Page 19

Chapter 19

Emmy

H anging out with Eoghan and his team at The Merchant Store seemed to be a turning point between the two of us. When he asked me to attend the first game of the Stanley Cup finals, I thought I was dreaming. He even got me first row seats right behind the Legacy's goal, which meant I had a perfect view of him and his ass.

Since the puck dropped, I pinched myself no less than two dozen times. Pretty much anytime he stepped onto the ice. Each time, it proved that I was very much awake.

Eoghan was so damn impressive with the way he could skate backwards and effortlessly used his stick to poke the puck free from the Yeti's players. I loved when used the poke check over the body by blocking shots.

It was a dogfight between the Legacy and the Buffalo Yetis. It seemed like no one was going to give an inch and the players were getting testy at the fact they played thirty minutes and it was still scoreless.

Carmichael was in tight, using his body to play keep away. He spun to the right and then almost immediately to the left as two of the Yeti's defensemen swarmed him. It seemed like he was about to spin around again, but out of the corner of my eyes, Eoghan streaked down the ice on Carmichael's open side. Carter did a quick pass that landed on the toe of Eoghan's stick. If Eoghan didn't have such a wicked curve at the spot on his stick, there was no way he would have been able to catch the puck.

Eoghan pushed his skates across the ice hard and fast. It seemed faster than humanly possible. It was a clear breakaway, and I was so damn proud of my man. As soon as he got the shot on goal, he fired it at the five hole (between the goalie's legs).

It was so damn amazing to see when the red light goes on and the goal horn blared. The whole arena jumped to their feet, but I truly adored when Eoghan pointed at me and winked. He was saying something, but I had no clue what because of the crowd's roar.

The game was nerve-racking, but Eoghan's goal thus far was the difference maker. It seemed like the Legacy was on their way to winning game one with a shutout.

But I cursed myself for even thinking that since it seemed like I was inviting the Buffalo Yetis to score, especially since they pulled their goalie to get an extra attacker onto the ice.

As the seconds ticked down, I held my breath. I really wanted him to be successful and win it tonight. I had to remind myself to breathe since I was so tense.

Eoghan was on the ice. He had to be exhausted from all his ice time, but when he gave me the tickets; he begged me to go out with him after the game, win or lose. But he never told me if he wanted me to wait at the arena or to just meet him somewhere.

Scuba took a shot onto the empty net, but it went wide, and no one was there to prevent the icing. So there was a brief stoppage of play with five point three seconds left.

Right as the ref dropped the puck, I felt a tap on my shoulder. Beside me there were two stunning women and a guy in a black suit. The one woman I thought I recognized from TV, but I wasn't sure since I try not to watch too much TV. But the other woman asked, "Are you Emmy Symon?"

I nodded.

The woman who spoke to me first said, "Coop mentioned you would be here to my fiancé, and we figured you might need some help to get to the family lounge."

The horn went off to signal that the Legacy won.

I stood up and figured what the hell, I would follow them. Worst-case scenario, I would just meet Eoghan somewhere else after he got dressed, but the idea of going to the family lounge was super appealing.

More bodyguards swarmed around us, the largest being the one who walked down with the two ladies. "It's time to go. You're going to get noticed."

The woman that I somewhat recognized was swallowed up by her bodyguards. Then the woman who spoke first linked arms with me and we tailed the herd of body guards. "Sorry. I should have introduced us. I'm Natalie and that's Siobhan. My fiancé is Spencer Suzuki, and she's the girlfriend to one of the other players."

It seemed so odd that she had a massive security patrol. It made me wonder why any of the girlfriends needed that much security.

As we entered through an unmarked door that had a spot for people had to scan in, things were quieter since it was only the six guys in black suits and the three of us instead of the mass of hockey fans leaving the rink. I asked, "Why are we in bodyguard central?"

The tall blonde who they were protecting said, "Unfortunately, I have an issue with a stalker and C doesn't like it when I take risks. But these games are too important to miss, so death threats be damned. This was our compromise. I probably shouldn't have come to get you, but I was so damn curious. You're the only woman that Coop's been interested in."

Natalie laughed, "Hell, let's be real. Coop pretty much only cares about hockey and…" Then she shook her head as if to second guess what she was going to say next and settled on, "until he found you."

That pause was probably his drinking issue. I liked that his friends and their partners all seemed to be careful about that aspect and weren't gossiping about that. Instead, they were supportive and discreet.

We walked into a small lounge. There was a bartender behind the bar in the back and some of the older kids were running around while the younger kids were passed out on some benches near their moms.

No one seemed to pay much attention to our small group. Natalie and Siobhan led us to a woman who had a sleeping kid next to her. The woman looked up with a smile. "So you found her."

We sat down. Natalie said, "Well, it helps when you bought the tickets."

My brows knitted together since I was totally lost. Plus, I was a tad jealous that she was in his circle of trust, and I knew nothing about her.

The woman across from me said, "I'm Annie, Scuba's wife. Don't mind Natalie. Sometimes, she forgets her manners and has no filter. But she's the boys' personal assistant when she's not doing some bad ass social media management."

I smiled and my jealousy melted since I knew he asked me to check in on his house when he was out of town since he thought he was wasting someone's time with his trivial needs.

"Oh."

Natalie waved a hand. "Also, thank you for helping your man to get the essentials when I asked him to. I really didn't have time to babysit Coop on top of the other guys."

Just as quickly as that jealousy melted, the flame flickered some, since she was able to do something I couldn't. She got him to do something without having to beg for months. It bothered me that Coop wouldn’t listen to me about finding a real sponsor or even talking to other people in recovery at the end of a meeting.

"I need to know your secret. How did you convince him to do that?"

Natalie shrugged. "Believe it or not, it was his idea. I don't think he ever liked me doing things for him, especially after I refused to feed his habit."

I snorted. So he was just as hard-headed with her as he was with me.

At least, she refused to purchase alcohol for him when she realized he had a problem. Not everyone cared enough to do that.