Page 20

20

RILEY

I tap my stick on the ice and wait for Max to pass the puck. The defender of the other team turns his head for a blink and by the time he’s refocused, Max is passing the puck to me. I hear the roar of the crowd as I manage to hold possession of the puck and dodge the opposing team. Noah manages to get my attention and I look up in time to pass the puck to him. When he gets the puck, he’s swarmed by the other team and I slide in to help him out of the hole.

“Back off Petrov.” I snarl as I slam him into the boards.

“In your dreams, Jones.” He says and slams me back.

I manage to stay upright and push him back. Noah finds an opening out of the cluster and rounds back to find an opening at the net. Victor turns his fire eyes on me and I duck out of his reach before he can swing on me. I like a fight when it’s necessary. But he tends to take it further than need be. I put myself into gear and get back to the middle of the ice and wait for the buzzer to sound from Noah’s goal. He’s good and our top scorer. Our left winger gets my attention and we both nod.

I look up at the play clock and see less than thirty seconds and we’re up by one. If Noah can score this and our defense holds them off, we keep the streak alive. Bear and I push our way through the cluster to allow Noah a breakaway to score. Their goalie is good, but Noah is better. He looks to the top right of the goal and plays the goalie by shooting to the bottom left. The buzzer goes off, the crowd goes wild, and Bear and I tackle Noah.

“Fuck, yeah Birdy!” I scream into his face and knock on his helmet a couple of times before skating over to Logan and hyping up the rest of the line and the crowd. With Noah’s goal we’ve got the cushion to not worry about New York rushing their play. We line back up and Noah faces off. He wins and passes the puck back to Logan who then passes it off to Bear as he loops around the net.

I start my slow skate around our half of the rink and make my way to the bench when the buzzer sounds. We all make our way to the tunnel and head to the locker rooms. Fans clamor for attention and girls call for us to sign any body part we can get our hands on. Their words, not mine. Plus, I already have everything I want waiting for me in the family and friends box.

Max’s boisterous voice travels down the hall before he’s like an energizer bunny bouncing into the locker room. My skates are already in my locker and I’m in the process of taking my jersey off to head to the showers.

“We’re getting lit tonight boys!” Max exclaims as he has his phone's flashlight waving around in the air. The team either groans or eggs him on.

“Gharety!” Coach Anderson barks.

Max yelps and scrambles off the bench. “Yes, Coach.” Kiss ass. The rest of us snicker at Max’s change in voice.

“Shouldn’t you be with the athletic trainers?”

He nods quickly. “Yes, sir. ”

Anderson looks down at his clipboard and looks back up and sees Max still standing in place. “Go.”

Max trails off with his tail tucked between his legs. Chatter starts back up and I grab my things for the shower.

“You going out tonight?” Noah asks.

“Mm hmm. Did you not see the texts last night?”

“Yeeeess,” he says, lying through his teeth.

I shake my head and move into the showers. The lively chatter is one I’ve missed. After three straight losses going into our week at home, it was good to end this week with a win. Turning the water off, I dry off with the towel and head back into the locker room.

“Riley, are you headed up to the box?”

“Yep. My parents and Sarah are up there.” I tell the guys and pull my shirt on, barely muffling the kissing noises they’re making. I ignore them because it’s been a great few weeks with Sarah. The away stretch of games are the hardest but we manage to make it work with modern technology on our side. I pack up my bag and stroll out of the locker room to head to my girl.

What I also failed to mention to the guys is that her friends were at the game tonight as well. Not only would it be their first time to meet them, but mine as well. And my nerves are through the roof. Sarah says I have nothing to worry about. But she’s biased. Stepping off the elevator, I make the short walk to the family and friends room to madness. It seems everyone had the idea to stay.

I say hi to some of the parents and make my way through the room to my crew. Pops flags me down before I can see anyone else. Sarah is in here, I can feel her.

“Good game, kiddo.” He says and kisses the side of my head .

“Thanks, Pop. Hi, Momma.” I greet her with a kiss on her cheek.

“You guys looked great out there. But, I’m sure you’re ready for some lighter days.”

“You have no idea.” This home stretch came at the perfect time with Thanksgiving a handful of days away. “Where’s my girl?” I ask and try not to be rude.

“She’s right there.” Momma points to the cluster of people off to the side.

We make eye contact and the smile that covers her face is infectious. Sarah excuses herself and walks into my arms.

“You did great.” She praises and wraps her arms around my waist.

I kiss the tip of her nose and revel in the sight of a light blush that covers her face. “Thank you.”

She turns her attention to my parents who are looking like they’ve hit the daughter-in-law lottery. I raise an eyebrow at them as they continue to stare at us.

“Oh, fine,” Momma concedes. “We’ll see you this week for Thanksgiving?”

