It’s everything I needed to hear, and from the most unlikely source.
I know I need to tell Tanner everything. I want my family to know Jay is the one I’ve fallen for, the one I love. The one I would move mountains for. I want a chance to be with him, and Janey just cemented it.
When we get back to our seats, I plop down and Luca reaches for me for a cuddle.
“Is everything okay, Sweetie?” Mom asks.
“Perfect.” I smile. “Everything is perfect.”
CHAPTER 28
Jay
“Get your asses out there and show Vegas who’s boss!” Coach Carter hollers gruffly, as we exit the locker room to get back out for the second period.
The ear splitting cheers fill the arena as we make our way down the players’ tunnel back to the ice.
“I think your girl loved you shaking your ass out there!” Tyler thumps me on the back as we walk.
“You know, I’ll pay you guys back for that at some point,” I snipe back at him, but I can’t help but laugh at the whole thing. The warmup was fun, the guys roping me in on that stupid dance. Of course I’ve been practising every spare moment so I don’t mess up when I have Jade in my arms on the dance floor.
“Who loves shaking that ass?” Ashton does a quick demo of the cha-cha-cha as we get back to center ice, earning a round of hoots and hollers from the team. Before I can take a mocking swipe at him he skates off, over towards the nearest camera and makes a love heart with his hands right in front of it because he knows Maddison will be watching. Fucking sap. Taylor isn’tmuch better. He glides on over and presses a palm up to the glass in front of Emmerson, his signature move, while Tyler casts a wink over at his girl.
I can’t stop glancing over at Jade and her family every moment I get. The players’ bench has been my hot spot favorite area since I first skated in.
Seeing her here, in a sea of purple with the Hawks crowd, rocks my universe. Every time I look at her, she’s sure as shit looking back at me.
The support of the crowd is addictive, but having her here is something else entirely.
It’s something new for me. I’ve never had a girl I want to be with watching me from the stands. The only people important to me that have ever supported me, aside from her family, are Grandpa Ray and Uncle Ricky. I’ve never had anyone else come to watch me at a hockey game before. My mom sure as shit never bothered. Maybe that’s the reason I haven’t returned her call from when Jade was in Seattle. I have nothing to say to her. I don’t think I ever will.
One thing I’m sure about is that I need to talk to Tanner as soon as possible. I don’t even know if it can wait until after the wedding.
“Your girl is in the crowd now,” Tyler’s voice tugs me out of my daydream before the play starts again. “Feels different, doesn’t it?”
I quirk a smile. Yep, they know we shacked up last night, and they know I’m falling hard for her. So fucking hard that it’s hitting me from all angles.
I shake it aside, at least for now. As Coach Carter said, we need to show Vegas who is boss. They haven’t scored yet, and I don’t want to be a presumptuous prick, but it sure would be great to end the game with a shutout. Wouldn’t that be epic on their home turf. Our defensemen have done a stellar job so farfrom keeping the puck from getting their way, all we have to do now is keep it up.
The next twenty minutes go like a blur. Following the play, I skate right through the center, the puck gliding effortlessly along with me. I tap the little black disc over to Taylor who whooshes past me, passing the Vegas defenseman, Josh Beauman. There’s no love lost between those two, especially when Taylor stuffs it into the net with one of his famous slap shots right over the goalie’s shoulder. Taylor has one of the fastest and most furious slap shots in the NHL, he’s renowned for it. When the puck bounces in the back of the net and tumbles to the ground, the crown goes nuts, well half the crowd, anyway. When I glance up to the stands, Jade jumps out of her seat like everyone does, and that only makes my grin wider.
And it sure as shit spurs me on like never before. I’m playing phenomenally, with no holds barred, intercepting every shot. I’m everywhere. Vegas is doing everything they can from stopping the puck from getting our way, but they’re still yet to score.
The next play turns over at the blue line after I intercept a pass and nab it with quicker than lightning reflexes, turning in a circle, I barrel down the ice, too quick for the defense to stop me. I guide the puck back and forth on the blade of my stick towards the goals in a breakaway. It’s a shot I can’t afford to lose. Pulling my stick back, I fire it forwards, going for the five-hole. Between the goalie’s legs seems like the option I need to take; my shot is just too fast for him to block and goes straight in the net.
I pump my arm in rapid succession, carrying my stick as the crowd roars and a sea of purple flows across the crowd like a magic carpet, and I feel like I’m on a ride of my own. My teammates all skate up to congratulate me, and fuck if I don’t show off a little with some fancy backwards skating and a littlecha-cha-cha. The commentators will be having fun with that one.
My eyes find Jade’s, and she’s all I see in the crowd. Her face is a picture, smiling from ear to ear and clapping her hands over her head. Fuck yeah.
It’s in that moment that I get it, I really do. And I never thought it was something I would get. Having the girl you want watching you is next level. It snook its way in and centered on my heart, and now I’m helpless to stop it. My feelings for her could consume me like wildfire if I let go of the stronghold I have on myself.
All I have ever wanted is to become something, make someone proud. Make myself feel good about what I’ve achieved. And I was when we won the Stanley Cup last season, I was the happiest I’d ever been. I thought the only thing missing was Grandpa Ray, that would have made it perfect. But now I see I was missing something else, too. Her. It’s always been her.
Hammering it home for the third and final period, Coach swaps me out for the first few minutes. But as soon as I’m back in, I want to hammer home to Ulrich and the guys we’re going for shut out tonight. It sucks for the oppositions fans, but it is what it is and our defense is on top fucking form.
Knowing Jade is watching my every move, I decide to show off a little when we’re three goals to Vegas zero. I cradle my puck on the blade of my stick as Tyler shoves the only defenseman in my way out of it, gliding towards goals, I pull my stick back and go for the fast, no nonsense snapshot; it’s a fast release with minimal backswing, my wrist flicking the puck like I’m flicking a frisbee.
Four goals down and it’s a pretty epic finish. I can’t wipe the smile off my face when the buzzer rings out and my teammates all fly towards me, piling over the top.
