he’d accept Rock-Star, especially if it came from a pretty young lady’s mouth.
Like most of the rookies, he was full of himself and had a thing for the bunnies. He didn’t get a ton of playing time during games, but he was proving himself, and that was all that mattered. He’d been on the Renegades’ roster full-time the last two seasons, after having started out playing for the farm team. Things were really looking up for Luc.
He glanced over his shoulder to see his teammate and good friend, Sam Morris, wearing a red no-contact jersey.
“Marcella!” Sam called to Luc again “I’m open!”
“You just want it because no one can touch you as you go in to score!” Luc laughed, but he knew the red jersey was no joke. Sam was still recovering from a concussion he’d sustained last season. His being cleared to practice with the team was a good sign, even if he was wearing a no-contact jersey. The no-contact jersey was the universal sign that a guy could play, but no one was to hit into him. Players coming off an injury were the only ones who donned the red sweaters.
“Not like it matters,” Kaden O’Conner, one of their cocky goalies, chirped from the net. “Try your best, benders. You’re not going to get it by me!”
Luc slid the puck to Sam, then tried to get in Kaden’s way, but Sam’s shot wasn’t hard enough and bounced off Kaden’s leg pad. Luc snagged the biscuit before Kaden could, and he circled around the net. Kaden was doing some goofy move, being a clown and trying to protect his net. As soon as Luc had a clear angle to shoot, he hit a slapshot towards the goal, banking it off Kaden’s right leg pad so it ricocheted back into the corner of the net.
“Score! Hollah!” Luc pumped his fist in the air multiple times and skated around the net. “Hahaha, whipped you, O’Conner! Take that!”
“Shut up, dude. It was a fluke. I barely even tried to stop it.” Kaden muttered off excuses.
“Keep it moving, Luc. That’s enough celebrating. It’s practice, not overtime in the playoffs,” Coach Walker instructed. “Morris, head on down to the other end and work on one-timers with Sal, Brody, Jaxon, and Torin.”
Luc watched Sam skate toward the end of the rink. The two men had instantly clicked when Luc had first got called up to Pittsburgh. He was tight with the whole team, but it was different with Sam. They were more like brothers, which was why Luc worried about Sam being back on the ice after last season’s bad hit that had his friend suffering from post-concussion syndrome.
Kaden took a breather at the bench while Dom got ready in goal. “Yo, Luc! I see that your fan club is here this morning. What would you do without them to stroke your ego?” Dom said, before flipping his mask down in front of his face.
“Not sure he’d ever have to find out. There’s always some puck bunny here for him,” Torin said as he flicked a puck at the open net.
“I never have a problem getting my ego stroked,” Luc joked. He glanced at the group of girls gathered at the glass, all with his jersey on, signs for him in hands, and cameras poised taking photos and videos. He flashed a devilish smile specifically for their photo ops. But his gaze stayed in the rink, on the ice and on the puck. He wasn’t really smiling at them as much as he was smiling for them. They were groupies, and the ones who were over eighteen were puck bunnies.
A smile was harmless. Sometimes they held up signs wanting him to take a selfie with them. It was so high-school, but they were here to see him.
His agent had told him that catering to their fangirl moments sold merchandise. And his agent was all about the almighty dollar. What did it matter to Luc? He didn’t have a girlfriend, so there was no one to piss off. Drop a smile, a second of eye contact, no big deal. And once in a while, taking one of them up on their offer to inflate his ego in private never hurt anyone, either. It was a perk of the job.
Glancing over at them, he didn’t see any that sparked his interest; plus, none were old enough for any fun. “Looks like a slow day,” he grumbled with humor in his voice. Moving his attention to the ice, Luc stick-handled a puck as fast as he could without losing control of it, a little warm-up move that he’d learned from Tyler, and had since made his own.
“Yeah, maybe there’s no school today? Looks pretty young out there,” Dom mocked from behind his mask. “Better luck next time, Rock-Star.”
“Whatever, dude.” Then Luc looked up at the very young gathering of girls wearing his jersey and waving signs for him, and he smiled. Photo op number one.
Then he turned back to his teammates. “Ladies, are we going to play, or are we going to chat?” He balanced the puck on the end of his stick for a moment before tossing it up into the air and batting it down to the ice, right past Dom and into the back of the net.
“Nice. Too bad this is hockey and not baseball; then you might be a star,” Sal, the assistant coach, teased Luc.
“Oh, he’s already a star in his own mind,” Dom countered.
“Look who’s talking. It wasn’t too long ago that you were known more for your off-the-ice conquests rather than on. I’m not wrong, am I?” Luc was slowly getting annoyed. He wasn’t nearly as bad as they made it seem.
Dom nodded, his face still shaded by his mask. “Maybe. Until I found Hailee again. Now I have no need for bunnies; I have the best girl in the world.”
“Oh, my god! Blah, blah, blah. You and that mushy shit!” Luc growled. Dom had become a lovesick fool since getting back with Hailee, and it was fun to razz him about it.
“Listen here, kiddo, you’ll learn. As soon as you meet that one girl who changes the world as you know it.” Dom slid towards the goalpost to stop a shot by Kris, but had to change his position quickly, and he lunged to the other side when Tyler sniped one right by him. Dom only missed stopping it by a hair.
“Dammit!” Dom cursed out loud.
“BOOM!” Tyler Kidd exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air.
Coach Walker blew the whistle. That meant they had to change sides. Luc would be shooting at Kaden again. Kaden O’Conner was one half of their talented goalie tandem. He was also the class clown, the jokester of the group. He liked talking smack and playing pranks.