“Wouldn’t miss it.” Sarah tells her and moves to hug Momma. She kisses Pops on the cheek before returning to my side.

Momma kisses me on the cheek, followed by Pops. “She’s good for you.”

“I know.” We wave them off and Sarah secures herself to my waist again. She tilts her head back and I run my fingers through her loose tresses.

“Are you ready to meet my friends?”

I clench my teeth and breathe in. “Yeah.”

Sarah leans up and pecks me on the lips. As she turns, she pulls me by the hands to an expectant group. They all quiet immediately and I feel like I’m being judged for standing by Sarah.

“So, this is Riley.” She waves her hand towards me like she’s Vanna White. “Riley, this is Kamryn, Mason, Emily, Adam, Jax, and Trent.” Sarah finishes with a slight sneer at the last guy and curls into my side. Interesting .

“It’s nice to meet you all. Sarah’s talked about you guys a bunch.”

“Likewise. Now, Riley. Tell us how you charmed her.” Kamryn starts and drags me away from the group.

I look back at Sarah and see she’s smiling and shaking her head. “She told you about the stuff from before?”

“Yeah. And while my best friend puts on the biggest front, these past few years have definitely hardened her to where I haven’t been able to recognize her. Until you. I haven’t seen her happy in a very long time and I have you to thank for that.”

“You don’t have to thank me,” I tell her.

“I do. It was a few months after Mason and I got back together. We were out at a bar day drinking and she got this far away look in her eyes. Riley, I think my best friend was suffering longer than I realized. How I didn’t catch that when my first choice was psychology, I’ll never know. But with you, she’s softer. She’s finally letting herself feel. She’s the her I met in college.”

I look over at Sarah to see her head tossed back on a laugh at whatever Mason is saying. It’s hard to imagine Sarah back then with a dark cloud as her only companion.

“Just promise you’ll take care of her heart. It’s a lot more fragile than anyone knows.”

I look back at Kamryn who’s got her focus on Sarah and then Mason. Our hearts are the same. Mine and Sarah’s. But while mine has been mended by love, hers has been left alone to heal in fractured pieces. “I promise.”

The table in the club is littered with empty champagne bottles from celebrating our win to celebrating Mason and Kamryn’s engagement. I have a beautiful red head in my lap whose arm is wrapped around my shoulders and her fingers are playing with the hair at the nape of my neck. I told her slow, but with every brush of her fingers against my skin, it makes me want to drag her to a dark part of the club and have my way with her.

“You’re playing with fire, Blue,” I growl into her ear and nip at her earlobe. .

“I have been known to have a pyro side,” she jokes.

Before we came out, we all agreed to change out of arena clothes and into something more night out appropriate. When Sarah walked out of our room with an outfit that molded to her curves, I had to open the freezer to cool off and the sound of her laughter made my reaction to her even worse. I was told what she’s wearing is a jumpsuit. It covers her more than a dress, but again, with the way the fabric molds to her body, I’m entirely too grateful that I’m the only one who knows what’s underneath. She must’ve taken into account the weather as the outfit covers her legs. The front of her outfit exposes an ample amount of cleavage and the back dips down to right above the curve of her ass. And don’t get me started on her shoes. Silver glittering red bottoms that give her just the right height to where I don’t have to curve my body to take her lips in mine.

I nip at the spot below her ear and stand up. Keeping her body flush against mine and making sure that she doesn’t fall with the new position. “Let’s dance.” I say and drag her with me.

I haven’t been to a club since our hookup almost a year ago. That night is a blur but I do remember when I saw her and my gaze zeroed in on her after her second trip to the bar. I watched in amazement as she ignored the guys who approached her and her give no-fucks attitude. I watched as she let the music take away her worries and she danced like she was alone at home. When I slid up behind her, I prepared for her to push me away. But she must have deemed me safe when she tangled her fingers with mine and pulled me closer. My subconscious must have played tricks on me because I knew I wouldn't let her go.

Moving our way onto the dance floor, I twirl Sarah in front of me and pull her flush to me, back to front, as the crowd continues to dance around us. The bass from the music almost puts a spell on us. It’s heavy and sensual. It’s the perfect song to make you ignore the outside world if only for a few minutes. Our bodies move together and my hands roam freely up and down her body. My cock grows harder with every brush of Sarah’s ass against my jeans. I slide my hand down to the front of her body and hold her in place as I swivel my hips. Her moan is only audible to me and I place a kiss on her neck.

I watch as her chest heaves with each circle of my hips. Grabbing her hand, I lift it and hook it around my neck. Both of my hands fall to her hips and I watch as a bead of sweat trails down Sarah’s chest.

We stay like this. Bodies moving as one song bleeds into the next until the DJ announces the final song of the night. Sweaty and out of breath, I drag Sarah off the dance floor and to our mostly empty table save for Jax.

