Page 93 of Breakaway Daddies

We’ve got each other.

We’ve got one more period to carve our names into the story of this team forever.

This isn’t just about a win anymore. It’s about proving who we are.

It’s about redemption.

And we’re coming for it.

Or so I thought…

Suddenly, everything shifts.

The overhead lights drop in a dramatic snap, plunging the arena into a hush so sharp it slices through the roar of the game like a blade.

A collective gasp ripples through the crowd, an electrified “oooohhh” that sounds like confusion, excitement, and magic all colliding in one breath.

For one heart-stopping second, I panic.Please don’t let the power go out. Not during the championship. Not now.

But then…

The opening notes of “The Light in Your Eyes” drift out over the sound system, slow and soft like the universe just hit “play” on the most important mixtape of my life.

And something inside me detonates.

My chest seizes like I’ve taken a puck straight to the heart. That song.Hersong. The one she used to hum under her breath while wrapping our wrists and icing our bruises like it was nothing, like she didn’t know we were listening.

The one she danced to in our living room, barefoot and laughing, with a freaking lizard on her shoulder, like that was just a normal Tuesday night.

I whip around, my heart in my throat…

…and then a single spotlight cuts across the arena like a comet, slicing through the dark, illuminating the front row near the rink.

And there she is.

Jinx.

Lit up like the climax of every dream I’ve ever had. Wearing her oversized Marauders jersey like armor, her hair wind-tossed and wild, her cheeks pink from the cold, and that smile,God, that smile.

It’s shy and chaotic and full of mischief and hope, and it wrecks me. It’s so her it feels like being kissed and punched at the same time.

She’s holding a sign over her head, arms shaking a little, the letters painted big and crooked like she couldn’t be bothered to make it perfect because she was too busy being brave.

WILL YOU GO ON A DATE WITH ME?

The arena explodes.

Even more than for a goal.

Whistles, cheers, people losing their damn minds like we just won the championshipanda lotteryandthe Bachelor finale all at once. Someone screams her name. Someone else throws popcorn into the air.

There’s glitter. I swear there’s glitter falling from somewhere.

She’s not just a fan, she’s theevent. The whole crowd is hers now.

I start laughing. It erupts out of me without warning, bright and helpless and cracked wide open. My heart’s a live wire, my legs feel like jelly, and I’ve never felt more alive.

I grab Bruno’s arm like a kid tugging his best friend’s sleeve. “Look.”

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