Luc could handle his own, especially if it meant that Tomko stayed away from Sam. After the puck flew out of play, the action was stopped and the players lined up and waited for the linesman to re-drop the puck. Tyler was taking the face-off, and Kris and Torin were on his wing.
Tyler hit the puck towards Detroit’s corner, then he chased after it while Detroit’s entire line scurried after him. That left Torin open in the middle of the ice, with a clear shot at the net. All he needed was the puck. Luc was trying to pay attention to what was happening, but he heard his name and turned to Detroit’s bench, only to see Tomko looking in the Renegades’ direction.
Tomko wasn’t blowing smoke, because the next shift out, he made a beeline for the corner when Sam was there. Sam’s head was down while he was fighting another Detroit player for the puck. Tomko took advantage of Sam’s vulnerable position and cross-checked him from behind.
“What is that asshole’s issue with Morris?” Luc yelled, as Sam went down to the ice.
Shaking his head, Sam got up on his own and skated to the bench. He appeared shaken, and Luc’s blood pressure was sky high. “He’s not even hitting him with hockey plays! He’s just being a douche and targeting him!”
“Stop your bitching and bring it to the ice, whiney loser!” Tomko yelled back.
The next shift, Tomko was going after Tyler, but was chirping at Sam, who was still on the bench. Luc was sure that Tomko’s only instruction tonight was to re-injure Sam. He wasn’t sure what anyone else thought, but Luc wasn’t going to let that happen.
Hopping onto the ice, Luc skated towards the puck. Stealing it from Detroit, he headed down the boards. As he went to the net, he heard a commotion behind him. The refs blew the whistle, stopping play, and hurried to the fight that was happening by the benches.
Tomko and Dash were tangled up. Both guys’ helmets were on the ice, along with their gloves. Dash’s shoulder pads were pulled to the outside of his jersey and Tomko’s eye was bleeding. But they were still upright and skating round and round as the fists were flying.
The refs obviously knew it was better to let these two fight it out than to try to break it up, and that’s just what they did. Only when the players were tired out did the linesmen separate them.
Luc watched the jumbotron to see what went down, and to try and figure out why Tomko was escorted off the ice and Dash sent into the penalty box. At first, he thought Tomko was going to be tended to for the gash over his eye. But then he saw the replay of Tomko jumping off the bench with one purpose, and that was going after Sam who was coming off the ice. He only got in one check and tried to take a swing, but Dash, who was already on the ice, grabbed Tomko and they started to fight.
Tomko was being charged with a fighting major. He was done for the night, and Dash was serving a penalty in the box.
The rest of the game was uneventful. All except for the new respect he had for Harrison Dash. Dash was exactly the muscle and grit this team needed, as well as being a very talented player. With Dom in net, the Renegades won the game 1–0. But Luc’s mind wasn’t on the game anymore. He wanted the hours to pass by quickly so he could be sitting at breakfast with Kassie, getting everything straightened out.
Luc took a sip of his freshly-poured coffee. Steamed wafted up from the cup. “Glad you agreed to meet me for breakfast. Kass, I felt really bad how we left things.” Holding a sugar packet between his finger and thumb, he nervously turned it end over end, trying to avoid her stare. He knew what he wanted to say, but it was harder to start than he thought.
Kassie swirled her spoon round and round in her coffee. She sighed and her eyes stayed on her cup. “I should be the one who feels bad, not you. Luc, I’m so sorry I left like that. That was unfair of me. What you must think…”
Luc dropped the sugar packet and took her hand. Her sad eyes met his. “Kassie, I don’t want you to feel bad. I just want you to be able to talk to me.”
“I want that, too. I don’t know what happened. We had such a nice evening together. But after you fell asleep, my mind kept going back to you and my brother fighting at practice.”
“And it bothered you?”
“Yes. I try to be my own person and not let my brother affect what I do, but he’s not only my brother. He’s your teammate. I have to live with the decisions that I make, but you have to deal with them daily as well. If your job is now more difficult to do because of this—us—then shouldn’t we think twice?”
“No.” There was no hesitation in his answer. “This is exactly why I wanted us to talk.”
Before he could say anything else, the waitress brought their breakfast.
“Okay,” the woman said, reciting the food on the plates. “I have a Western Omelet with home fries and toast, and a Belgian waffle with fresh strawberries, and a side of home fries.” She laid the plates before them and topped off their coffees before moving to the next table.
Luc looked down at his omelet. His stomach growled, while Kassie now concentrated on her plate, moving the strawberries evenly over her waffle.
Cutting a piece of omelet and popping it into his mouth, Luc set the pace. They could eat and talk.
“It isn’t fair for you to shoulder all this responsibility,” he said. “We are in this together.”
Kassie stabbed a strawberry with her fork, and pointed it at him. “Luc, this is your career we’re talking about.”
“You’re not going to ruin my career. Sweets, what is really bothering you? ’Cause we all know I can handle myself when it comes to Kaden, on or off the ice. And Coach isn’t going to trade me unless Tyler says something. And I don’t see that happening.” Tyler would be the last person to enforce no dating among the team.
“It’s just that I know my brother is being a real ass about everything.” Kassie cut a bite of waffle and ate it with her strawberry.
“Kassie, he’s your big brother. It’s normal that he’d think he needs to protect you. I get that. But as far as he and I go? We’re both big boys; we can handle our own crap. This will work itself out. I bet I’m not the first hockey player who noticed you. I’m just the first one you noticed back—am I right?”
Kassie nodded cautiously as she chewed.
“I’m sure there have been plenty of guys that he told to back off that you never knew about.” Luc had seen this before. He was never foolish enough to mess with a teammate’s sister, until now. Guys don’t take kindly to it. That’s why Kaden’s actions didn’t really affect him. It was expected. He just wished Kassie wasn’t so concerned about it.
“I wouldn’t doubt it. That was part of the reason for my no athletes rule. It was more like no hockey players rule, but a stupid lacrosse player kind of made me change it to all athletes.”
“Want to talk about that?” Luc asked as he inhaled his omelet.