BTU Alumni #4
Puck Performance
BTU Alumni Series Book #4
Alley Ciz
Also by Alley Ciz
BTU Alumni Series
Power Play (Jake and Jordan)
Tap Out (Gage and Rocky)
Sweet Victory (Vince and Holly)
Puck Performance (Jase and Melody)
BTU5- Coming June 2020
U of J Series
U of J 1- Coming September 2020
U of J 2- Coming October 2020
U of J 3- Coming November 2020
All’s fair in love and potatoes
Melody Brightly
Broadway Star.
Pink hair.
A smile that hits me harder than a slap shot.
Terrible taste in hockey teams.
Full of secrets.
The one woman I fail to defend my heart against
Jase Donnelly
Defenseman.
Charming.
Sexy as puck.
Makes my hormones give a standing ovation.
The one guy I can never be with, but can’t stay away from.
Our sexy as puck hero may have helped name The Coven but he’s about to meet his match in PUCK PERFORMANCE—BTU Alumni #4. He might exaggerate so much he’ll end up in the sin bin and there’s a chance she’ll burst into song, but they’ll have you laughing and speaking in shouty capitals. No potatoes were harmed in this HEA-guaranteed interconnected stand-alone.
Puck Performance (BTU Alumni, Book 4)
Alley Ciz
Copyright © 2020 by House of Crazy Publishing, LLC
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, medium and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
Copyright © 2020 by House of Crazy Publishing, LLC
All rights reserved.
Without limiting the rights under the copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-950884-07-0
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-950884-06-3
Cover Designer: Julia Cabrera at Jersey Girl Designs
Editing: Jessica Snyder Edits, C. Marie
Proofreading: Gem’s Precise Proofreads; Dawn Black
Created with Vellum
For Sean Hanna,
You were one of my favorite people to watch on stage. I miss you everyday.
Author Note
Dear Reader,
Puck Performance can be read as a stand-alone but it is interconnected in the BTU Alumni world. You do not need to read Power Play, Tap Out, or Sweet Victory first but they might help you keep track of the crazy cast of characters as large as The Coven and their guys.
For those of you coming into Puck Performance AKA BTU4 from the BTU Alumni world, this book starts off at the same time as Sweet Victory.
Either way I hope you enjoy Jase and Melody’s story.
Crank up the show tunes and jump on in.
XOXO
Alley
Text Handles
Melody: BROADWAY BABY
Zoey: DANCING QUEEN
Ella: FIDDLER ON THE ROOF
The Coven
Rocky: ALPHABET SOUP
Jordan: MOTHER OF DRAGONS
Skye: MAKES BOYS CRY
Maddey: QUEEN OF SMUT
Becky: YOU KNOW YOU WANNA
Gemma: PROTEIN PRINCESS
Beth: THE OG PITA
Holly: SANTA’S COOKIE SUPPLIER
The Boys
Jase: THE BIG HAMMER
Cali: HOLLYWOOD
Vince: DAUNTLESS SUPERMAN
Lyle: MR. FABULOUS
Jake: THE BRICK WALL
Deck: BIG DECK
Ryan: CAPTAIN AMERICA
Nick: THE BOONDOCK SAINT
Damon: THE GREEN MONSTER
Justin: THE SEAL DEAL
Gage: THE KRAKEN
Wyatt: HUGE HOSE
Griff: THE FEROCIOUS TEDDY BEAR
Ray: JUST RAY
Tuck: WANNA TUCK
Jamie: ROCKSTAR MAN
Sammy: THE SPIN DOCTOR
IG Handles
Jase: EnforcedByJaseDonnelly13
Nate Bishop: BadAssBishop13
Jordan: TheMrsDonovan
Playlist
*
Gypsy: Rose’s Turn
Lauren Hill: Doo Wop (That Thing)
Glee Cast: Broadway Baby
The Lonely Island: Dick In A Box
Mama Mia!: Mama Mia
Wicked: Defying Gravity
Hairspray: I Can Hear The Bells
Hamilton: The Reynolds Pamphlet
Gene Kelly: Singing’ In The Rain
Rent: Light My Candle
Cinderella: In My Own Little Corner
One Direction: If I Could Fly
Wicked: No One Mourns The Wicked
Chicago: Razzle Dazzle
Spring Awakening: Totally Fucked
Hamilton: Say No To This
Chicago: When You’re Good To Mama
Rent: Out Tonight
Hamilton: Satisfied
Billy Joel: Piano Man
SMASH Cast: That’s Life
Queen: Bohemian Rhapsody
Christina Aguilera: Beautiful
Chicago: Cell Block Tango
