Page 179 of Voices

Our coach calls a time-out and the team crowds around him.

Lily drops my arm and holds her hands up over her head. She tilts her head back with her eyes closed and wiggles her fingers.

“What the hell are you doing?” I lift a brow at her.

“I’m praying to the hockey Gods!” She wiggles her fingers faster. “Please, oh great one, let us win and not let Benji’s stupid-ass penalty cost us the championship.”

I snort. “I don’t think that’s how it works.”

She lowers her hands and winks at me. “Worth a shot.”

We laugh as the horn goes off and the teams get ready in front of our goalie. Shane, Ryder, Asher, and one other player are on the ice for us.

Asher wins the puck and quickly passes it to Ryder. The four of them speed to the other side of the ice as the other team backpedals. Ryder passes to the other player who shoots the puck towards the net. It bounces off the goalie’s pad and lands on Shane’s stick. He skates backward and as Asher passes in front of the goalie, he shoots. I’m not sure if it hits someone’s skate but somehow the puck goes through the goalie’s legs and into the back of the net.

The stands erupt in cheers!

As everyone around me screams and hugs, I have my eyes locked on Shane. He’s swallowed up by his teammates, but I can see his smiling face from here.

He’s so happy.

My heart skips a beat when he skates to the bench and points to me with that megawatt smile.

Lily bumps my shoulder. “Why is he so much hotter covered in sweat?” she fans herself, laughing.

I shake my head, holding back a laugh. She’d die if she saw him naked with only a backwards hat on.

There are only forty seconds left in the game and because Benji is still in the penalty box, we are still one man short. Matt is joined by three other players as the puck is dropped at center ice. We lose the puck and are forced back onto our side of the ice.

The Devils pass the puck around as they slowly close in on our goalie. One of our players pokes the puck free from their passing and all four of our guys fly to the other side. The puck is passed to Matt with five seconds left. He skates behind the net and when he comes to the front, he does a spin move and shoots the puck. The lamp lights up a second before the horn sounds to end the game.

A smile splits my face as I watch everyone jump up and swarm Matt.

They did it.

Matt lines up at center ice for the last puck drop as the game ends a second later.

Every player leaps off the bench and attacks Matt at center ice. Helmets, sticks, and gloves litter the ice as they celebrate their win for the second season in a row.

I lose Shane for a few minutes as they all jump around but then spot him with his arms around Ryder, Matt, and Asher. They have their arms on each other’s shoulders and their heads together. When they look up, they look sad but also happy?

But then I realized what this game means.

This is probably the last game they’ll play together on the same team.

My heart hurts for each of them for different reasons.

Matt doesn’t think he’s good enough to play in the NHL.

Ryder wants to play in the NHL but hasn’t had any teams reach out to him.

Asher has no desire to play in the NHL, making next year his final year playing.

And Shane has made his NHL dream come true but he’s leaving his friends.

But I know they’ll stay in touch, no matter where life takes them. Their bond is the kind that distance can’t touch.

“Let's go celebrate!”

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