Page 51 of Puck Blocked
“And the next,” I repeat to myself.
I sit back down between Aliyah and Liliana, and a few minutes later, a girl walks out with three Vancouver letterman jackets.
Aliyah passes one to each of us. “We’re going to need these. It’s freaking cold in this place.”
“Thank you,” I tell her.
We’re in a private box now. I don’t know how Aliyah got us a last-minute box, but she did. And I’m grateful I don’t have to be down there with the crowd. The game is in the third period. We’re up by one, and I’m on the edge of my seat, waiting for the timer to go off. There are still five minutes on the clock. And, honestly, anything could happen.
“Please let them win,” I pray to something, to anyone listening.
“They’re going to win.” Aliyah nods.
“From your lips to God’s ears,” Liliana adds.
Three minutes on the clock. The Vegas team gets the puck and I see it before it happens. They slap it past our goalie and tie the score.
“Looks like we’re going into overtime,” Aliyah comments. “No one is going to beat the dream trio in overtime.”
“The dream trio?” I ask her.
“Liam, Gray, and Luke.” She grins. “Their line is practically undefeated in overtime.”
“Practically?”
“They’ve lost once or twice, but we don’t talk about those instances. There’s no room for negativity in this life. So, bring on the overtime. We’re going to win.”
I wish I had her confidence. It’s not that I don’t think the Knights are a great team. They are. But so is Vegas. And, well, I’m nervous. Luke takes the losses hard. He’ll spend hours watching the replays, trying to see where things went wrong. What he could have done better.
No one else knows he does that. Well, no one but Grayson, because he does it too.
I get that losing is part of the game. Part of the sport. But Luke is my husband, and I’m allowed to want him to only experience winning, right? I haven’t been a wife for all that long, but surely that’s on the list of things a wife can do?
I wonder if there is an actual list. I should ask Aliyah.
The second I think it, I also realize how stupid I’m being. There’s no list. As Luke likes to remind me, I am the decision-maker in my own life. There are no rules, other than the ones I set for myself. I get to decide what I do and when I do it. I get to decide the kind of life I want to live and no one has the power to make me think or do otherwise.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The game’s gone into overtime. We’re at the shootout stage. O’Neil is up first. We’re all waiting, ready to jump the boards if he scores.
I watch as he skates towards the net. He fakes a left, then a right. And as the goalie leans to one side, O’Neil contorts his body in an inhuman way to slap the puck to the left again. That little black disc flies right over the goalie’s right glove and hits the back of the net.
“Fuck yeah!” I yell. Jumping over the boards, rushing towards Travis, and landing on his back. “Yes!” I slap his shoulder while the rest of the team piles on top of us. “You did it.”
Anyone would think we just won the Cup, but the thing about the Knights is we treat every game like it’s the playoffs. And this year, we will be returning. We will be keeping that title in Vancouver.
After all the presentations, I finally get to hit the showers. I can’t wait to get back to my wife. I want to take her to the hotel and spend the night celebrating this win with her, preferably buried between her legs.
Montana is waiting with Liliana and Enzo when I walk out of the locker room. “Everything okay?” I ask, my eyes flicking between the three of them.
“Everything’s good. Where you heading now?” Enzo says.
“The hotel.” I look from Enzo to Montana. “Unless you wanted to go somewhere else?”
She bites her bottom lip. “No, I’m really tired. The hotel is exactly where I want to go.”
I take Montana’s hand in mine and smile before turning to Liliana. “Where are you guys headed?”
