Page 35 of Slashed By You (Chicago Steel #5)
Josh
Since joining the Steel, I have been fortunate to have my name added to the Stanley Cup twice. The playoffs are intense. Your feelings during it are a crapshoot. When you’re winning, you’re on top of the world. When you’re knocked out, you feel down in the dumps. Mix in all the anxiety, stress, and excitement, and you never know how someone is going to respond. Advancement isn’t guaranteed. You have to earn it through blood, sweat, and tears. Sometimes the team most predicted to lose surprises everyone, showing up determined and ready to battle.
This year, we easily took our side of the bracket. But the finals are going to be tough. The New York Chargers are always tough competitors, but ever since Lucas joined the Steel four years ago, the games between us have lacked in sportsmanship, and it’s mostly on their side. Then when we acquired Jersey, their backup goalie, things went from bad to worse. It didn’t matter that their former players were happier now. No, many of the players and half the fan base seemed to take their leaving as a personal offense. They hurled rumors and chanted negative slurs every time the Steel was in New York.
When the series begins between the Steel and the Chargers, broadcasters predict the teams will likely split the wins. According to them, either team could take the Cup. Really, it’s anyone’s guess.
As the captain of the Steel, I’m determined to keep my guys pumped and eager for the win. We worked hard over the past few years to become an unshakeable force in the league. Not only do we have an incredible group of skilled players, but we aren’t just teammates, we’re best friends. We don’t just have each other’s backs because we’re getting a paycheck.
The teams split the series. On the night of the last game, the locker room is a chaotic mess of emotions. Some guys are anxious, others are edgy, and still others are nervous. We’ve been here before, the Cup within reach. I need to pump these guys up.
I whistle, calling attention to myself. “Guys, listen up. It’s time to focus. Tonight is our chance to win the Cup. We need to go out there and do what we do. There shouldn’t be any doubt about who is coming out victorious tonight, but there is. Now, we’re going to show up, play hard, and win this thing.” The guys grumble around me. “Right?” I bellow when I get a wishy-washy response. Their resounding yes gives the room just what we all need.
When I step on the ice, the feel of my skates on the surface is smooth and crisp. As I move around the rink, the breeze against my skin rejuvenates me, and my excitement for the game grows to impressive levels. Let’s do this.
Coach Tristan calls us in to remind us of what he expects. He talks about what’s on the line and that he knows what we’re capable of. “Those guys are going to give you hell. They’re going to do whatever they need to to get the W. They want the Cup too. Especially if it means beating us.”
Rocco leans in. “Guys, we’re doing this. We are superior on every level. Let’s show everyone that.” We exchange fist bumps as the starting line skates to their spots.
The game goes back and forth, each team bringing their A-game. The Chargers are less chippy than normal, but the attitude they carry hangs over the arena like a dark cloud waiting to unleash a storm. Between the second and third periods, with the teams tied at one, we sit quietly in our locker room, reflecting when Coach comes in with a smile on his face. What the hell? I look around and see that all my teammates wear the same confused look as me.
“Guys. First off, you should be proud of yourselves. You have played some damn good hockey tonight. For this last period, the only thing I’m asking of you is that you push through, giving one hundred and ten percent. You are already champions. Let’s go get the Cup.” The entire team breaks out in cheers.
With a minute and twenty seconds left, Lucas sends Ace a stretch pass, and he secures a breakaway against the goalie. Ace dekes him, sending a shot high on the goalie’s stick side, securing the winning goal. Our team can barely contain their excitement for the rest of the game. And as soon as the clock runs out, the bench empties onto the ice amidst hoots and hollers from the crowd. Because we’re in Chicago, I look up to the family box, hoping to see Kenzie, and it’s a jumble of chaos.
A month later, on a Sunday afternoon, while CakeStop was closed, Kenzie and I exchange our vows. It’s only right seeing that her shop brought us together and where we fell in love.
As a favor to me, Coach Tristan took the online course to become ordained so he could perform the ceremony. Kenzie has both Toby and Stephanie as her attendants, while I have Rocco and Ace. Even though they’re some of my younger teammates, and also the jokers of the team, our friendship had been instant. They’re like the little brothers I never had.
Kenzie wanted everything simple, so she wears a plain white dress that flows around her new, luscious curves from motherhood. My mouth waters when I see her, and my mind escapes to unspoken places where I dream of all I want to do to her.
Toby, the man of honor, wears a plum-colored suit that matches the matron of honor, Stephanie. Her dress incorporates all the colors we’re wearing. It’s similar to Kenzie’s, but it’s black on top and the skirt is covered in various shades of purple and gray flowers. It’s a silent nod to her, being that she’s the reason Kenzie and I are together. Rocco, Ace, and I are sporting gray suits with lilac-colored ties. Coach matches us in the tie department but opted to wear black so he’d match his wife. Issac steals the show wearing an all-gray knit outfit.
Two of my Steel teammates, Lucas and Mika, are also in attendance. Their wives befriended Kenzie early in our relationship and stood by her when I’d been an asshole about the baby. They forgave me, and so they’re also here with their kids.
We have a quick ceremony and celebrate with a cake that Kenzie made and decorated herself. It’s a vanilla cake with white buttercream frosting. And for me, she made death by chocolate cupcakes, although she did a different frosting. She made white chocolate buttercream and added a touch of blackberry so the colors would complement. Each one looks like a perfect rose. They’re almost too perfect to eat. But I’ll make a sacrifice and have one… or maybe two.
When the vow portion of the ceremony arrives, we opt to stick to simple.
Nervous, I repeat after Coach while Kenzie holds my hands and rubs circles on my skin.
“I, Josh, take you, Kenzie, to be my wedded spouse, and to live together in marriage.”
I let out a breath before I continue. “I promise to love you, comfort you, honor and keep you for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, and forsaking all others, be faithful only to you, so long as we both shall live.”
Now for her turn. She smiles at me and squeezes my hand in hers. In a soft voice, she speaks her vows to me. Her eyes twinkling the entire time.
Those words, those promises. They mean the world to me. Coming from a family where your parents are still married but probably shouldn’t be, you wonder when they started slacking on the promises they’d made to each other.
As I swear my love and faithfulness to this woman in front of my best friends and God, I feel bad for my parents. They’d married young and then started a family shortly thereafter. It hadn’t been an arranged marriage, but the higher-ups in their parents’ social circles had encouraged their coupling. Honestly, I’m not even sure they really knew each other before they were pushed together. But if that was the case, why had they stayed together all these years? I’ve been gone for years and they remain unhappily married. Kenzie and I will never be like them. We have friendship and love, and our future together is so bright.
The following week, we jet off to Kauai.
T hank you for reading Slashed By You, the fifth book in the Chicago Steel series.