Slap Shot Read Online Free PDF Page A

the back of a net. And it wasn’t the sheer opulence of the room either. It was the sight of five hulking Viper players lounging on a low L-shaped couch in front of the TV that had taken every nerve in my body, twisted it and set it alight.
    My hand reached out to the granite to steady myself, my knees ridiculously weak. I didn’t need to see his face to know the captain was there. Just his tousled jet-black hair and the sheer width of his shoulders identified him to me.
    “Milk or cream?” Carly asked as though everything in the world was perfectly normal.
    “Er, milk please,” I said, my voice a whimpering squeak even to my own ears.
    “Ah, that ref is blind,” shouted Phoenix, banging a beer onto the wooden table in front of him. He was one of the Vipers’ longest standing players and when I’d seen him and his wife at Mae and Wolf’s wedding, she had been pregnant.
    “Yeah, he’s crap,” said another player I didn’t recognize, who had long, sleek raven-colored hair pulled into a low ponytail.
    “Yeah, at this rate the Islanders are gonna win.” The sound of Rick’s deep, rasping voice shot up the hairs on the back of my neck. It was as if they traitorously craved the feel of his breath breezing across them.
    “Then I’ll have to whoop that big, hairy loser’s ass again,” Rick went on. I watched his head tip back as he chugged on a beer.
    “Ah, we’ll soon take him out,” Brick said. “It would be well worth a trip to the sin bin to see him messed up.”
    Carly pushed a mug of coffee in front of me. “Sorry,” she said, making a face. “The Diggers are playing the Islanders today and Brick invited the guys around to watch the game.”
    “No, no, that’s fine,” I said, my mouth dry and my stomach somersaulting. Shit, I was in the same damn room as him. How the hell had that happened? I’d been so busy planning on how to avoid him at the party and now here he was, at the first damn meeting. Still at least he hadn’t seen me. He was too involved in the game. Perhaps if I quickly outlined the main aspects of the party I could slip out unnoticed and catch up with Carly over the phone. Better still, let Maddie run the whole damn thing.
    “So,” Carly was saying, “we’re holding the event here, that way there’s no problem with venues being unavailable.”
    I nodded and slid my butt onto a stool, angling my shoulders away from the noisy gaggle of hockey players.
    “And I was thinking of a theme, maybe Roman. I imagine everyone in costume, maybe togas, and with lots of fruit and champagne.”
    I nodded. That sounded simple enough to organize.
    “And maybe we could bring in a fountain. We don’t have one here, not even at the back by the pool.”
    I scribbled down, Roman/Togas/Fruit/Champagne/Fountains onto the first page of her file. “I don’t know what you think, Carly, but how about having the bar and wait staff dressed as gladiators?” I suggested in a quiet voice.
    “Oh, yes, that would be great.” Her eyes widened. “And I could dress up as an Empress and Brick as the Emperor. We could have crowns and everything.”
    “It would work well,” I said, though I did wonder if Brick would actually agree to an Emperor’s costume and a crown. I guessed Carly would have to use her womanly powers of persuasion for that one. “The Romans were great ones for parties,” I went on, “lots of overindulgence and wild entertainment.” But please don’t ask for lions , I prayed silently. I had enough to cope with being in the same room as my nemesis, and lions would tip my sanity over the edge.
    “I don’t think we’ll have lions, though,” Carly said. “I’ve never been a big cat lover. Those teeth and claws just give me the creeps.”
    Phew. “And would you like the invitations done in both English and Latin, with the dates in Roman numerals?” My mind was racing through all the standard questions.
    “Oh, yes, definitely, great idea, and what about chariots?”
    “Well