Page 142 of Unravel Me

I cradle my mask in the top of my net, then move to a safe corner of the ice where no one is firing shots at me. Before I can stretch like I planned, the music changes, and I sigh when the “Cha-Cha Slide” comes on.

“Oh shit!” Carter shouts, coming to a stop beside me. “Know what time it is, Woody?”

I sigh again, because I know exactly what time it is. “It’s cha-cha time.” I point at Jaxon, who’s snickering at us as Garrett and Emmett join. “I’m not doing it unless Riley gets in on it this year!”

“Absolutely not. This is your tradition. I wasn’t here when it was formed.”

“You’re part of this family,” Carter tells him lowly, catching his jersey and dragging him over. “And this family participates in cha-cha time.” He gestures at the crowd, all their phones aimed at us, because since Carter forced this tradition on us during my very first game in an attempt to settle my nerves and stop me from vomiting, they’ve come to expect it whenever the song comes on. “The people want to see us cha-cha real smooth, Riley, and what the people want, the people get.”

“I don’t want him standing next to me,” Garrett grumbles. “If he messes up, he’ll take me down with him. And Jennie likes watching me shake my ass.”

Carter yanks Jaxon between us, and he rolls his eyes, standing still as a statue as the rest of us follow the song’s instructions, sliding to the left.

“Slide to the goddamn left,” I growl at him, shoving him left with my shoulder. “Now right.”

“Criss-cross!”

I jump in my skates, crossing my feet, and narrow my eyes at Jaxon.

“Fine,” he snarls, crossing his feet once, then twice. He claps along with the song and at least three-quarters of this crowd, and when it’s time to cha-cha real smooth, he does it perfectly, rolling his hips as he spins in a circle, almost like he’s been…practicing.

He points one threatening finger in my face the second I open my mouth. “I know what you’re about to say, and don’t. Just. Fucking.Don’t.”

I grin, focusing on the dance steps as Jaxon nails every single one of them beside me, and when it’s finally done, I clap him on the back. “Feels like you’re a lot more like Carter than you’d like to believe.”

“If you want me to defend your net tonight, fuck off.”

Chuckling, I spread my legs wide and sink to the splits on top of the ice, reveling in the pull in my groin and my hamstrings as I get as low as I can.

Garrett sinks down beside me on his knees, spreading his legs. “I’ll never understand how you can do the splits.”

“Goalie things.”

“Jennie says it looks like I’m humping the ice when I do this,” he says, bouncing into his stretch. He looks up, wagging his brows, and I know without a doubt he’s wagging them at Jennie.

I lean forward, getting my chest as close to the ice as I can. “You think Rosie’s gonna watch the game on TV?”

“Nah.”

I narrow my eyes. “Thanks, you fucking turtle dick. You could’ve appeased me and said yes, you know.”

Garrett laughs, climbing to his feet with me. “She’s not gonna watch on TV.” He scoops a puck up with the blade of his stick, flipping it in the air before catching it. Then he points behind the bench. “She’s gonna watch from right there.”

My gaze snaps to the seats I swore would be empty, and my heart swells when I see it, my two favorite people nestled between people I call family.

I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face if I tried, and as I skate toward Rosie and Connor, it only grows. Connor’s wearing a tiny version of my jersey, big headphones covering his ears, and when Rosie points to me, a smile ignites his face.

He slaps at the glass as I stop there. “Dada! Hi, Dada!”

I chuckle, placing my gloved hand against the glass, on the other side of his. “Hi, buddy. I’m so happy you’re here.”

“Hockey!” He points at my stick. “Dada…pay…hockey?”

Rosie’s so fucking breathtaking, sitting there in my jersey, I can barely hear Cara losing her shit over the fact that Connor’s calling meDada.

“Spin for me.” The words are a quiet plea, and my heart slams against my chest when Rosie grins, lifting Connor in her arms and spinning in a slow circle, showing me my last name on her back.

Fucking perfection.

---