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36

TASHA

“ J osie, help me!” Mateo yelled.

“Sorry, you’re on your own.” Josie called out.

“Tasha. Babe.” Mateo tried again.

I looked over at Mateo as he sent me a pleading look. His dirty blond hair was darkened from sweat and stuck to his forehead.

“You asked to be included,” I reminded him.

“I didn’t ask to be mauled by little children!”

Beside me, Josie snorted. “You weren’t mauled.” She shook her head at Mateo’s dramatic tone.

“They knocked my feet out from under me and then tackled me on the ice,” Mateo deadpanned, looking at the two of us with narrowed eyes.

“Looked like you just tripped.” I shrugged. My lips tugged up at the appalled look that took over Mateo’s face.

A week ago, when we were all over at Wyatt’s mom’s place talking about the charity event hosted at Landon’s ice rink, Mateo practically begged to be a part of it, claiming he wanted to help and be around the kids. Now it seemed he was regretting that decision .

“Guys, I can’t go back out there,” he whined. “I’m too young to die and too pretty.”

Josie and I shared a look at the puppy dog eyes Mateo gave the two of us. Obviously, it worked as Josie sighed.

“Fine.” Mateo went to cheer but Jo held up her hand. “ But , if you have to promise to take a picture later with the guys. Multiple pictures.” She sent him a look daring him to argue.

“Anything!” Leaning over the sideboard, Mateo planted a kiss on Josie’s cheek before quickly skating off. The movement caught the attention of a few kids who seemed attached to Mateo.

I watched with a grin as they skated after him, yelling his name as he tried to get off the ice.

“That kid.” Josie shook her head in a loving way. Even though he’s in uni now he still acts like a little kid. You can’t help but love him.

“Oh, by the way!” Josie turned to face me, her camera still in her hand. “We found a venue.”

“Please tell me it’s the Graydon Hall one.” I crossed my fingers. Out of the thirty venues we’d been to—yes, thirty—Graydon Hall was my favorite. The manor slash castle exterior with brick walls and huge windows was gorgeous. The beautiful garden where the altar would be only added to those vibes. And the entire wedding party could stay there.

“It is.” Josie beamed.

A little squeal left my lips.

“Thank God.” Aside from loving that venue, I was tired of looking at them with Josie and Wyatt. There were only so many places you could see before they all started looking the same.

“It’s really happening.” The excited smile on Josie’s face made my own appear. The venue had the availability they needed too. Three months to go and they’d be married.

“Still can’t believe my best friend is getting married. ”

“Me either.”

The sound of laughter drew our attention back to the ice rink filled with little kids and players from the Toronto Knights. Every year the team did a huge charity event hosted at Hockey Haven, Wyatt’s older brother’s rink.

The entire team came out and taught the kids how to skate and play, doing five on five games. The look on the kids’ faces when they stepped inside and saw the team was adorable.

Josie was here partly for work, covering the event for Fusion magazine, but also to see her man. Just like Mila and I were. Even Lydia came, although she was claiming she was only here to make sure the magazine got what it needed. Her stopping to stare at Landon told a different story.

When my eyes landed on my own boyfriend, I smiled. Trevor was squatted down in front of a little girl, only two showed up out of the thirty that signed up. When the girl stared up at Trevor with wide eyes, I was pretty sure she was developing a crush on him. The sight was enough to make my ovaries explode.

I nudged Josie and pointed at Trevor and the girl so she could get a picture. Seeing Trevor be so cute with the kids had me picturing how he’d be with our kids. Although, that was way too early to start thinking about.

“How’s it going, by the way, with Dr. Hauss?” Josie asked, drawing my attention away from Trevor.

“Good, actually.” And I meant that.

Two months ago, after everything happened at my parent’s gala, I realized I needed to stop bottling everything up. It was Trevor who suggested seeing a counselor to talk about things. At first, I was leery. A counselor seeing a counselor wasn’t a good look. But one night, after Trevor had to shake me awake because I was having a nightmare, I knew I had to do something .

The next morning, I called a fellow counselor I knew that worked in the same building and made an appointment. Trevor dropped me off with an encouraging smile and a promise he’d be right here to pick me up afterward.

I learned how my own patients felt coming to me. The awkwardness at first. Not knowing what to say and how deep to go. But Dr. Hauss was amazing. She was nice and let me talk in my own time, never pushing me on a topic I didn’t want to discuss.

It took about three sessions before I opened up about the assault and meeting Daniel for the first time at my parents’ gala. I told her everything. Even the parts I'd never told Josie or Trevor. Told her about my parents and growing up.

