But Rigby was skating between me and the big defenseman. I couldn’t hear what the guy was saying over the hollering of the crowd, but whatever it was, he glared at me and slid away.

“You’re gonna get yourself thrown out of the game and penalized if you keep hitting dirty,” my former best friend grunted.

“Fuck off,” I growled, and he frowned at me but skated away. I wasn’t actually mad at him. I loved Rigby. I was man enough to admit that I was a jealous bastard, though. I’d wanted it to be me.

Nova was in the crowd somewhere with Julieta, who looked equally as hungover. I’d seen Nova after Rigby had debauched her on the Italian marble, and she’d looked better, but I’d still told her she didn’t need to come to the game if she didn’t want to. She’d just shaken her head, looking so fucking happy, and said she was rarely baby-free so she wanted to. I wanted her to as well. We had a week of away games coming up, and I wanted to get in as much Nova and Huey time as possible.

Dev had messaged to say that he was taking Huey straight home, after sending me several photos of Huey in his car seat at the head of the boardroom table for the weekly departmental meeting. It was probably unprofessional, but everyone was shit scared of Dev so no one would say anything.

She was out there wearing Rigby’s number on her back, and that made the jealousy rear its head again. I bodychecked one of the Washington forwards into the boards, skating away before he could start something.

I played hard and dirty, but in the end, we won 7-3, so when Coach Toons gave me the stink eye in the locker rooms, I knew he wouldn’t say anything. It was a messy defense strategy but it was still effective.

I showered for six hundred years in the locker room, hoping that I’d be able to skip the bullshit press box, though I doubted it. I was an old face in the IceCaps now, and the press always wanted to talk to me, no matter how badly I just wanted to flip them all off.

I scowled as I got redressed in my suit. Coach Toons waved a finger at me before I could storm into the conference room. “Not you tonight, Cooper. Engman, take his place. Cooper’s scowling mug will break the damn cameras.”

Rigby lifted his chin in agreement. “No worries, Coach.” He walked up to me and slapped me on the back. I resisted the urge to punch him in the face. “What’s wrong, Coop? You seem all pent up.”

I growled in the direction of my best friend, his shit-eating grin really getting on my nerves. First he got the girl, and now he got the fucking glory?