Page 51

ERIK

W e were losing. Badly. Okay, in the grand scheme of things, we weren’t losing that badly.

The score was getting lopsided, sure, but we hadn’t dug ourselves into a hole that we couldn’t escape.

I didn’t think we had a reason to panic.

Kayden was probably losing his mind. That was Kayden.

He wanted to come back but didn’t know how.

But I had a pretty good idea.

Keeping a cool head was the key to winning hockey, even if Kayden didn’t believe it. We could be down by ten going into the third period, but we didn’t need to pack up our tents. Sure, we’d barely shown signs of life in this game, but we still had twenty minutes left to play.

We could do it. We just had to believe.

When we went into the locker room, I didn’t look at Kayden because that would’ve hurt too much. I had to stay balanced. On the other hand, I would do everything necessary to win the game.

My way.

I took the face-off at the start of the period.

When the puck dropped, I stared into Holbrook’s eyes and wouldn’t let him scare me.

Guys like that use their size and fierceness to intimidate opponents, and I wouldn’t allow it.

I snatched the puck from him and raced up the ice.

I didn’t use all the power, energy, and intensity I could summon, though.

No, I skated confidently, believing I could move without losing the puck.

And I did.

My first shot on goal didn’t hit, but that wasn’t the end of the world. I didn't even have to tell myself that. I’d conditioned myself to know it long ago.

We still had just short of twenty minutes to get the job done, right?

I didn’t have to keep hammering away at the net like a madman.

I just had to keep a cool head and be persistent.

If Kayden had listened to me more, we might not be in this situation.

But I wouldn’t use the third period of game seven for the blame game. I would just go to work on the Bobcats.

Less than thirty seconds later, I had control of the puck again and swung around the net. I swept it into the net like my hockey stick was a broom, and the Larkin Lions crowd went wild.

Finally, I glanced at Kayden. Seeing him didn’t hurt. Honest to god, I thought looking at that face would kill me, but it didn’t. I didn’t know what he saw in the look I’d given him, but I hoped he knew I wanted him to trust me.

When the puck dropped again, Kayden took control but lost it after Errington checked him into the boards.

I followed behind him and stole the puck from Errington and headed back into Bobcat territory.

From there, I took a shot on goal but missed.

Again, not the end of the world. We had time.

We just had to be cool, persistent, and determined.

I fought like hell to regain the puck. Once I had it, I took another shot and missed. Yeah, that was frustrating as hell, but I wouldn’t lose my cool. We still had plenty of time to get the job done.

After a third missed shot, Kayden jumped in, wound up, and whacked the puck with all his might.

His stick cracked against the ice and sent the puck flying into the net.

I did things my own way, and I guess Kayden Preston would always do them his way.

I could accept that if he could. What mattered was that the Larkin Lions were finally on the scoreboard.

The crowd went wild again. Kayden swung around the net with his arms in the air.

Our teammates gathered around, throwing their arms around him…

except for me. I stayed on the periphery and didn’t embrace him.

Part of me would’ve loved nothing more than to have thrown my arms around my teammate, but I knew I shouldn’t.

Couldn’t , more like it.

Not at that point, anyway. I’d managed to look directly at that perfect face of his without going crazy, but actual physical contact would really be tempting fate.

Now the score was three-to-two. There was no reason for us to think that we couldn’t do this. We just had to believe.

But we had to stay realistic too. The Bobcats wouldn’t just give in.

They wanted the National Championship as badly as we did.

They fired right back, coming dangerously close to scoring on us again and putting victory back out of reach.

I knew we had to hang on. I raced down the ice, stiff-arming Holbrook to avoid a bodycheck, and fired at the net.

Their goalie tried to block it, but the puck slipped past him into the net.

The Bobcats had made an early impression on us with their quick strikes, but Kayden found his way back into their territory immediately.

Now that we were tied at three, we had just under two minutes left to play.

Anyone who’s watched hockey knows how long and drawn out the ends of close games can be.

Coaches take every time-out they have, trying to make the most of every remaining second on the clock.

These endings are nail biters for fans in the stands and those watching at home.

They can be pretty damn tense for players too.

But I wouldn’t let anxiety get the best of me. I couldn’t.

If Kayden and I were going to win anything, we would have to do it together. I’d really come to believe that, and no way would I change my mind now. So far, we’d returned to working like a well-oiled machine at just the right time, and I continued to have faith.

Kayden and I glided up and down the ice in sync.

I’d never felt as graceful in a pair of skates as I did at that moment.

We passed the puck back and forth to one another, giving and taking, co-operating like we never had before.

It felt so magical. Best of all, you would’ve sworn that we’d never had a fight.

Throwing Kayden out of the apartment hadn’t happened. The argument that’d led to it meant nothing. All the little things that’d torn us apart ceased to matter.

When we entered Bobcat territory, I passed the puck to him again. Then he passed the puck back to me, and I shot it into the net just as the clock expired and the buzzer sounded. Their goalie was on his knees in the crease, having let the puck slip past him, admitting the winning goal.

The Buffalo crowd went wild. They’d gone from being deafening, to dead silent, and back to deafening in the space of three periods. We played in a moderate-sized arena by college standards, but I could barely hear myself think.

I nearly collapsed onto the ice. I would’ve thought that keeping my cool would’ve allowed me to retain all my stamina, but I honestly worried I couldn’t hold myself upright a second longer.

And then Kayden swooped in, making sure to be right there to break my fall. He threw his arms around me, squeezing me tight. Just like old times…and the way things ought to be.

I wanted to kiss him in the worst way, but I didn’t know if I could. Sure, you would think the moment would’ve moved us to do it, crowd be damned, but I understood that a certain set of boundaries existed.

And then our teammates closed in, throwing their arms around us. That was a nice team moment, sure, but I wanted to enjoy being alone with Kayden for as long as possible.

I couldn’t complain, though. Even in the moment, I understood that Kayden and I had persevered through an insane amount.

We’d weathered our intense attraction to one another.

And then we’d pressed on through our relationship and the bevy of challenges it’d posed.

We’d broken up, but still found a way to work together and win the first National Championship in Larkin Lions history.

That alone time with Kayden would have to wait.

When we skated back to the bench, the coaches greeted us with hugs. Normally, I hate hugs, even in the best of circumstances, but it felt okay in that moment.

Of course, I should’ve known what else to expect.

Someone snuck up behind us with a cooler full of Gatorade and dumped it over my and Kayden’s back.

Even though it was freezing, that’d probably been part of Kayden’s dreams. It’d definitely been part of mine.

But the seriously big deal for me was the moment that would come next.

I’d always dreamed about being interviewed by ESPN after winning a championship.

Or NBC sports. Or whatever. Someone with a microphone would approach me and talk about the hard-fought battle.

They would ask me how I did it, and I would tell them that I knew we could do it.

We just had to have a lot of guts and determination.

Then they would ask me what I would do next.

I wouldn’t tell them that I was going to Disneyland.

If anything, I would try to say something original.

All the mental practice in the world hadn’t prepared me for that moment, though.

As it turned out, that dream was about to come true.