Page 88 of First Puck

I clenched my hand around the card, squeezing it just in case it vanished.

“Brad!” Alex stood there, panting, still in his hockey sweats.

“I couldn’t wait,” he said as he stepped inside the room, the door half closing behind him. “I needed to see. They said who you were with. Brad, did you get it?”

He took two steps toward me and froze as I lifted a shaking hand.

I was still a few feet away from him, but he could see it.

As soon as he saw the logo on the card, the desperate tension splashed over his body evaporated, his shoulders dropped.

“Brad,” he whispered. “Is that it?” He stepped closer and I stood from the table, holding it out to him.

Right there, on the card, proof that we were going to be together.

He sucked in a breath, and I swear I heard a sob. One second Alex was standing in front of me, the next, he launched himself at me, chucking his arms around my shoulders and dragging me to his neck.

I let out an ‘oof,’ going stock still in surprise. He threw his whole weight at me, like I could carry him when he was so much heavier than me, but I’d fucking try.

“Thank God,” he gasped in my ear. “Thank God, Brad.” He plunged his face into my shoulder. “I didn’t think we were gonna make it.” His arms tightened, nearly squeezing the air out of me. “I’m so happy,” he choked out. “You did it. You really did it!”

I lifted my hands to press against his lower back, keeping him as close to me as possible, still not really believing it myself.

I didn’t want to let him go.

The whole time the scouts talked to me about the drafting process, all I wanted to do was see Alex. They took me to the room, and I wanted Alex to come. They put their card and the contract on the table, and I wanted to show Alex. They talked and talked to me about schedules and time frames and expectations and I was desperate to get the meeting done with so I could find him.

I wanted to know that it was all okay with him, to tell him we could do it, that we’d found our fucking dream.

I needed to say something to him. To just tell him how happy I was or apologize for last night or just do something other than pat him on the back while he basically nuzzled my shoulder.

“Hey,” I said softly. I really didn’t want to ruin the moment, but I had to ask. “Are you crying?”

He stiffened in my arms, and I instantly regretted it. I thought he would do his usual Alex thing of blushing and maybe getting a bit grumpy.

Instead, he laughed against my throat before he pulled back. His bloodshot eyes met mine, but I couldn’t see anything else there apart from his wide smile and the light pouring off him.

“You did it, Brad,” he whispered again, his voice so full of emotion that it felt like I was looking at a different Alex.

His hands slipped from my shoulders, up to my neck, his thumbs kneading my skin as he moved closer.

“You’re amazing,” he said in the same tone he used last night. That husky lilt that took him over when he’d begged me to fuck him. “You’re so amazing. Thank you. I just… Brad…” He trembled as he held me, and my heart caught straight in the back of my throat.

Fuck the draft and everything else that was about to change in my life. I just wanted Alex to keep looking at me like that.

He leaned forward, knocking his forehead against mine, and I knew he was going to kiss me. With his face so close to me, his confident smile, it was like our roles had been reversed.

Maybe having a few fingers up his ass had really changed him. If that was the case, what would happen if my dick—

“Brad!” Chase shouted from the door. Alex jerked, his hands suddenly dropping. Annoyance stabbed me right in the gut as he backed away from me.

I reached out to grab his hand, but Chase swooped in. “You did it!” he yelled and ran straight at me, just like Alex did, coming in to my left to hug me.

“Seriously! We were so worried about you!” Taylor leaped in, followed by Tommy, and suddenly, Alex was drawing back to let the other guys smother me in hugs.

But I didn’t care about that. I didn’t even care that they were all over the moon, and that a bunch of other guys on the team were getting drafted, too.

It was just his face. It was that look on Alex’s face that I’d seen a hundred times, but I’d never reallyseen.

---