Page 85 of Pucked and Pregnant

“You think that the hockey gods are blessing your team?” Travis asks, his tone dripping with fake good humor.

Dimitri pipes up, stepping into our little circle. “We put in the work, and we get results. We make it easy for the hockey gods to bless us.”

Liv blinks a little at his intensity but he isn’t looking at her. He’s glaring at Travis like he wants to rip his head off.

I need to say something that will ease the tension and make sure that the video they are collecting will be useful to them. “The Russian Bear is just riled up for the upcoming fray, you know? He’s not wrong, though. We have been working hard, and I think it’s paying off.”

“Let’s talk a little bit about stats,” Liv interjects, dragging the conversation away from the testosterone cloud hovering in the air.

I hear her rattling off facts and figures, but I’m not really listening. I’m distracted by how much I wish that I could go home to Liv every night. That’s one of the things that I miss the most about the days when were just silly kids growing up together. Liv hadn’t been off-limits back then. We’d all crashed out in the tree fort on warm summer nights, or we had sleepovers at one of our houses and watched movies until the early hours of the morning.

Things were just easy between us. Max and I had been friends first, but Liv had become a natural part of our companionship almost from the start. It had felt strange when we grew apart as adults.

I try to imagine what a life with Liv would look like. Would all of us live together in one big house? That would make the most sense, especially if we had kids at some point.Kids, I think, my brain catching on the word as Liv asks Connor about some stats from the last game. I’ve always wanted kids, but how would that work in our situation? Heck, I didn’t even know if Liv wanted children.

“What do you think, Hotshot?” Liv asks, using my nickname on the ice.

I blink for a moment, then flush a little as I realize that I have no idea what’s going on. “Sorry,” I manage to say, “can you repeat the question?”

“I asked if you thought that you could repeat your stats from the last game,” Liv starts to say, but then a strange look comes over her face. She holds up a finger, then races from the room hunched over, one hand pressed to her mouth.

Dimitri and I look at one another in confusion. Even Travis looks perplexed. Connor, however, hurries after her.

“Excuse me,” I say to Travis, stepping past him and slipping out into the hallway. I don’t see Connor and Liv but I have an idea of where they might be.

I stride down the hallway toward the women’s restroom, then poke my head inside.

“Connor? Liv?” I call out from the doorway.

“In here,” Connor calls back to me.

I push the door open just as Dimitri catches up with me. We step into the bathroom cautiously, looking around for other women. It seems the coast is clear.

“You okay, Liv?” I ask. I notice that Connor doesn’t seem that fazed, and I arch a brow at him. He just shakes his head.

“You guys, I’m fine,” she says, sounding a little annoyed. “I might be coming down with something, but I’ll be alright in a minute.”

“This happened this morning too,” Connor says to us.

My heart does a little flip-flop in my chest.This morning. So, Connor had been at Liv’s place this morning. I look over at him, trying to decide how to feel. We had all agreed that we wouldn’t get jealous if another spent time with Liv alone, but damn, it isn’t easy.

“You can be jealous later,” Connor says. “She needs us right now.”

Knowing that he’s right, I say, “Do you want some water? I can go grab a bottle from the team fridge.”

“Sure,” she calls back to me. I look at Connor and he just sighs and nods.

“We’ll talk about it,” he says, then makes a shooing motion to get going.

Dimitri decides to come with me to the breakroom area down the hallway. We grab a couple of bottles of water. I grab a banana too, in case she feels hungry once she starts coming back around.

“Here,” I say to her as I pass a bottle of cold water to Liv when we walk back into the women’s restroom.

“Thanks,” she replies gratefully. She drinks about a third of it in one go then sighs. “Sorry. It’s just been so damn stressful lately, with the media and everything.”

Suddenly, her lower lip starts trembling. I look at her in confusion as I realize that tears are streaming down her face.

“Hey,” I say gently, stepping closer and pulling her into my arms. “What’s wrong?”

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