Playing the Field: Faceoff

By J.M. Snyder

Christian "Magic" Magdziuk is a minor league hockey player with dreams of heading to the NHL someday, and he'll do whatever it takes to make that dream come true. So he only plays with the Richmond Rebels for one short season before he asks to be traded to the Bedford Blizzard, a farm team for the American Hockey League where he might get a little more notice from scouts.

His attitude on the ice left him few friends among the Rebels ... that is, until teammate Ronnie took a liking to him. One thing led to another and the two men became lovers during the time Christian played with the team. But when he transferred to the Blizzard, he left the Rebels -- and Ronnie -- behind.

Now it's the first game of a new season, and he's facing off against his former teammates in the season opener. But does something still smolder between Christian and Ronnie after all this time?

• Language: English
• Publisher: JMS Books LLC
• Release date: Dec 12, 2010
• ISBN: 9781611520392

J.M. Snyder

An author of gay erotic romance, J.M. Snyder began self-publishing gay erotic fiction in 2002. Since then, Snyder has worked with several e-publishers, most notably Amber Allure Press and eXcessica Publishing.Snyder’s short fiction has appeared online at Ruthie’s Club, Tit-Elation, Eros Monthly, and Amazon Shorts, as well as in anthologies released by Alyson Books, Cleis Press, and others.For more book excerpts, free fiction, and purchasing information, please visit http://jmsnyder.net.

Book preview

Playing the Field: Faceoff

By J.M. Snyder

Published by JMS Books LLC

This story is included in the print book

Playing the Field Volume I by J.M. Snyder.

Visit jms-books.com for more information.

Copyright 2009 J.M. Snyder

ISBN 978-1-61152-039-2

Cover Credits: Dmitriy Shironosov

Used under a Standard Royalty-Free License.

Cover Design: J.M. Snyder

All rights reserved.

WARNING: This book is not transferable. It is for your own personal use. If it is sold, shared, or given away, it is an infringement of the copyright of this work and violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher, with the exception of brief excerpts used for the purposes of review.

This book is for ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. It contains substantial sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which may be considered offensive by some readers. Please store your files where they cannot be accessed by minors.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are solely the product of the author’s imagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Published in the United States of America.

NOTE: This story was originally published by Amber Allure Press.

* * * *

Playing the Field: Faceoff

By J.M. Snyder

The hockey puck slides easily into the goal, setting off both the strobe light behind the goalie and the meager crowd that goes wild as Christian Magdziuk skids to a stop on the ice. The game isn’t thirty seconds old and already he’s put the Bedford Blizzard on the board. As the sirens wail around him, the announcer plays a rousing chorus of Who Let the Dogs Out to get the crowd rocking. What a play! a faceless voice calls out over the ice. Looks like the Magic is back in R-R-R-R-Richmond!

Christian raises his hockey stick in triumph, but the fanfare dies down quickly. He is on the visiting team, after all. The momentum of his shot has carried him around the back of the goal—on the other side, his teammate, Gordon Burle, barrels into him. Beneath his face mask, Burle is beaming. Great shot! he yells.

With a quick grin, Christian skates for the players’ bench. His team is lined up, hands out, to congratulate him. As he skates down the line, slapping hands with each in turn, he risks a glance behind him at the opposing team’s players. The Richmond Rebels, Christian’s former teammates, glare at him from across the ice. Only one man doesn’t watch him, and no matter how hard Christian stares at his old friend, Rebel Ronnie Niedermeyer never bothers to look his way.

Burle bumps into Christian, propelling him away from the box and back out onto the ice. Positions, he hollers to corral the rest of the team. We still have another minute or so on the ice.

As Christian glides to a stop in the center of the rink, he glances over at Ronnie, whose dark, shaggy hair has been brusquely pushed back out of his ice-blue eyes. Twin spots of color dot his cheeks, either from the cold coming in off the rink or from some heated emotion, Christian doesn’t know. His old friend’s chin rests in one large hand, and his forefinger is caught between ruddy lips as he gnaws on his nail. He’s studiously watching the goalie anchor the net back into place, and ignores Christian.

Look at me, Christian wants to say. It’s only been a few scant months since he left the Rebels. Do his former teammates still hold against him the trade that sent him to the Blizzard? Does Ronnie hate him now, after all they had been to each other?

Behind him, the referee blows a whistle to call