Page 25 of The Owner

“I’ll keep you in mind,” Riley says, chuckling. “But you might have to fight my eight-year-old niece for the job.”

Zara flexes her bicep. “Bring it on.”

The girls start chatting about the wedding, which we’ll have on my yacht, so I turn my focus onto the ice. The boys look good. They look healthy and excited to win.

I’m surprised at how on edge I am. I’m having a hard time sitting still.

It’s a win-win situation, I tell myself. If the Hyenas win, great. And if we lose, Riley will win and I’ll be thrilled for her.

Still, I do have a favorite…

After the national anthem and all of the ceremony stuff, the arena is buzzing with excitement. It’s game seven in San Antonio, winner take all.

The boys skate onto the ice and it feels like my pulse is going to burst, it’s racing so fast.

“Good luck,” Riley whispers when the game is about to start.

“But not too much luck,” I say with a grin. She smiles and takes my hand, squeezing it.

Whatever happens, I’ll have my Riley. And that’s all I need.

The arena quiets, everyone too excited to breathe, as the referee skates over with the puck.

“Here we go!” Zara says before screeching like a banshee. “Go Hyenas, Aaarrooooo!!!”

The referee throws the puck down and the boys explode into action. Sebastian Kemp fights for the puck and wins. He passes it back to Edvard Svensson who immediately passes it to Harris Sutton.

I keep my eyes glued on the ice, heart pounding as I watch.

No one scores in the first period. The goalies are too good. We have the best goalie in the league, Nolan Barlowe, but the Vipers have the second-best goalie, Miles Ackerman. They both make several fantastic stops.

No one scores in the second period either, but something even better happens. Carson Rochon slams into Austin from behind, giving him a cheap shot, and Tucker McKinstry takes it personally. He charges over, throwing his gloves onto the ice.

“Oh yeah!” Zara says as all twenty-four thousand hockey fans jump to their feet, us included. “Kick his ass, Mother Tucker!”

“Let’s go, Carson!” Riley hollers as her enforcer drops his gloves, big mean grin on his face.

The referees circle as the two Goliaths collide in an epic showdown. They know it might be the last chance they have at each other and they do not hold back.

McKinstry gets first blood, walloping Rochon with a hard right hook. Rochon staggers, but when McKinstry comes in to finish the job, Rochon hits him with several hard jabs.

From there, it’s just a blur of thunderous punches and splashes of blood. The crowd roars as they grab each other’s jerseys and let loose, pounding one another into oblivion.

One of the referees tries to jump on Carson, but he bounces right off and lands on his ass.

“Come on, Tucker,” I whisper under my breath as the two beasts begin to slow down, throwing slower sluggish punches. They’re still devastating when they land, but they’re not coming in as fast.

Tucker is cut badly above his left eye. Blood is pouring out onto his jersey and dripping onto the ice where it immediately freezes.

As bad as he looks, Carson looks even worse. His lip is cut in two places, he’s bleeding from his forehead, and from a cut under his eye.

Carson knees Tucker between the legs and the whole arena lets out a collective ‘Oooooh!’

It doesn’t bring Tucker McKinstry down. It only angers him and gives him a burst of furious energy. He squeezes his huge fist and lets it rain down on Rochon, cracking him with hard roundhouses and fierce jabs. When Rochon lowers his head, Tucker lets loose with a devastating uppercut that snaps his head back and knocks him out.

Rochon falls to the ground unconscious. The crowd roars as the top enforcer in the league reaches down and grabs Rochon’s skate. My heart is racing as I watch him drag Rochon’s limp body to the Vipers’ bench. He drops him in front of it and then skates to the penalty box as the crowd goes nuts.

“He almost had him,” Riley says as she watches Carson wake up, looking a little dazed.

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