Page 90 of Falling for the Orc All-Star

And maybe, Bryce and Fia will let me be an honorary uncle...

“Love you. I’ll be out pretty quick after. You don’t have to wait around.” I kiss Ingrid as she takes her seat behind the benches.

“I’ll wait. Marina said she was craving ribs and hot fudge, so I said we might meet them at the River House after the game. If you’re not too beat.”

“I’m not on the ice today, just suiting up to look pretty,” I tease.

“Smile! Pine Ridge royalty, the King and his queen.” Fia Frobisher is suddenly next to us, her fancy black camera snapping away.

“Thanks, Fia. And thank you for doing the spread about the seniors and Team Paws.”

“Hey, that one got picked up by a bunch of papers across the state, even in Pennsylvania, too. Grace mentioned that a lot of bags of kibble and cat food have been sent to them since then. They might have enough to give to some other shelters.”

Ingrid beams and bounces on her toes. She’s so adorable when she’s happy. “Baby, that’s amazing! Thank you so much, Fia!”

I want to keep that giddiness on her face forever. “Yeah, thank you, Fia. You know who else could use some good press? The Pine Ridge High football team.”

Fia winces. “They haven’t been having the best season.”

“No, but they have the best hearts. Every single one of them signed up to help at Hilltop Home. Could you and Jasper Wainwright do some kind of a collab? I don’t know, something like... ‘Champions of the Heart’?”

“Catchy. Very ‘feel good.’ I’ll see what I can do.”

Fia goes off to snuggle with Bryce, and I kiss Ingrid one more time before I have to put my helmet on. “Love you, see you later.”

“Love you. You warm that bench, King. Crush it!” She winks and pumps her fist in the air.

“That’s my girlfriend,” I say to no one in particular. “My fiancé. She loves me even when I just sit still.”

“Am I still allowed to do the videos, Coach?” I ask when I and a handful of second-stringers sit back down.

The coach hums for a second. He has to watch the ice, of course, but he takes a second to give me a look. “You’re not officially on the roster for tonight, so I think you can, even though you skated out.You got a thunderous cheer. I mean, literally, thunderous. I thought we were having an earthquake.”

“Glad it wasn’t that. Bryce and Jorge are killing it tonight.”

“They’re a sweet pair, all right. I never thought I’d see a better match than you and Bryce, but Frobisher really steps up with Jorge. Guards him like a mother grizzly with a favorite cub.”

I chuckle. “You sure he’s not part grizzly with that fur?”

We’re laughing when it happens.

I hear the noise first, because I have the senses for it.

It’s the thud of bodies hitting each other, but not the standard hockey scuffle. This sounds like a car hitting a body, a whump-thump, crash.

High impact. High speed.

Two players from the Phantoms were making for Jorge, sure that one would get him if the other didn’t.

They didn’t count on Bryce, the biggest defender in the league, the best bodyguard—the real reason I barely got a bruise during a game, and it took tripping over some dumb flowers to bring me down.

Bryce stops them both, pushing Jorge ahead and taking a double impact, chest and back.

And Bryce is down.

On the ice. Not moving, like I was months ago.

“Oh, my God,” I whisper.