Hairspray: You Can’t Stop The Beat
West Side Story: The Rumble
Grease: Hopelessly Devoted To You
Hamilton: Ten Duel Commandments
Hailee Steinfeld: Love Myself
Beyonce: Best Thing I Never Had
Hamilton: My Shot
SMASH Cast: Let Me Be Your Star
Christina Aguilera: You Lost Me
SMASH Cast: Don’t Forget Me
The Star Spangled Banner
The Sound of Music: I Have Confidence
Hairspray: Without Love
Queen: We Are The Champions
Available on Spotify
Contents
BTU Alumni #4
Also by Alley Ciz
Blurb
Author Note
Text Handles
Playlist
Prologue
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
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
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Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Epilogue 1
Epilogue 2
Epilogue 3- Justin
Randomness For My Readers
For A Good Time Call
Acknowledgments
Also by Alley Ciz
About the Author
Prologue
Jase
Mid-November
The smell of the ice.
The scrape of skates.
The roar of eighteen thousand fans pushes at my back as I dig past the burn in my thighs and chase the puck into the corner, slamming my body against Fallon, a winger from Boston, for possession. With two periods of hockey almost over and the score still tied at zero, neither team wants to be the first to give up a goal. I’ll be a monkey’s uncle if it’s us.
I hate losing. Sure, it’s part of the game, but no athlete worth their salt likes to lose. On top of that, when we play Boston, it’s my personal mission to make sure we end up with the higher number on the scoreboard at the end of the night.
I angle my body down, my shoulder digging into Fallon’s armpit as our sticks slap for control of the vulcanized rubber.
Bam!
I’m slammed into the boards.
“Fuck you, Donnelly.” Nate Bishop, my counterpart on the Bruisers, rams me again.
Rotating the carbon fiber stick in my gloves, I shift the blade nose down, hooking over the edge of the puck, and send it flying back to where Chris Callahan is waiting for my pass like I knew he would be.
With a final shove, I free myself from Fallon and Bishop, shooting a fuck you right back look at the latter, and haul ass down the ice to help create a scoring opportunity before the buzzer sounds.
Except for the goalies, the other ten of us on the ice are playing like we’re back in Mighty Mite days. The electronic sound of the buzzer fills the Garden, calling an end to the second period without either team putting the biscuit in the basket.
My lungs heave and my legs feel like overcooked fettuccine—my boy Vince doesn’t let us use that skinny-ass spaghetti in reference to our big man muscles—as my two dozen teammates and I trek across the rubber-matted floor to the locker room. We have seventeen minutes to regroup and shore up our energy reserves for the last twenty minutes of regulation play.
We may only be a month and a half into the season, but rivalry games have a way of making it feel like Game 7 of the Stanley Cup.
And yes, I know the New Jersey Blizzards are technically our rival, but beating the Boston Bruisers is a personal endeavor.
Fucking Nate Bishop!
“You good, man?” Callahan asks when I chuck my helmet into my locker.
“Yeah, Cali.” I inhale deeply in an effort to rein in my emotions.
“Bishop?” There’s zero judgment in his tone, only understanding.
“Bishop.” I nod.
My archenemy, the Joker to my Batman, the Lex Luther to my Superman—and dammit, this is what happens when I spend too much time with Vince.
Bishop may be a top defender in the league, but I detest the guy. There are very few people I don’t like in this world.
Actually…there are only two on my shit list: Tommy Bradford, my twin sister’s violent douchecanoe of an ex-boyfriend, and UFC fighter Curtis ‘The Cutter’ Cutler, but that’s a story for another time.
