Page 44 of Top Shelf

“Okay, boys,” I had said. “Does anyone know what a top shelf goal is?”

They skated to a circle around me, and no one said anything.

“Anyone?” I said.

Reluctantly, and very much to my surprise, Elijah raised his hand.

“It’s the top part of the goal,” he said. I smiled.

“You been studying up, Elijah?” I asked him.

“Yes, sir,” he said.

“That’s good. Yep, he’s right. Right here,” I told them, pointing to the spot with my stick. “This is where the bread and butter is. This is what we want. Sometimes it’s the hardest goal to make. But it’s the most worth it.”

And as the boys kept practicing, all I could think about was Sadie.

The most worth it.

* * *

We’re lying on the couch, eating a bowl of popcorn and flipping through the channels. I kiss the top of her head, soaking it all in. As much as I live for these moments, there’s a pit in my stomach that reminds me of just how fleeting they could be.

“Hey,” I say nudging her, “I’m gonna be out earlier than normal tomorrow. I’m gonna run down to the rink and get some practice in before school.”

She looks up at me, popping a piece of popcorn into her mouth.

“Oh, yeah? With the boys?”

“Nah,” I say with a smile. “Just me. These knees don’t skate like they used to.”

She laughs.

“I doubt that,” she says, patting my abs. I shake my head.

“Being in shape is not the same as being in hockey shape,” I tell her. She smiles.

“You’re playing a bunch of old washed-up people,” she says. “Except for Levi. But he’ll be on your team anyway.”

“Yeah,” I say. “Hayden’s playing.”

I feel her body get hard on top of me. She stops chewing and stares at me, eyes wide.

“What?”

“Yeah,” I say with a shrug. “According to Levi, he signed up for the opposing team.”

“Fucking prick,” she says, setting the bowl down. She turns to me. “You don’t think he…you don’t think he’d do anything, do you?”

I smile and pull her into me.

“Sweet girl, you don’t have to worry about anything happening to me, okay? I’ll do my best to be on my best behavior, despite the fact that I want to deck him every time I see him.” She sighs and curls up into my chest.

CHAPTERSEVENTEEN

sadie

This isthe second day in a row I’ve followed him down to the ice rink. I wait for him to go in and give him enough time to get out on the ice, and then I go in. I sit high up in the stands, and I watch as he does laps, stretches on the ice, suicides up and down the rink, puck after puck after puck at the goal. He’s huffing and puffing and sweating, and it’s really fucking sexy.

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