Read The Magic Broom for Free Online Page A

laughter.
“That’s probably the guys you’re here to meet,” Brady said.
His foot slipped, and he almost fell down the final four steps when he caught sight of four guys dressed in black pants and jackets that matched his outfit.
“Holy shit,” the first guy said, dropping the giant bag he was carrying. “Is that you, Cody?”
Cody squeaked and grabbed the banister. “Shane?”
Why the hell was Shane standing in front of him looking like his twin?
“So,” Pete said. “You’re the hotshot writer who’s reporting on the Olympic dreamers.”
“I guess so,” Cody said, sitting down when Jay held out a chair for him. Shane sat down next to him, pulling his chair closer so their thighs touched. The thunk of shoes dropping to the floor shifted Cody’s gaze as all the guys changed shoes. Now he and Shane really looked like twins, right down to the shoes.
Shane unzipped his bag and pulled out two of those weird brooms that had been in the hallway of his apartment. He handed one to Cody.
“What’s this for?” Cody asked. Derek snapped a picture.
“That’s your broom,” Shane said.
“Yes, I figured it was a broom,” Cody said.
There was a long explanation of how the broom was used in curling. It heated the ice and kept the rock straight. It kept the ice free of debris. Some people used it when they slid out of the hack. The skip used it to show his teammates where to throw the rock. Cody’s head was spinning. In his world, brooms were only used to sweep dirty floors.
“Did you know it was us you were interviewing?” Pete asked.
“No,” Cody said sternly. “Did you know it was me?”
Pete shook his head. “We hoped it was you, but Kira wouldn’t tell me a thing.”
Cody was hammering out a text message to Kira before Pete finished his sentence. He was going to kill her. She had no right to keep this information from him.
Heat flooded his body when a warm hand settled on his hand, prying his fingers off the phone before he could squeeze it to death. Shane muted the ringer and shoved Cody’s phone into his pocket.
“Come on, you can kill Kira later,” Shane said. “Let’s go have some fun.”
He made the mistake of looking straight into Shane’s dark brown eyes and knew that saying no would be impossible. Cody let Shane usher him toward the ice.
“Fun? I’m going to make a fool out of myself. This is the first time I’ve ever seen curling. I have these weird shoes on, and I just know I’m going to end up on my ass,” Cody said.
“I’ll keep your ass safe,” Shane whispered and winked at him. “I promise.”
Cody’s mouth dropped open, and he abruptly stopped. Robbie banged into him and gave him a shove through the open door.
“No backing out now,” Robbie said.
The chill of the air surrounded him, and he stood near the wall, watching as the guys flipped off those things on their shoes and jumped into the hack, pushed off, and slid all the way down to the other end of the ice in a very strange position.
“Holy shit,” Cody said. “I’m not that coordinated.”
“Come on, Cody. Step on the ice,” Derek said, grinning at him. He wanted to take that camera and beat it into the ice with his broom. Or maybe smash Derek to bits.
Shane skated or slid on his one shoe back down the ice, holding out his hand for Cody to take. This was a terrible idea. Shane helped him take the old man thingy off his shoe. The official name was a gripper. It sounded like something that should stay on Cody’s shoe when he was on the ice.
Instead of spikes on the bottom of his shoe, there were two circles that looked like they were made out of Teflon. Cody was positive they were slippery, because it was a wellknown fact that things did not stick to Teflon.
“When you have your gripper off, always step on the ice with your right foot,” Shane said.
“Okay,” Cody said. How in the hell was he supposed to remember all this shit?
It didn’t matter which foot he stepped on the ice with, he was still going to end