Page 90 of Back in the Game (Pride in the Game #1)

Harrison

“Stay where you are, Snow.”

The big guy had no fucks to give as he pushed past Bracken, ignoring his warning, and slid to a stop before Jett.

The guy was handsome with his sharp jawline and ice-blue eyes, framed by dark lashes.

From what Harrison remembered, Snow had white-blond hair when he was a rookie, but he’d dyed it white to match his last name.

Jett pushed himself onto his skates and looked up, cranking his head far back to meet Snow’s eyes. “Can I help you?”

Harrison grinned at the bratty tone in his fiancée’s voice. Only Jett would stare down one of the biggest players in the NHL like he was a misbehaving puppy.

“It’s been fun playing against you,” Snow said, his voice deep and pleasant. “You’re a badass, Fraser. I mean that.”

Wolf, who had been on his way to start a fight, stopped and frowned at Bracken when he was held back.

It looked like Snow was going to live to see another day.

“You waited until today to say that?” Jett gave the giant man a tap on the chest with his stick. “But yeah, may the best team win.”

When Snow smiled, he appeared less intimidating. He clapped Jett on the arm, nearly taking him off his skates.

“Gusty! Get your dumb ass back over here! ”

That was the captain of the Bigfoots, Eren Callahan. He was standing on the red line, waving his arms, his brows furrowed as he gestured to his alternate captain.

Callahan had the boy-next-door vibes down pat and a sunny personality that could rival Jett’s. Harrison saw clips of him and his family on social media often—he had two little girls who were so cute they tugged heartstrings all over Canada.

Snow gave them apologies as he skated back to his side of the ice, dodging a smack to his head from his captain.

“Why are you like this? You can be such an asshole, and then go and do something like that .”

Harrison lost the rest of the conversation when they drifted out of listening range.

“Fuck, he’s a big bastard,” said Bracken, tapping his stick on the ice.

“You know what they say about big guys,” said Wolf, grinning.

Powers jumped to his feet, excited to have the answer. “Use lots of lube?”

Cote spat his drink out, splattering Harrison’s pants.

“Jace!” Bracken groaned and smacked his head against his stick. “No more hanging out with Jett’s group. They’re a bad influence.”

Cote was still coughing, which caused Jett to fight back laughter as he skated away to take his practice shots.

“The bigger they are, harder they fall,” said Wolf, finishing his sentence with a smile. “But I like Jason’s version better.”

When the clock ran out and they returned to the locker room to wait for the game to start, there were no long speeches or fooling around. Every player in the room was in the zone and ready to win, and Harrison was impressed by the weight of their focus.

“You know what to do,” Harrison told them. “Let’s get out there and get the fucking job done. The clock is almost out of time. There’s no next game. No do-overs. This is it.”

It was nothing overly inspirational, but it fed the flames burning inside everyone in the room. The Sunbursts touched the ice with the force of a storm and gave every Toronto fan in the building a show they would never forget .

The crowd was deafening, the plays were breathtaking, and Harrison was mesmerized by every shot and every defensive play.

He tried to watch the team as a whole, but he couldn’t keep his eyes off the golden figure racing up and down the ice like he owned every inch of it.

Jett had said Harrison was born to play hockey, and that may have been true, but he couldn’t help but feel the same way about the man he loved. Watching him in his element, sweat-soaked and beautiful, Harrison could feel that life-changing stir Jett had spoken of during Christmas.

And when Jett scored the final goal with five seconds left on the clock for the one-point lead, tears welled in his eyes that he quickly had to wipe away.

The last buzzer rang, and the world erupted into chaos and celebration. Jett tugged the pendant from under his shirt and kissed the metal, nearly losing his grip on it when every Sunburst player leapt off the bench and hit the ice to tackle him.

Harrison was still wiping tears away when Jett broke free—now missing his helmet—and sprinted to the bench.

Grinning, Harrison climbed over the bench and stopped at the wall, his arms open so Jett could fall into them. The cheering was so loud that their words were lost in the commotion, but he got the message when Jett dragged him in for a scorching kiss.

The volume of the crowd grew louder, and Jett smiled against his lips. His golden eyes were saying Told you I’d win that cup , and Harrison laughed.

Jett was dragged away by his teammates, shoving him to the place where the Stanley Cup was being offered to them on the red carpet. Bracken shoved Jett forward to be the first one to take it, not giving him a choice to refuse.

And when Jett lifted the cup and met his gaze from across the ice, Harrison knew without a doubt that this was his forever.