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THIRTY-FOUR

GAVIN

“War, you’re favoring your left side again. New York knows it. Aiden, stop with the fancy shit. Hall, what the fuck?” My blood is pumping, and the cool air burns my lungs. This is exactly what I needed after this weekend.

“They’re looking good.” Beckett skates toward me with the twins strapped to his body.

“Are you nuts?” I growl, grasping his shoulder and pulling him toward the bench so that my nieces are out of the way of the guys who are in the middle of a fucking practice match.

He breaks out into a practiced smile and waves at someone behind me.

I follow his gaze to the edge of the rink and find Sara pointing a camera in our direction. “What are you doing?”

“You think you’re the only Langfield who can wear your kid? The news is going nuts over how cute you are. Try wearing two kids .”

“You realize you’re insane, right? I brought my kid because I had no one else to watch her. Where’s Livy?”

“She’s at the office going over the travel schedule with Hannah. She stopped by with the babies, and I said I’d take them for a walk so she could relax. Let her feel like a human again instead of just a mom.”

He stands tall and proud, chest puffed out as he adjusts the twins and then smiles again. But I know his games. The man never smiles like that. This is all for the fucking cameras.

“Does she know you brought them to my hockey practice hoping the media would plaster photos of her daughters all over the internet?” I tip my head toward Sara. “Or on the Bolts’ Instagram account?”

“I didn’t?—”

I cut him off with a scoff. He did .

“Fine. Whatever. I’m leaving.” He turns in a smooth circle and heads toward the gate.

“Wait.” I skate that way too, catching up. “Don’t leave. I—” I grit my teeth and swallow my pride. “I need your help.”

Beckett’s eyes shine. The last thing I want to do is stroke his ego, but he’s got his shit together better than the rest of us, and that makes him my best resource. Even if he is mildly neurotic.

“Give me the twins and take off your skates, and then we can chat in my office.”

Once we’re off the ice, Beckett removes one twin from her carrier and hands her to me, then the other. It’s wild how much more comfortable I am with them now that I have Vivi. Though she’s about the size of the two of them put together. I holler to Fitz to take over and tell the guys I’ll see them when they’re done on the ice. We still have film to watch and plays to discuss for our game against New York this week.

In my office, cups of coffee in hand and a twin on each of our laps, I tell him everything.

“So she’s going to live with you for the foreseeable future?” Beckett watches me with an all-knowing look that makes me squirm. “And travel with you?”

“Yeah.”

“And Ford has no idea about you two?”

I bow my head. “You think I’d still have this perfect face if he did?”

Beckett chuckles and rubs a hand over Maggie’s head. “True.” With a huff, he shifts in his seat, repositioning her. “This is a ducking problem if I ever heard one.”

“Tell me about it.”

“You can’t duck her.”

I roll my eyes. “Obviously.”

“Don’t obviously me. It should have been obvious a year ago when you started a damn relationship with the girl?—”

“I fell in—” I stop myself. I can’t go back to that time. “I won’t.”

“She hurt you and told you she wasn’t ready for this.” He nods at June, who’s drifting off in my free arm. “And can you blame her? Remember us at twenty-four?”

My laugh is short and sarcastic. “No. I honestly don’t. Those years are a bit of a blur for me.”

“Exactly. Not being ready doesn’t make her a bad person. She’s too young.”

My heart revolts at that idea. She’s not too anything when it comes to me. She’s perfect. Which is why I can barely look at her. It’s why I can barely stand watching her with Vivi. The life I wanted, the life I would have given up everything for, is a live dream playing out in front of me.A taunt. A tease.

I can touch it, and I can feel it, but in the end, it won’t last. There’s a time limit. An expiration date. She won’t be ours forever, so I can’t let her be ours for even a minute.

“Vivi comes first,” my brother says, voicing my exact thoughts.

I keep my focus on the lid of my coffee cup and dip my chin. “I know.”

He taps his foot against mine. “You can do this.”

With a deep breath in, I look up. “I don’t really have any other choice, huh?”