Page 38

THIRTY-SEVEN

willa

“Sorry! I swear I’m not usually late,” I say, taking my seat next to Maggie. Considering this is the second time I’ve been late meeting her at a game, we both know I’m lying.

She laughs me off. “You didn’t miss anything yet. They’re still warming up.”

“I know, but I wanted to see Declan before the game and introduce you to my niece.”

Gideon skates in front of us and holds up a paper that says, “Operation Claim the Prince” on it.

“What the hell?” I ask. Maggie’s eyes are wide as she nods. Then she looks around until she finds whatever it is she wanted and glares at it. I follow her line of sight and groan. “Why is she here? I just wanted to watch Dec annihilate the team that tried to cripple him while drinking a beer with my friend.”

Maggie turns to me and grabs my hand. “Pretend she isn’t here.” She bites her lip nervously.

“What? What was that operation thing about?”

“Giddy and I came up with a plan when all this came out this week. You’re just going to have to trust me.”

I narrow my eyes at her but decide I do trust her. “Fine. I trust you, but if it’s something embarrassing, I’ll cook for you and guilt you into eating it.”

Maggie looks horrified. As she should. Cal told her all about how terrible I am at cooking when we were at the last game together.

We settle in and watch the game. Declan skates up to me whenever he can. The worried look on his face kills me. He clearly knows Bethany is here and the cameramen seem to keep trying to get him looking at her, but he never does. If his eyes are anywhere other than the puck, they’re on me or Cora. He’s been waving to her whenever he can, and I know she’s loving it.

“I love you,” I mouth to him. The first period just ended with the score at one to zero. Gideon scored the only goal.

“I love you too,” he mouths back. He’s about to skate off when a carpet is rolled out and the announcer asks for everyone’s attention. Dec turns around, confusion marring his face. I turn to look at Maggie, who seems equally confused when Anderson Sinclair walks out onto the carpeted ice.

“Hello, New York. I’m Anderson Sinclair, owner of the Boston Bruisers,” he says into a microphone. He gets a good mixture of cheers and boos. “I have a player on my team being targeted by the daughter of another owner. You may have seen it in what my mother likes to refer to as the trashies, or tabloids, if you’d like.” The arena quiets down, either in confusion or interest. “As a favor for not reporting your team after the way you played against us last time and getting you thrown out of Stanley Cup contention, I’ve been allowed to show you a video his teammates made for him.”

The lights dim, and Gideon’s face lights up the jumbotron. “Declan and Willa are close friends of my wife, Maggie, and myself. Willa might know hockey better than a lot of hockey players, and she has no problem telling Dec when he messes up,” he laughs. I probably would laugh along with him if I wasn’t so dumbstruck. “They’re the most supportive couple I’ve ever met. She’s busy being a multi-platinum artist, yet she always watches his games and comes to as many as she can. He’s busy getting us the cup, but he calls her the moment he can to check how her show went.”

Gideon’s voice continues while pictures of Declan and me flash across the screen. Some of them I recognize as ones Ben took, including the one of me in Declan’s arms in the parking lot of the training center. The pictures fade into a video of Martinez.

“The first time I met Willa and Declan, I told him his wife was,” he pauses like he’s searching for the right word. “Hot.” I snort, knowing what was actually said. “He had me up against a wall for disrespecting her like that. I knew we’d be best friends right then and there.” He talks about moments he noticed as more pictures flash across the screen. These are ones I don’t recognize. Pictures the guys must have taken in the locker room. There’s even a bunch of Dec on FaceTime with me in his hotel room.

“Willa is like a sister to me.” I gasp when I see Cal’s face on the screen next. “Declan quickly became a brother to me, and my daughter’s favorite uncle.” Unlike the nice stories from the Bruisers, you can see the anger in Cal’s face. “I don’t take threats to my family lightly. Willa is family. Declan is family.” Instead of flashes of pictures across the screen with a voiceover, a video of Declan and me on Christmas greets the crowd. We’re snuggling in our Christmas PJs while everyone opens gifts. I turn to look at him after Cora squeals her excitement over the hockey stick he got her. Even I can see how in love with him I am at that moment.

The next video is of me watching one of Declan’s games and screaming at the screen, then immediately texting him about something. I laugh. I know this one. Harlow took it because she thought I looked crazy.

She’s not wrong now that I’m watching it on such a huge screen.

Then I hear my voice even though the screen is black. “I love you, baby.”

Declan’s voice comes through right after. “I love you, too, Princess.”

Everything fades and the lights come on, but then I hear another voice and notice there’s a video playing. The arena goes dark again, and Bethany is on the screen.