It was an exhausting session, and that night I cried while Trevor held me, but I felt a sense of relief afterward. Getting it all off my chest felt freeing, like sharing it with someone eased the weight on my shoulders. Honestly, I felt better than I had in a long time.

“Have I told you how proud I am of you?”

“Yes, but I don’t mind hearing it again.” I shot Josie a grin as I looped my arm through hers.

I knew Jo was referring to the fact that I’d cut my parents off. They tried calling me about a month ago, but I didn’t answer, and I haven’t answered their texts either. Aside from what happened that night, going to my counselor really opened my eyes to how they treated me all my life.

I had always come up with excuses for how they acted. That they were just busy with work. That I needed to work harder. That I needed to do this and that to gain their approval.

I realized I shouldn’t have had to do anything extra than just be myself to earn my parent’s love. They were my parents, and I still loved them, but for now, distance was the best option. I needed to feel better mentally and emotionally before I talked with them. It was hard but having Trevor by my side made it easier. My girls were there for me too.

The sound of Josie’s name being yelled across the ice had her squeezing my arm and heading out onto the rink. I looked around at all the kids having the time of their lives. It was so cute seeing all these big hockey players guiding and teaching them, fake falling onto the ice all dramatically.

It was so sweet they all came out to be with the kids and supported Landon’s rink. Landon specifically opened this place to help the youth, to offer a safe and uplifting place for them. From what I'd heard from Josie, he was doing really well and was able to hire more people to help out and coach teams.

“Don’t want to go out onto the ice?” Wyatt came up beside me, leaning his forearms against the railing as he glanced over at me.

“And show up all the guys? Nah.”

“Their egos are weak anyway.” We shared a grin.

“You know, I've never seen Josie this happy. She’s even happier than when you first started dating,” I commented, leaning against the railing beside him. The two of us were looking straight ahead at Josie as she snapped pictures of the players, grinning widely.

“She’s incredible.” The adoration was clear on Wyatt’s face. “You and Trevor seem really happy as well.” This time, my eyes moved to Trevor.

“We are.”

“Do I need to have the best friend speech with you?” Asked a second later.

“Best friend speech?” I turned to him.

“The whole ‘I will cut your balls off if you ever hurt my best friend’ speech you gave me when I first started seeing Josie.”

“That was a pretty good speech.” I remarked .

“My balls say otherwise,” Wyatt joked.

“But yeah, go ahead with it. See if you can top mine.”

Wyatt straightened up and cleared his throat. He towered over me in his skates as I turned to lean my back against the railing, waiting.

“Trevor is my best friend, basically my brother. I see how happy you make him and how happy he makes you, but,” Wyatt tried to look threatening, but I could see the smile trying to peek through, “if you hurt my best friend in any way, I will punch you in the boob.”

My eyebrows raised at the last part.

“You’ll punch me in my boob?”

“Yes.” The two of us fought hard to keep from grinning. I knew he was trying to come close to my ‘cutting off your balls’ comment but punching me in the boob was a new one.

I had no plans of ever hurting Trevor, so I wasn’t afraid of Wyatt’s threat.

“I will keep that in mind.”

“Good.” He nodded like he did a good job.

“Feel better?” Wyatt mirrored my grin.

“Just had to get that out of the way. Glad we are on the same page.”

“That was a good speech. I’ll make sure to tell Jo you did a good job.” I mean, at least he tried. It was cute.

Before he replied, Josie called out his name. With a soft shove of my shoulder, Wyatt left to go back onto the ice to see his fiancée.

For the next little bit, I stood there watching as the kids had the time of their lives on the ice. The guys started a game, passing the puck back and forth. Of course they let the kids make every shot, lifting them in the air and making them laugh.

I didn’t think I could be more attracted to Trevor but watching him instruct these kids was definitely doing something to me. One night, a while back, the two of us were lying in bed when he admitted that he was scared to be a dad.

He didn’t want to bring up his kids the way he had been raised. Scared that history would repeat itself. I told him then that he would be the best dad ever, and watching him right now, I knew with all my heart he would be the type of dad that put others to shame. Trevor always went above and beyond for those he loved And that would continue once he had children of his own.

“Sunshine!”

I jerked out of my thoughts as Trevor called out for me. The damn nickname still made my heart flutter.

Trevor stood out on the ice, waving me over. I was so in my head that I didn’t notice the kids were slowly leaving the ice as their parents packed up to leave. Stepping out into the rink, I made my way toward my entire friend group. I should have put skates on because I stumbled a few times before Trevor grabbed my hand and tugged me into his side, our fingers laced.

“That went off without a hitch.” Mila grinned, leaning against Bryton. It really did. The kids were great, and we made it through without anyone crying so I’d call that a win.

