Page 143 of Three Pucks and a Baby

Without giving a shit what the others thought, I pulled him into my arms. And right there in front of everyone, I laid the biggest fucking kiss on him. To my surprise, a few whistles echoed around us.

When I pulled away, Bennie had an almost comical look on his face. “What did you do that for?”

“Because I love you.”

His lips quirked. “I know that. But why now?”

“Because I needed it.” With a wink, I added, “For luck.”

“For luck,” he echoed before leaning in to kiss me.

After an epic pep talk from Coach Murano, we started down the tunnel to the ice. Every molecule in my body was onadrenaline overload. It was a feeling I’d experienced many times before, but the fact that we were so fucking close to the ultimate championship had it ramped up to the extreme.

It had been a whirlwind couple of days. After our outing at the baby shower, we’d all flown to St. Louis. Unlike our other games, this one was played in an NHL arena. While we’d sailed through the two semifinal games, tonight wouldn’t be so easy. The team we were playing was equally ranked with us.

As I skated out for warmups, a roar went through the crowd. Among the fans were Vivian and her parents. They were seated a row above my parents. Of course, they had no idea who Vivian was. I’d yet to introduce her, nor had I mentioned that we were dating or that I was part of a quadruple. I intended to keep that part of my life a secret for as long as I possibly could.

Gray’s parents and brothers were also in attendance, along with some of his aunts, uncles, and cousins. To my surprise and Bennett’s, his mom and sisters were sitting with Vivian. From Bennett’s expression, I could tell he was about to lose it with happiness and pride.

“Keep it together, man.” When his wild gaze spun to mine, I nodded encouragingly. “Make them proud.”

A smile then curved on his lips. “I sure as hell will.”

“Good.”

Warmups went by in a blur, and before I knew it we were getting in position for the puck drop. Our center, Xavier Zebretsky, faced off in front of our opponent. As the referee held up the puck, I sucked in a breath. When it dropped onto the ice, Xavier got to it first, slinging it over to Bennett, who was ready and waiting.

From my position at the far end, I craned my neck to watch him fight to get it to the goal. Just as he started to shoot it, he got overtaken by another dude, sending the puck skittering to one of the other team’s guys.

As they started skating back to my end, I got ready to deflect any hits, but they didn’t make it to me.

I knew then it was going to be a long, fucking game.

After the final intermission, we were tied at 3-3 when we took the ice. With three minutes left, we finally scored again. Our fans in the crowd went wild, and I thought I was going to lose my mind. We were so fucking close to victory.

With the clock ticking down, a Ravens winger charged down the ice. With my gaze locked on him, I swayed back and forth. When Bennett swept in to stop him, he got slammed by another Ravens teammate, sending him crashing onto the ice. As my chest clenched, all I could focus on was his crumpled form.

“Move, Bennie. Come on, move,” I muttered under my breath.

But then I agonizingly separated my head from my heart. I had to keep my mind on the game. It was too important.

Instead of shooting the puck from where he was, the winger wasn’t taking any chances. He was going to get as close as possible before he let go of his precious cargo. Tuning out the roar of the crowd and the grunts and groans of my teammates, I focused everything I had on that puck.

Not the teammate coming in the clutch for a pass, or Grayson being knocked into the plexiglass, or Bennie appearing dazed as he stumbled to his feet.

I had my eyes on the puck.

Just before it became airborne, instinct said to go left. But something in the back of my head said no. That a switch was coming.

As the player’s stick scraped across the ice, I made my decision. I whirled my body to the right, blocking the goal, and sealing our victory.

“HELL FUCKING YEAH!” I bellowed.

My teammates began dogpiling me, smacking my helmet with their hands and hugging me. Through the madness, I tried to find my guys. I heaved a relieved breath when Grayson’s grinning face came before me. “Holy shit, bro, that was amazing!” he shouted over the deafening roar.

“Thanks, man.”

I searched each player’s face, but I still didn’t see Bennett. Panic started to replace my euphoria. He had gotten up, hadn’t he?

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