Off The Ice

OFF THE ICE Chesterford Coyotes 1 RJ SCOTT V.L. LOCEY Contents Off the Ice Off The Ice Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Epilogue What’s next for the Chesterford Coyotes? Hockey from Scott & Locey Meet RJ Scott Meet V.L. Locey Copyright Off the Ice (Chesterford Coyotes 1) A Young Adult Hockey Romance Copyright © 2023 RJ Scott, Copyright © 2023 V.L. Locey Cover design by Sarah Chreene, Edited by Sue Laybourn Published by Love Lane Books Limited ISBN - 9781785644269 All Rights Reserved This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission. This book cannot be copied in any format, sold, or otherwise transferred from your computer to another through upload to a file sharing peer-to-peer program, for free or for a fee. Such action is illegal and in violation of Copyright Law. All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Off the Ice A coming-of-age love story with high school, hockey rivalry, friendship, family, and coming out. Soren’s world changes in an instant when he and his younger brother are adopted by hockey royalty. Making sense of his new life is hard enough, but when he’s enrolled in a private school it means facing a whole new set of problems. Navigating friendship, family, and hockey is one thing, but being attracted to the boy who vexes him is a whole new level. Felix has a reputation to protect. He's the kid who seems to have everything but looks can be deceiving. Spinning lies about his perfect life, he’s created a fantasy world that even he has started to believe. Only, it’s not long before everything crumbles, all of his pretty lies are revealed, and only his closest rival sees through his pain and stands by him. Fighting is easy, friendship is hard, but love is everything. Dedication To my family who accepts me and all my foibles and quirks. Even the plastic banana in my holster. VL Locey * * * Always for my family. RJ Scott Contents Off the Ice Off The Ice Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Epilogue What’s next for the Chesterford Coyotes? Hockey from Scott & Locey Meet RJ Scott Meet V.L. Locey Chapter One Soren “… a good summer where you enjoyed yourselves and, yet, practiced and worked out as much as possible. Welcome to the JV Hockey squad, which is a responsibility to not only yourself, but to your family and, perhaps biggest of all, to Chesterford Academy.” Coach Sennett paused as he scanned the room. I’d heard a similar speech to this last year, only then, it had been me as a newbie, unsure of my place in the world, let alone the team. “Remember that what you accomplish on the ice, here, follows you through the rest of your lives. What you strive for academically, also will. We’ve lost some of our seniors, but we’ve picked up some new faces, and we’ll work hard to come together as a team first, then, we’ll click as the champions I know we can be. Go Coyotes!” “Go Coyotes!” We all shouted and clapped for Coach’s speech. Everyone respected our coach because he was a good guy, warm and open to all his players. He’d played in the AHL for seventeen years, then took this position after he retired, and his word was law. When he and the other coaches—both volunteers—as well as Mr. Holley, our hockey director, left the locker room, we all looked at each other. Coach was right, there were new faces. Some freshmen who’d managed to fill the open slots on the team, but there were more sophomores—like me—and it was on the older guys to help the younger ones. Shaun Stanton stood up and addressed the room from the lofty position of being the best player on the team from last year. “Okay, Connor Clooney, our previous captain, is now on the varsity team, so we’re going to need to think and vote on a new captain. Voting will run through the next two weeks, so think hard on who you feel will fill the role best.” He smiled at the newbies. “I know you freshmen don’t know us well, but we’re all amazing, smart, and incredibly handsome.” We all chuckled. It was obviously true, but we all knew we’d be voting to make Shaun our new captain. “You’ll get to know us better over the course of our practices leading up to the season opener against the Altoona Hawks.” We all booed at the name of one of our competitors. The freshmen joined in, and we were already bonding. Coach would be so proud. Smiling at the bullshit Shaun was tossing out, I scanned the room, happy to be back for another season. I enjoyed the sport, and while some people thought I was for sure aiming to be a pro player, given one of my adoptive fathers —Tennant Madsen-Rowe—was a generational phenom and skated for the Harrisburg Railers; not to mention my other dad—Jared Madsen-Rowe—was a coach for the Railers and played at the NHL level; I wasn’t sure that was what I wanted to do with my life. I really enjoyed working with kids, so maybe a counselor? I knew what it was like to come up through the system before being lucky enough to get adopted. Still, I had time to figure it out. As my one dad, Jared, said: “There’s