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“Speaking of flying the nest, aren’t you supposed to be making new friends tonight? Go on, Firefly. We’ve got Gunner and Gemma. If they need anything, you know we’ll call right away,” my grandfather says as he practically shoos me out of the suite.

Before I leave, I wrap Gunner up in a big hug and smack a kiss on his head. “Be good, Bug. Love you,” I tell him as I set him down.

“Love you too. My crystal is gonna make Benny score!” he squeals.

That’d make his whole week, so here’s to hoping.

Making my way back down the hall, I run into Alexa and we decide to grab seltzers before we head into the suite. A tiny bit of liquid courage will help ease my nerves for the interviews Bennett and I have after the game.

Once we’re back with Dakota and Kenna, they introduce me to the other women in the suite, and we find a few seats together at the front, watching as the guys finish their warmups.

“Do any of your men have specific pregame rituals?” I ask, turning to face the three of them.

Kenna’s the first to answer. “Of course. I feel like all the players are superstitious when it comes to their game-day routines. Like Griff, for example, always wants a bag of Hot Tamales because I call him Hotshot and he knows I love everything cinnamon-flavored. Oh, and he adds custom-stitched symbols to each pair of gloves he wears. He has a kitten in remembrance of his sister Katie, a sun for me, “Ray” for Cadence, and a little oar for our son Rowen. Griff calls him “Rook” so he wanted to get a rook chess piece, but Carson freaked out for some reason and said he should do an oar instead.” I watch as Kenna shrugs next to a blushing Dakota and wonder what that’s about.

“Aw, that’s super cute,” Alexa tells her as the guys exit the ice and the zamboni starts its rounds before the first period .

Alexa is drop-dead gorgeous. She’s tall—it was no surprise to learn she played college volleyball with Kenna—with long platinum blonde hair and a bronzed glow that I can only dream of having.

She’s a sportscaster, but had the night off.

I can’t quite get a read on her relationship status with Jackson.

According to Bennett, the two of them aren’t putting a label on things, but she’s such a catch, I can’t imagine why Jax wouldn’t want to make things official.

Dakota clears her throat. “Carson wears a bracelet I made for him in Italy when we went to Taylor Swift’s Era’s Tour together.

That, and he sneaks a FaceTime call in right before warmups.

When he’s on the West Coast for late games, it gets pretty hard to stay up while pregnant, but so far I’ve managed.

We’ll see how that goes later on in the season when I’m super pregnant. ”

“Ugh, I was so much more tired in the third trimester during my second pregnancy,” Kenna says. “I’m not sure how, considering I was put on Griff-mandated bedrest any time he could get away with it.”

Dakota laughs at that. “I thought Carson was overly protective when I was pregnant with the twins; that is, until I saw how Griffin was this past year when you were pregnant with Rowen. I mean, I get where he was coming from after the complications you had with Cadence and not having been there, but he was borderline insane.”

McKenna and Griffin have been together so long, it’s hard to forget the tragedy and heartbreak the two of them endured before they found their way back to each other. I briefly remember hearing about it since we went to the same college, though it was mostly secondhand gossip.

Kenna scoffs and rolls her eyes. “Yeah, I told him he more than made up for missing the first pregnancy, to which he said, ‘You’re supposed to wait until the fifth or sixth before you tell me that,’ and I could’ve killed him right then and there. ”

“Wait, are you guys planning to have six kids ?” Alexa’s eyes widen in shock.

Kenna nearly spits out the sip of Diet Coke she just took.

“No! That’s why I could’ve killed him. Rowen is only four months old, and Griff’s already begging me to try again.

I told him it’s all fun and games until we’ve got two under two that we’re toting to his games, not to mention Cadence’s hockey games,” Kenna explains as if she needs to justify her decision to wait.

“I’m sure he just figures if he’s going to get you knocked up six times, he has to get to work,” Alexa mutters through muffled snickers, winking at Kenna.

“Ha, ha, very funny. Laugh all you want at my insatiable husband, but I’ve heard Jax on multiple drunken nights declare that he wants three or four kids to run around the countryside,” Kenna throws back at Alexa.

Alexa rolls her eyes at her friend. “That’s a good one, Mack Attack.

But I’ve got this thing called an IUD so my situationship with Jax doesn’t turn into more than I can handle.

I’m honestly not sure I see motherhood in my future.

And I know that’s something Jax wants, hence the friends-with-benefits arrangement we’ve got.

We both know we’re not long-term, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun in the meantime.