“Where’s Trent?” Sarah asks when we sit back down .

“I don’t know,” Jax tells her.

“Have you been sitting here the whole time?” I don’t know her that well but I ask anyway.

“Yeah. But it’s fine. I’m not much of a dancer.” The tightness in her jaw says otherwise. And I know if I were her and I saw my sister and friends dancing with their significant others, I’d be a little hurt as well.

Sarah glances at me before scooting next to Jax. Whatever she says to her has Jax blinking fast to keep from crying. I like seeing Sarah like this; in problem-solver mode, in caretaker mode. She’d be a great mom one day if given the chance. And it startles me how natural saying that about her is.

More from our group joins us back at the table.

“What’s wrong?” Kamryn asks when she sees her sister upset and Sarah talking with her.

“I guess her boyfriend left her alone,” I say assuming that’s what happened.

If humans had the possibility to breathe fire, Kamryn would do it. “That fucking asshole. I’m gonna end him.”

“Easy firecracker,” Mason cajoles.

“No. I’ve been telling her for months to dump him. He doesn’t care about her. He’s only with her because of her proximity to you.”

Mason rubs his hands up and down her arms as if that’ll soothe her. “Jax has to see it first, honey. I know you want to go all big-sister mode, but when it comes to love, or whatever it is between them, you have to let her make the hard decisions on her own.”

Kamryn looks toward her sister and if I’m not mistaken she wants to cry on her behalf. “He’s already breaking her heart. ”

“Then you just have to trust that she’ll break his more when it comes time.”

I don’t know what it’s like to have siblings. I have teammates who I consider family. But we’re obligated to get along with each other. It keeps the chemistry of the team peaceful.

“Do you have siblings?” I ask when Kamryn goes over to her sister and Mason takes a seat next to me. I’m still pinching myself that the invisible strings have been able to put me in this legends vicinity.

He nods. “Yeah. Two brothers and a sister. They’re still in college so it’s a bit of an age gap between us. What about you?”

“Just me,” I say. “Which I guess is why Sarah and I get along so well.”

“Gotta say, I did not see you two coming.”

“Why is that?” I ask but don’t take offense to it.

“She’s a lion. She’s loud in a good way, protective, and loyal. She stands up for those she loves. It’s one of the reasons Kam and I asked her to officiate our wedding.”

I turn to Mason. “You did?”

“She didn’t tell you?”

I shake my head. Was she asked before or after we said to hell with fake dating? Maybe with her migraine she forgot. It’s possible so I try not to let it get to me.

Mason and I talk while the girls console Jax. Emily and Adam left as soon as they could. And who knows where the guys went. The girls stand up with Kamryn’s arm around her sister's shoulders. Shielding her in the way I can only assume a big sister would.

Sarah walks over to me and stands between my spread legs. I loop my arm around her waist and look up at her. “Is she okay? ”

“I think so,” she tells me as I stand up and we all walk towards the entrance.

We garner a lot of looks. What with Mason being as tall as he is and me fresh off a game. We nod to some people, too impatient to say hi but not too rude to ignore them.

When we’re outside, I pull out my phone to order a car and I see Mason doing the same. Sarah burrows into my body when the wind swoops down between the buildings. Thankfully we don’t have to wait long before the cars are pulling up. The girls do their goodbyes and Mason and I do our man shake before we file into our respective vehicles.

“Is everything okay with Jax?” I ask as the driver pulls into the road.

“I don’t know,” Sarah says. “I think she’s so used to his behavior that she doesn’t know anything else.”

“How long have they been together?”

“About three years.”

“And he treats her like that?”

“He’s her first true boyfriend,” Sarah states. “I think she’s always been a little self-conscious and guarded. But he was weirdly the first guy to say all the right words.”

“Well, you’re my first true girlfriend and you don’t see me acting like him.”

“That’s because Momma would spank you into next year if she found out you acted like him towards any woman.”

I snort. “True.”

When the car pulls up to my complex a few minutes later, I drag a sleepy Sarah out and towards the elevator bank.

“Can I tell you a secret?” I whisper when the elevator whisks us up to my floor.

“Yeah,” she speaks into my chest .

I wrap my arms tighter around her and kiss the top of her head. “I like you a lot.”

She wraps her arms tighter around me. “I like you a lot too, baby.”

The elevator opens on my floor and when we’re inside, I push Sarah to the bedroom as I go to feed the girls a small snack before turning the lights off and closing the door to our room. It’s funny how now I think of my place as our place. Are we going fast? Maybe? But I have no other relationship to compare us to. Which, as I think about it, is a good thing. This relationship is ours and ours alone.

And as I crawl into bed after my shower, and Sarah wraps herself around me, I can’t think of anything better than this.