“The readers are going to love the article,” Lydia agreed, looking over at Landon as she said it.

“We should go out and celebrate,” Wyatt suggested.

“Oh, let’s go to Rick’s!” Josie added, everyone agreeing.

“And afterward, you two ladies,” Mateo came up, throwing an arm around me and Josie, “can come back to my place.”

“Your place?” I questioned.

“Yeah, show you what a real man is like.” Mateo smirked.

“Am I not included?” Mila butted in.

“All you beautiful ladies are welcome.” He winked at everyone, including Lydia. Biting my lip, I tried my hardest not to laugh.

I loved Mateo’s confidence. Plus, we all knew he was doing it to get on the guys’ nerves. Judging from the look every guy was sending his way, I would say it was working.

“Mmm, think you can handle four women at once?” I leaned into Mateo’s side, looking up at him from under my lashes.

“We can be a handful.” Josie played along, leaning into his other side. From the corner of my eye, I saw Mila step forward, but Bryton yanked her back with a glare.

“Y-yes,” Mateo stammered, looking down at us with wide eyes. Sharing a look with Josie, I peeled my hand out of Trevor’s, much to his dismay.

Reaching up, I placed my hand on Mateo’s chest. “Then let’s go.”

Before Mateo could reply, I was being grabbed around the waist and yanked backward, my back hitting Trevor’s front.

“You took my woman!”

“I thought I was your woman?”Josie replied before Wyatt grabbed her as well, pulling her away from his younger brother.

“Mila,” Mateo tried.

Bryton shook his head at Mateo, daring him to try and claim his girlfriend. From my spot in Trevor’s arms, I watched as Mateo turned to Lydia only to find Landon standing there, arms crossed. “Not a chance, baby brother.”

“Everyone knows I could steal all your women like that.” Mateo snapped his fingers. “I have tons waiting back at uni.”

“Yeah, right.” Landon snorted, making Mateo narrow his eyes at him.

“Well, at least I get laid,” Mateo shot back. “How long has it been, Lan? A year? Two? Never?” He fake gasped. “Don’t worry, we’ll find someone to pluck your cherry.”

I watched with fascination as Landon stepped toward his brother in his ice skates. Back in the day, Landon was taller than Mateo, but over the last year or so, Mateo had really grown and filled out, easily rivaling his brothers.

“What did you just say?” Landon narrowed his eyes. The taunting grin on Mateo’s face showed he knew exactly what he was doing.

“No need to be ashamed that I've had sex before you.” Mateo slowly started to skate backward. “Maybe I can get Ms. Howard, the librarian, to take you out.”

Every word that left Mateo’s mouth had Landon glaring harder, jaw clenched.

“Lydia, honey, come be with a real man.” With that, the control Landon had snapped. With a powerful push off the ice, he lunged for his brother. Surprisingly, Mateo was quick on his feet and quickly skated away.

“Get back here, you little shit!” Cackling, Mateo skated away from his brother. Wyatt stared after his brothers, shaking his head.

“I give Mateo three minutes before Landon tackles him to the ice,” Bryton said.

“I give it two.” Wyatt commented.

As the others started going back and forth about Landon and Mateo, I felt Trevor backing up. Turning me in his hold, Trevor grabbed me from behind my thighs and hoisted me up. My legs wrapped around his waist, my arms around his neck.

Behind us, Mateo yelled something at Wyatt, followed by, “You are asking for it.” Without looking, I already knew Wyatt was also chasing Mateo around the ice.

Ignoring the chaos behind us, Trevor started skating with me in his arms. I grinned down at him, my fingers playing with his dark hair. I felt like I was floating as he effortlessly carried me across the ice. Of course he didn’t seem fazed at the extra weight in his arms.

“What?” I questioned, at the weird look on his face.

“Move in with me.”

My eyes widened. Move in with him? We’d only been dating for four months. Wasn’t that too soon? As soon as that thought popped into my head, it disappeared. Yes, we’d only been dating a few months but this was it. Trevor was my person.

I couldn’t see myself with anyone else. He had become ingrained in my soul. I was always at his place anyway. In the last two months, we stayed at mine only a handful of times. His entire bathroom was littered with my belongings, and I even had clothes there. It really wouldn’t be all that different.

Trevor remained silent, a crease appearing between his eyebrows, worry filling his eyes. How could I say no to waking up with this man every morning?

Bringing my hand up, I cupped the side of his face. “I’d love to move in with you.”

His grin almost split his face in two. Those green eyes sparkled with nothing but love. I dipped my head and captured his lips with mine as the two of us moved across the ice.

Trevor was my home. He was the person I'd been searching for my whole life and now that he was mine, I wasn’t ever letting go.