Page 36 of One Pucking Destiny

Raising my hands in the air, I shriek. I bolt from the chair and do a victory dance around the table. I can’t believe I beat them all. The thrill is exhilarating. I’m not sure how much is in that pot, but I guarantee it’s more money than I’ve ever had in my possession in my life.

“Yeah, I’m heading in,” Gunner states, pushing away from the table.

“Me too,” Beckett says. He looks at me with a smile.

“Let me see your cards,” Bash says under his breath, the statement meant for Beckett alone.

Beckett takes the piles of cards on the table and mixes them up before Bash can grab them. “I had a three of a kind. Uh, nines.”

Bash chuckles. “You’re lying.”

The two exchange a couple more hushed words, and my love for Beckett grows. My mom picked a good one.

“Good game.” Beckett stands from the table and gives me a high five before he heads over to my mom. She’s sitting in a lounge chair reading on her Kindle. He says something to her about kissing under the moon, and I turn my back to them to give them privacy.

I let out an exaggerated sigh. “How am I going toget all this money up to my room? I just don’t know if I can carry it all.”

“Your room, you say? I definitely have time to help you with that.” Bash collects the cards from the table and puts them back in their box.

“You know, I think I’m good.” I retrieve an empty to-go box from the bar and start piling the money into the container.

He takes a final chug of his beer, finishing it off. Everyone else has dispersed, leaving just the two of us outside.

“What are you going to do with your new fortune?” he asks, tossing his beer bottle into the recycling bin.

I pucker my lips in thought. “I’m not sure. Maybe I’ll buy myself a pony.”

“A very practical choice.”

After throwing the last bit of cash into the box, I shut the lid. “I am a very practical woman.”

As a pair, we finish cleaning up the table, throwing a few pieces of discarded trash away and disposing of empty beer bottles. I grab a bottle of water from the bar refrigerator and grab my box of cash from the table.

“I’m heading up. Night, Bash.”

“I’ll walk with you.”

I shake my head. “No, I’m fine. I can walk myself.”

“Well, I’ll walk next to you anyway. Our rooms are right by each other.”

He has me there. I can’t do much about him walking himself to his own room.

“Did you have a good day?” he asks.

“I did. Thanks. Yeah, the team is really cool, actually.”

“Actually?” He lets out a small laugh. “Did you think we wouldn’t be?”

I shrug. “As you’ve seen… I don’t know much about sports or the hockey world, but for some reason, I thought hockey players would be dicks.”

He chuckles. “Some are—not really on our team but others in the league, but I don’t think it has anything to do with being a player. There are dicks in all professions.”

“Maybe you’re right.”

We make our way up the spiral staircase to the second story. We’re quiet as we head down the hall to our rooms. No words are spoken, but the tension in the air is palpable as I anticipate what’s going to happen when we reach our doors. Or what Iwantto happen.

No, I know what I want. We need to each go into our prospective rooms and go to bed. That’s the only reasonable outcome.

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