Page 98 of Going All In

There was no whistle, and Darcy started yelling at the ref.

To be fair, so did the rest of the arena, but Darcy was pissed. She’d seen more than her fair share of shitty calls since she’d started watching hockey, but Jake could’ve seriously been hurt with that trip. Any time a player’s face was close enough to get in the way of skate blades was never a good thing.

“What the hell,” she shouted. “That was a trip. Where’s the call?”

“Whoa, killer,” Lydia said, grabbing Darcy’s arm when Darcy wanted to jump up from her seat.

“It was a bad call,” she muttered.

“Damn straight it was, but Jake’s fine,” her father said from the other side of her mother, who was looking at her with an expression that bordered between concern and excitement. Darcy couldn’t figure out how else to describe it.

“I know. But he could’ve been hurt.” Darcy turned her focus back to the game. Jake had already picked himself back up and was chasing after the puck again. He got one of the Dallas forwards along the far boards. She’d had to look up on the jumbotron to see exactly what was going on since they were currently sitting in corner seats behind Gally, the Strikers’ goalie.

He won the puck battle and effortlessly skated around the opposition before shooting the puck toward Ethan.

Jake was so ridiculously hot on the ice—well, on and off the ice. And it had nothing to do with his physical appearance since he was currently covered in pads, a helmet, and all the other hockey gear.

It was how he navigated the rink. How he was always in the right spot to help out and how he acted like a team player. She’d watched some of the other teams over the last two months with Jake while they snuggled up on his large couch in front of the TV. Some top players were all about goals and not necessarily thinking about their teammates, but Jake was cued into everyone. She’d thought him cocky before, but it wasn’t cockiness, it was confidence, and it was hotter than the dimple in his cheek or the V in his hips or that perfect ass. Okay, maybe the confidence was a close second to his ass.

Hey. She’d grown quite fond of his delectable backside.

“Whatcha thinking about over there?” Lydia whispered, startling Darcy.

“What? Just watching the game.”

“You’ve got quite a blush going on for just watching the game. I mean, they’re all freaking hot under all that gear, but come on, give your sister the goods.” Then Lydia wiggled her brows.

Darcy laughed and playfully shoved her sister. “It’s cold in here and it makes my cheeks red.”

“Sure. Sure. Hold out on me.”

“You know I’m teasing you with the shot game,” Lydia said, and Darcy turned to look at her sister.

They had always been so different, even when they were kids. They’d never been extremely close. She never knew when to take Lydia seriously.

“Really?” she asked.

“I am. I’m happy for you and Jake. He seems like a great guy. Not someone I ever would’ve thought you’d end up with, but you complement each other, from the few family dinners we’ve had with him. Just wanted you to know.”

“Thanks. Yeah, he’s definitely not what I expected.” He kept telling her that she was constantly surprising him, but he did the exact same thing to her, and she loved it more than she wanted to admit. Everyone always called her predictable, but Jake never had.

“So, I can still come to Crash and Byrne with you after this, right?” And she was back to being crazy and unpredictable Lydia.

Jake slid ontothe bench after he finished his shift. Faceplanting on the ice was never ideal, especially when the ref didn’t make a penalty call on Dallas after the little shit winger had tripped him. How a stick through the bottom of his skate wasn’t a clear call was beyond him. A few months ago he might’ve given the ref hell, but that never got him anywhere but on Bugsy’s shitlist.

See. He was learning.

“You good?” Bugsy asked, nudging Jake’s shoulder.

“Yeah. Shit call, but I’m good,” he said.

“Great. Now get another goal,” Bugsy said before he moved down the line.

“He really gives a good pep talk, huh,” Harty said, then laughed. “But that should’ve been a call. All fucking day long.”

“Yeah. But what are you going to do? Yelling gets you nowhere with these refs,” he said with a shrug, and Harty tilted his head in question like a puppy.

“It’s like she has some magical calming influence on you. She’s good for you, man. I didn’t want to believe it because she’s Darcy, and I thought she was way too good for you, but you make her happier than I’ve seen her before, and you have actually gotten your shit together.”

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