“I don’t care what you have to do! Drug him if you have to, but you will get him into my hotel room after the game tonight!”

“You want me to drug Declan Monroe and get him to your hotel room? He’s the size of a horse. I don’t have a fucking horse tranquilizer, Bethany. And how the fuck would I get him out of the arena and into the hotel with no one noticing?” I can’t see who the man is that’s speaking, and his voice is distorted, but it’s clearly Bethany on the screen plotting to drug my husband.

I’m out of my seat, but Maggie grabs my hand. “Wait. I don’t think it’s over.”

“Then just drug him and get him into a janitor’s closet or something,” she huffs.

“What are you going to do with him?”

“I have someone who is going to walk in on us and take pictures of him naked with me. Then he’ll have to be mine. Daddy will make sure of it.” Bethany smiles like a psychopath.

The video stops and the lights go back on. I’m trying to get out of Maggie’s surprisingly strong grip so I can rip Bethany’s head off her shoulders and use it as a puck.

“Oh dear, how did that get in there?” Sinclair says; the edges of his mouth twitching. “Officers, I do believe you have a job to do.” He nods towards the owner’s box. I can’t see what’s happening, but I can hear Bethany screaming in frustration. So I can assume she’s being arrested.

Maggie lets me go, and I bolt for the tunnel. Declan was being led off the ice by Gideon. I need to get to him if it’s the last thing I do. Security doesn’t stop me, probably understanding what I’m doing.

“Declan,” I yell when I see him. He turns immediately and catches me as I launch myself into his arms. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know,” he says, his voice shaking.

“I love you. I won’t let her touch you. I’ll rip off her fake boobs and beat her with them before I let her near you again,” I promise. Declan snorts and relaxes.

“I love you so much, Princess,” he says into my neck. “I’m done after this.”

I pull my head back and frown.

“I’m going to retire after this season.”

My frown deepens. We’ve talked about him retiring already. It was pretty much a definite with his knees, but I don’t want what happened with Bethany to force his hand.

“The only person I want to be valuable to is you. You and any children you give me,” he answers my unvoiced thoughts.

“Oh, baby,” I say, my heart breaking for him. “So many people value you for the right reasons. Not just me.”

“You’re the only one that matters, Princess.”

I kiss him. “Retire for you. Not for anyone else.”

“I am. I’m retiring because being with you is what I want. I’m sick of all these trips away from each other. We’ve spent most of our lives being separated by distance, and I’m done. I want to be stuck to your side like glue, Princess.”

I laugh and kiss him again. “If you make the finals, you’ve got another six months, hockey boy.”

“What’s six months when you have forever after that?”

I smile and kiss him again. “Get in there with your team and then show New York who’s boss.”

“Yes, Princess.”

“Was the video your idea?” I ask when I take my seat next to Maggie.

“Yeah,” she says, her cheeks turning pink. “Not that last part. Is Declan alright?”

“Not really. He will be.”

“Bethany’s arrest has already gone viral. Her dad can’t control the amount of people that took videos of everything tonight. Everyone knows what she wanted to do to Declan.”

“It’s so fucked up,” I say and pull on my hair in frustration.

The guys are back on the ice warming up. Declan looks sad, and I wish I could jump the boards and hug him.

“Do you think he could still play with me holding onto him like a koala?” I ask Maggie. She laughs but thinks about it.

“Probably, but not well. He wouldn’t want you getting hit.”

“You’re right. Damn.”

My phone goes off like crazy. I pull it out of my pocket, assuming it’s my PR team or possibly Dec’s wanting to talk about tonight. It’s actually the family group chat.

Cal

Tell Dec we love him!

Mav

Yeah and tell him to beat New York because fuck them.

Kai

Let him know he’s family. We won’t let anything happen to our family.

Belle

We love you both so much!

Jo

I’m working with both PR teams. You can both focus on the game. We’ll be good with the videos going viral. No one will come after your marriage again.

Harlow

Cora says “Yay Unca Deeee!”

I smile at my phone and then wave down Declan when he skates near me. I hold my phone against the glass so he can read all the messages. Declan’s smile is so bright it’s blinding, and a single tear escapes from his eye. He looks behind me at the box our family is in and makes a heart with his hands. I can see them return the gesture on the jumbotron. Belle has to elbow Kai to get him to do it, but he does. Cora is bouncing on Cal’s hip and waving at Declan so aggressively, he has to switch his hold on her so she doesn’t fly out of his arms. Declan laughs and blows her a kiss.

I put my hand up to the glass and he puts his on the other side.

“I love you, hockey boy!” I shout as loud as I can.

“I love you, too, Princess,” he yells back. The ref blows his whistle, and Declan skates off.