” Turning her gaze to me, Alexa adds, “The only pregame ritual I know of is that Jax and Carse do this strange stick-handling thing where they get really close on the ice and pass the puck quickly back and forth before they smack each other on the butts with their sticks. It’s honestly the cutest thing I think I’ve ever seen two grown men do. ”

Dakota nods in agreement. “Oh, I love when they do that!”

“Griff says Bennett’s the most superstitious player he’s ever played with.

I remember in high school Carse said Bennett wore the same pair of socks the whole season and refused to wash them.

They won the state championship that year,” Kenna tells us, bringing her fist to cover her mouth as if she’s holding back a gag.

I scrunch my face in disgust. “Oh my god, that’s disgusting.”

Dakota’s face pales and she looks like she’s going to actually be sick. “Please, no,” she drawls.

“Ew, you should ask him if that was worth the terrible case of athlete’s foot he probably got.” Alexa fake gags. “You really gotta wonder who you’re hitching yourself to, huh Little Red Riding Hood?”

“Not you too,” I groan.

Alexa chuckles. “Alright, alright, I’ll just stick to calling you Scar.”

“Thank you,” I mutter before taking a sip of my seltzer.

“So, is this your first game wearing Bennett’s jersey?” Dakota asks me just as the lights in the arena dim and a video plays on the jumbotron to hype up the crowd.

Looking over them, I realize that both Kenna and Dakota are wearing Griffin and Carson’s jerseys, but Alexa is wearing black, pleather skinny pants with a white long-sleeve bodysuit and a cropped black puffer vest.

“It is,” I admit, shyly.

“You know what that means, right?” Kenna asks, waggling her eye brows.

I give her a look that I hope portrays how clueless I am as to whatever she’s asking.

Dakota winks at Kenna and then asks me, “Do you two have plans after the game?”

“Yeah, my grandparents are taking the kids tonight so Bennett and I were planning to stay the night at his condo before he puts it on the market.” My cheeks heat thinking of what said sleepover could lead to.

“Well, I hope you got plenty of sleep last night because once he sees you, he won’t be letting you do much sleeping tonight. The guys go feral seeing their women in their jerseys,” Kenna explains before sending a wink my way.

“When he dropped by my office to give it to me earlier, he did mention I didn’t need to pack a bag.” If it’s even possible, my cheeks heat further thinking back on what we did in my office before the game.

“He gifted the jersey to you? And he brought it to your office before the game? Did you guys eat together? You know that’s going to become part of his game-day routine if he plays well tonight,” Kenna points out.

We ate together, alright. And I hope he has a stellar game for so many reasons.

“Yeah, he brought a jersey for me, Gemma, and Gunner,” I tell them.

Dakota chuckles. “Well, he’s probably going to visit you at your office before every home game from here on out.”

Alexa gasps, startling us all. “Oh my gosh, speaking of eating . . . Dakota, when are you finishing the next book in your football series?”

Kenna gapes at her friend before closing her eyes and shaking her head. “Your mind works in the strangest ways, my friend.”

Dakota blushes and becomes suddenly bashful. “It’s almost finished. I had to pump the brakes with how sick I got in the first trimester, but now that I’m feeling better and have more energy, the words have been flowing out of me.”

“I’ve been telling her for years that we should start a book club, but it made us feel lame when it was just the two of us. Do you read, Scar?” Kenna asks me.

“I do—pretty much just romance novels, YA, and kids books, but I read well over one hundred books a year,” I answer as the players take the ice.

“That’s amazing! What do you say to the four of us starting a monthly book club? Oh, we could even try to all get together when the guys are out of town for away games. ”

“I’m in!” Dakota says, followed by an excited squeal from Alexa, which I think means yes.

“Me too!” I mimic their agreements.

“Let me grab your number and I’ll start a group thread between the four of us. What should we call this book club group chat?”

“How about the Smutty Stickhandlers,” Alexa suggests before continuing, “You know, because we handle their sticks.”

This earns her a round of laughter.

“You’re brilliant,” Kenna agrees. “All in favor?”

The four of us all raise our hands and then Kenna’s typing away on her phone just as they announce the starting lineups.

The Smutty Stickhandlers:

Kenna:

I feel like T-Swift should write a song about us on her next album.

I can’t help my excitement or the smile that spreads across my face when I think of how nice it’ll be to have some female friends my age. This is a perk of our marriage I won’t allow myself to feel guilty over—I realize I’m far too eager to feel bad about it.