The important thing is, both asshats are extreme cases of douchebaggery. So how, you might ask, did Nate Bishop get himself added to the list of world’s biggest twat waffles? The answer is long and complicated, but the CliffsNotes version is he crossed a line.
Hell, he didn’t just cross it—he skated past it like he was running blue line drills.
And, shit, thinking of Bastard Bishop has me more tense than the suspension cables holding up the Brooklyn Bridge.
I pull my jersey and chest protector over my head, sending them the same way as my helmet, and reach inside my locker for my phone. Only the comic relief my people can provide will be enough to rid me of my negative thoughts.
DAUNTLESS SUPERMAN (Vince): Bro, looking a little slow out there. Did you not eat your Wheaties this morning? Gotta up your nutrition game.
THE BIG HAMMER (Me): Careful, Creed. I’ll tell Gem you’re insulting her food.
DAUNTLESS SUPERMAN: Shiiiiit. Don’t do that, man. The Coven already owns my ass since I’m in training camp. I DO NOT need anything else to set them off.
I snort at the ridiculous but accurate statement from my best friend. The two of us came up with the nickname for our sisters and their closest female friends back in our BTU days. Even all these years after we graduated, the name still fits them to a T.
I swear, there aren’t enough fingers and toes in this locker room to count the number of times I’ve let those ladies tell me what to do.
Speaking of the Covenettes, Vince wasn’t the only one to text me.
MOTHER OF DRAGONS: Listen, I love you and all, and some days I even consider you my favorite brother, but could you maybe spend a little less time in the sin bin and a little more time out on the ice? I don’t know if you know this or not, but you are one of the top scoring defensemen in the NHL. That said, you CAN’T light the lamp if you’re sitting in timeout like your nieces. Now stop trying to LITERALLY kick some Bruiser ass and go win the game. Please and thank you.
I laugh out loud, causing the teammates near me to turn my way.
“Jordan?” Cali asks, well versed in the stuff my twin texts me during games.
“You know it.”
THE BIG HAMMER: *GIF of Anna Kendrick saluting*
MOTHER OF DRAGONS: Idiot. Love you anyway though.
THE BIG HAMMER: Love you too, wombmate
MOTHER OF DRAGONS: *kissy face emoji* *fist emoji*
THE BIG HAMMER: *fist emoji*
She’s done this all our lives, sensing when I’m spiraling—because yes the two of us share ESP and yes it is real and we love that it drives our older brother Ryan nuts—and knowing exactly what to say to reset me.
I screenshot our exchange and pull up my Instagram.
*screenshot of text exchange with Jordan*
EnforcedByJaseDonnelly13 Pep talks from your other half are the best. I’m coming for you @BadAssBishop13
#TheBestDefenseman #NYStorm #GoStorm
#WeatherWarning #AStormIsBrewing #TakeNotes
I’m ready.
Ten minutes until the start of the third.
Let’s do this.
* * *
Melody
I sip my beer—probably not the best idea to be on my third of the night—as the sold-out crowd waits for the NY Storm and the Boston Bruisers to take the ice for the third period.
The beer—plus all the screaming I’ve been doing—will not have my throat thanking me when I have to perform tomorrow, but I need it if I’m going to survive this nail-biter of a game.
I’ll probably have to go on vocal rest to have a voice for both my shows, but it’s totally worth it. Other than getting to live my dream of singing and dancing across the Broadway stage, hockey is the thing I’m most passionate about, although I don’t get to take in as many games as I would like.
Aside from Mondays when my current show is dark, most of my evenings are booked. Performing eight shows a week leaves very little down time, but you won’t hear a complaint from me. Broadway has been my dream since
kindergarten, and I am blessed to be able to live it.
Tonight, instead of donning the waitress uniform of my character, I’m rocking the black and gold of my Bruisers jersey. Unlike my two Storm fan best friends, Ella and Zoey, I’m one of only a small cluster of people repping the colors of the home team’s rival.
Thank god for my ah-may-zing agent and the stipulation she worked into my contract for me to have the night off whenever the Bruisers are in town.
Music booms through the arena, and both teams make their way out of the tunnels and onto the ice for warm-ups.
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