Page 30 of Bar Down

Three Months Ago

Ash

After a seasonof ups and downs, trades and injuries, we finally did it. We made it to the Calder Cup Finals.

The coach’s speech is a jumble of words as I bounce my leg up and down, nerves getting the best of me. We’re going into the third period tied 3-3 and my skin is buzzing with anticipation. Even though I have a goal and an assist, I still feel like there’s so much more I could be doing.

Eli’s hand stills my leg and even through the knee pads, his firm hold calms my nerves. I give him an appreciative smile and then we’re all throwing our gear back on, ready to bring this cup home.

Sweat drips down my face as I push myself to the limit. Looking up from the bench, I see there’s only a minute left in regulation and we’re still tied.

“Fuck,” I yell, kicking the board. “Come on, boys, let’s bring this home!”

Trip gets slammed into the boards and he hobbles over to the bench, pain showing on his face. I wince just from looking at him and jump over the ledge for the shift change.

Thirty seconds remaining.

Okay, you can do this.

I stay alert during the face-off and get a hold of the puck. The rest happens in a blur as I manage to dodge the defensemen standing in my way and make it to the offensive zone. We play it safe, passing the puck a few times, but when one of my teammates fakes the shot, the goalie is caught off guard. I catch the puck and slapshot it into the net. The next thing I know, I’m being tackled by my teammates.

The final buzzer goes off and the arena erupts into cheers. The game is sold out since it’s a playoff final at home, and all 11,000 seats are occupied. Well, not anymore, since everyone is standing, cheering, and hugging each other. Because we did it. We actually won the fucking cup.

I look up at the private box where the Elliots are celebrating and for a moment I feel so sad that Robbie didn’t get to experience this with us. He’s the reason we made it here in the first place after an amazing regular season. I lift up my stick and point it at him, nodding my thanks.

We did it for you, man.

Robbie points back at me before sweeping Olivia up in a hug and spinning her around in celebration. He then high fives Alex, his business partner, and Malia, Alex’s wife.

Jordan should be here too. With how busy I’ve been recently, I haven’t reached out to him as much as I should have. For a second, I think I see him in the stands, but that’s just my mind playing tricks because he’s now in Texas.

The rest of Robbie’s family is there too, his parents, his brother with his wife and kids, and Alice. She’s taking videos and pictures and waves at me. I wave back and drop my stick, glovesand helmet on the ice. I don’t bother even trying to look for my own family, because they aren’t here. Instead, I turn around and skate up to the one person that’s been there by my side for the past two years. But especially these last few months.

Once my teammates let go of me, I sprint up to Eli and jump in his arms, nearly tackling him. He catches me easily, even with all the pads between us. His mask is still on and even though all I want is to fucking kiss him, I know he wouldn’t want that. So instead, I kiss his mask before taking it off of him.

He sets me down and we hug each other tight. “You were fucking amazing out there, Eli.”

“You scored the winning goal”—he shakes his head against me—“that was amazing.”

We smile like idiots and our hug becomes a group one when all our teammates surround us to celebrate.

The restof the night passes in a blur of happiness. We take pictures on the ice, we get congratulated by our friends and strangers on the street. We party with the team and crew, and everyone who made this season possible, then we gohomeand Eli and I celebrate in our own way.

The last two months have been stressful and exhausting, but having him by my side has made everything better. We both understood the pressure and knew how to build each other up, whether it was a pep talk, a trip to the gym, or just silently being there for one another.

The constant sex has helped too.

And I knew I would be falling more and more for him each time I would crawl into his bed, but I still did it. He tried to push me away a few times, but I managed to convince him that our friends with benefits arrangement could still work.

The problem is, I can’t tell if he was trying to push me away because he was falling too, or because he genuinely doesn’t think this could work. We haven’t exactly discussed the offseason, but I figured we could train together or take a vacation or something.

I look over at Eli next to me in bed and trail my hand down his naked chest, my fingers stopping on a bruise. It looks a light shade of purple and I frown. When did he get hurt? And why didn’t he say anything? I scoot down lower on the mattress and kiss it gently, then move my mouth up his torso to his collarbone and neck.

Eli lets out a content hum and I continue on, leaving featherlight kisses on his jaw and cheeks, his nose and forehead. My hand trails the band of his boxers and when I palm him, he’s already growing hard for me. I smile against the corner of his lips and whisper, “Are you dreaming about hockey or just happy to wake up next to me?”

Pale lashes flutter open and he stretches out, the motion bringing his bulge further in my hand. I wrap my fingers around him and squeeze lightly. “I was dreaming about that goal you scored, and how you jumped into my arms afterwards. Except in my dream, we were naked, and I bent you over the net and took you right then and there,” he says sleepily.

I laugh and his eyes widen a bit, like he can’t believe he just told me his ridiculous dream. “Okay, I have so many follow up questions,” I say. “First off, youtook meright then and there? What is this, the regency era?”

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