Page 72 of Conner

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,” she snapped at him. She knew she shouldn’t, but the whole situation was starting to get to her. “Can we please just go? I don’t want to get in too late.”

She turned to look at him. It was a mistake. The look on his face gutted her. Why did this whole situation have to suck so much? But there was nothing to be done about it. It was what it was.

After a long pause, he finally said, “Okay, let’s go.”

The ride to the center was quiet. The need to apologize and smooth out whatever was off between them sat under the surface, but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. Instead, she just pulled out her phone and looked at the list of things she needed to take care of at work. That was something she at least felt like she had control over.

38

Conner

Conner was suiting up for the final home game, but he couldn’t get his head in it. He knew once he was on the ice everything would be fine, but that morning things had gone sideways with Sasha, and he was still trying to figure it all out. He had been thinking about his old girlfriend and how she used to mess with his head and when he finally had enough that night went terribly wrong. He had just told himself what he had going with Sasha wasn't like that, but here he was again lost in his thoughts over a girl before an important game. Given this wasn’t a playoff game or even one they needed to win, but it was their last home game and season closer. He should be living it up, instead he was in his head.

“You good? You seemed off in warmups?” Cash asked, sitting down next to him after swapping out his warm-up Jersey for his game jersey.

“Yep, I'm ready to play.”

“Sasha?”

“Nope. I'm ready.”

“Alright let's do this,” Cash said offering him a fist to pound as Coach Wagner came in to talk to them.

Much to Conner's relief he was able to leave it all behind when he stepped out on the ice. After he won the first face-off of the game, he found his zone. He missed Wes out there on the ice, but he and Sven were playing pretty well together. It was the top of the third period, and they were up 4-2. The other team was starting to get a little riled up and after a close goal for them. One of them skated in hard at Ethan and took him down.

Before he knew what had hit him Cash had thrown his gloves and started to pummel the guy. Conner got in the scrum of other players and started pulling at each other as the officials broke them all up. They were all riled up. Cash got five and Conner was on the bench breathing hard after that shift. He saw Sasha in the press section looking at him with a smile on her face shaking her head at him. Things may have gotten a little off between them, but the way a smile from her buoyed his heart–even mid game—let him know he had to find a way to make this work.

The crowd was going wild. They had been on their feet since the fight, but they had pulled off the win. After the game Conner showered and was getting ready to head out.

“You coming out tonight?” asked Ethan. “I think Wes and your sister are going to be there.”

“No, I'm just going to head home tonight.”

“For real?” Ethan said as they made their way out of the locker room into the hallway. Conner spotted Sasha and smiled. “It's the last home game, almost everyone is coming, even Gunnar, and he never comes out. One last team party night before playoffs.”

“Nah, I'm headed home,” he said hoping he would drop it before they got to Sasha. She already felt guilty about him not going out with the team tonight.

“That's a shame. I guess I'll see you at practice,” Ethan said as they made their way out.

Conner slowed down when he came to Sasha.

“Good game,” she said, smiling at him. He was happy to see that smile because he hadn't seen it in a couple days. “Are you sure you don't want to go celebrate with the guys?”

“How about we celebrate at my place?” he said with a wink.

She looked up at him through her dark lashes and he knew he made the right decision.

They made their way out to his car in relative silence in all the commotion around them. They may not have said much, but her old energy was back, and it was everything.

Once they were both settled in his car, she turned to him. “I really love watching you play,” she said, looking over at him.

He had just pulled out of the parking lot, and they were headed back to his house. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, you've always been my favorite player to watch out there. You're so in charge. People pay attention to you and listen to you.”

“You like it when I'm in charge?” he said looking over at her with a raised eyebrow.

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