Page 334 of Playing the Pucking Game

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”

My heart is in my throat as everyone I know and love greets me.

“Holy shit,” I gasp, my hand jumping to cover my chest to stop my heart from beating right out of it.

I look around, meeting everyone’s eyes as I take in the fact that we’re in Kodie and Casey’s house.

Kodie hates having people over and hosting parties, and yet, here we are.

“Happy birthday, Parker,” a little voice squeals as Sutton bursts through the crowd and wraps her arms around my waist, hugging me tightly.

My eyes turn as I embrace her and meet Casey’s gaze.

“You,” I mouth.

She grins innocently before pointing at Linc.

“What do you think?” Linc asks, almost nervously. He was so confident on our way over here, or at least, he seemed to be. But now…not so much.

“I think you and Casey are sneaky little shits for planning this, but I love you both for it. Thank you.”

Everyone cheers the second I wrap my arms around my man. He kisses the top of my head before leading me closer to everyone.

Casey is next to greet me.

“I can’t believe you did this?”

“Well, I’ve got to keep myself busy while you’re all out of town,” she mocks. “And anyway, the person who really needs all the credit is Freya. You should see the food.”

Spotting her over Casey’s shoulder, I wave her over.

My heart is so full of love as we make our way around the room. The entire team is here, a huge number of the medical team and the front office staff. My parents. The only person missing is Rett, and despite understanding why he can’t be here, I can’t lie, his absence is like a massive hole in my chest.

Things haven’t really gotten any better for him. The Bandits are firmly at the bottom of the division, and watching them play is painful. They’re trying to put on a good show, but somewhere along the way, they’ve lost themselves this season. There is story after story about my brother’s antics circling online. I’m even more worried about him than I was when he visited last month. But there is nothing I can do but be there on the other end of the phone.

It hurts not to be able to do more, but when he’s ready, I’ll be here.

There is a pile of gifts on the coffee table in Casey’s living room, but I don’t make a move to open them—I’m more focused on spending time with the people in my life than I am on gifts. The food that Freya has made, on the other hand...I’m more than ready to dive into that.

I’m standing at the island with Casey, Freya, Mom and Sutton, grazing through the plates of mouth-watering food, when Linc marches over, announcing that he’s got one more surprise for me.

A ripple of awareness and excitement goes through the room, and I figure there’s another secret everyone else knows that I don’t.

Everyone moves a little closer, ready for the big reveal, and I watch my boyfriend with curious eyes as he waits for everyone to settle.

“If anyone is expecting me to get down on one knee, I’ll tell you now, you’re about to be disappointed.” A round of groans sounds out. “But don’t think that’s because I don’t want to. I do. And one day in the future, it’ll happen. So if anyone here thinks they stand a chance with my girl, I’m here to tell you that you absolutely don’t. I waited years to make her mine, and that isn’t going to change. Ever.”

I laugh at him. We’ve had a few discussions about the future and where we’d like our relationship to go, and thankfully, we’re both in agreement. We want to get married, have kids, and get a house with a picket fence, but for now, we just want to enjoy life. And that is exactly what we’re doing. We have plenty of time for all the serious stuff in the years to come. Right now, we’re making up for all the time we lost out on.

“Most of your gifts from me are at home,” Linc confesses. “But I do have one very special one for you right here.”

Ripping my eyes from Linc, I look around at everyone. Some people look as lost as I am, but others—mainly the team—seem to know exactly what’s about to happen. Excitement and anticipation twinkle in their eyes.

“Will someone…”

“Oh, for the love of God. Again?” I cry when the blindfold returns.

“Sorry, babe. It’ll be worth it.”