Page 82 of Shoot Your Shot

I push my finger into his toe, making him wince. “Cut it out. Play nice.”

“What do I get out of it if I do?” he murmurs in my ear.

“Do it and find out,” I say, winking before turning away from him.

Amelia looks extremely annoyed and skeptical of Klay before setting her cards down and heading toward us. “I think he cheated,” she says, glancing back at Klay.

“Very likely,” Kolt mutters behind me before Amelia makes it to me.

“Hey, hey, Paige. Sometime, could you and Uncle Kolty babysit me again?” she says, sitting down next to me. “And we can make heart pizzas.”

“Um … yes!” I nod quickly, running my hand over her head. “We would love that.”

“Hey, you’ve been too cool for me all night,” Kolt says, and she instantly leaps up and jumps on the couch beside him. “Playing Old Maid with my totally not-as-cool brother.”

I’m too distracted by Smith walking back into the living room with his sister and her friend behind him to hear what Kolt and Amelia are talking about though. And what is even more baffling is the strange look that Smith’s sister, Saylor, is giving Ryder right now.

I met Saylor when Smith joined the Sharks years ago. She’s sassy and witty. Though I was a little wary of her at first—mostly because she intimidated me with her long blonde hair, big blue eyes, and perfect body—we became friends not long after. As beautiful as she is, deep down, she still has the same insecurities every woman faces. And one thing about her is—at least before I left—she throws herself at the wrong men all too often. It seemed to me like she just wanted love, and now … I can’t help but wonder if she ever found it.

As if Saylor senses my gaze on her, she snaps her eyes toward me and waves. “Hey, girl!”

Standing quickly, I hug her just as her friend walks beside her.

“Paige, this is my friend, Gemma. Gemma, this is Paige.”

Right away, I recognize her name because Saylor has mentioned her in the past. If I remember correctly, I think they’ve been best friends since childhood.

“Hi,” Gemma says, her voice small.

She isn’t the shortest girl in the room, yet the way she carries herself, she might as well be. Her face is bruised, and there is a cut on her lip. I debate asking her what happened, but maybe she came here tonight, not wanting to be asked. And the way she’s acting, I’m guessing that’s the case.

Before we can talk more, Smith tugs on Gemma’s hand lightly, leading her into the kitchen and making Saylor frown.

“He can be such an ass sometimes,” she groans. She once again looks at the other side of the room, where Ryder is sitting. “Looks like you let all the asses in here tonight, huh?”

“I’m not even going to pretend to follow what you’re saying,” I utter. “But if you don’t want your brother to catch on, you might want to stop staring openly at his best friend.” I pause. “Then again, he just took your friend in the other room.Alone.”

She rolls her eyes. “Let’s just say, they have a long, difficult, stupid history.”

I frown because I’ve known Smith for a long time now, and yet I’ve never seen that girl in my life. And I’ve only heard about her from Saylor, not Smith.

Before I can ask what she means, someone else calls her over, and she saunters off. I sit back down on the floor and look around. I guess, maybe, this friend group is about to get a lot more complicated.

“You’d never know that before the playoffs, he hadn’t played in a game since this fall,” Klay says beside me, like the proud baby brother that he is. He watches in awe as his big brother plays in the Stanley Cup game. “He’s such a fucking animal on the ice.”

It’s funny, hearing him say that, because Kolt always talks about how great of a player Klay is and hints that he’s better than even he himself is. I’m a little biased, so I wouldn’t go that far.

“I hope they can hold them down,” I murmur, glancing at the clock. “We need this.”

We’re only up by one, which is far too close for comfort. With forty-three seconds left on the clock, this could easily be tied up and go into overtime, which I really,reallydo not want. I want the Sharks to win, but more than that, I’m ready for my husband to safely step off of the ice.

“Holy shit,” Maci says, squeezing my hand. “They are going all the way.”

“You said shit,” Amelia says, scolding Maci. “But it’s okay because Daddy is about to win. I forgive you.”

We’re both too engrossed in the game to laugh, cringe, or really react at all. The clock winds down. With each second that passes, somehow, the tightness in my chest grows. I want this so badly for Kolt. I want this dream to come true for him and his team.

This season started off strong for Kolt. And then he had his heart attack. Now, he’s here. Playing in the ultimate game. A real Cinderella story for his season.

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