Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 101505 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101505 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
The guys go to set me down and I notice that Nolan is the one who clutches me around the waist, easing me down from their shoulders. I think there’s a small sparkle of pride in his eyes.
“She was going to go for figure skating,” Nolan says. “An absolute badass.”
The bar is getting louder by the minute. Paisley must have spiked her “water bottle” with booze, because she was officially drunk by the time we were halfway through our hockey matches earlier. She’s at the door, bouncing and waving her hands to usher everybody inside. Most of us came straight from the harbor after our victory in the final game of the night.
Jesse and Jake join us at our table, glaring at Nolan.
“That was bullshit,” Jake says. His team, along with Caroline, lost to us in the championship match. “Zander obviously played hockey before. And Mia could outskate half the guys in the league.”
“Well,” Nolan says. “Caroline was, uh, good moral support.” He trails off as Caroline approaches the table. Her curly hair is wild, her half-moon glasses are fogged and smeared, and her cheeks are bright red from the cold. She also wiped out and face planted several times, but always got up immediately.
“What did you say, bitch?” she snaps at Nolan.
We all laugh. Well, all of us except Caroline, who is still scowling. She was an absolute disaster with the hockey stick and on the skates, but she tried to make up for it with pure determination and stubbornness.
“Hockey may not be your sport,” Jake says. “Are you sure you’re related to Jesse?”
She punches his arm and they share a grin.
Andi slides into the booth beside Jesse. She’s wearing several coats and thick mittens with a big, fluffy hat. “You’re all just lucky Jesse wouldn’t let me play. I’ve been training. I would’ve mopped the floor with you guys. We would have,” she adds, putting a hand on her stomach and smiling.
“She’s right,” Jesse says.
Carter hooks his arms around Zander and Caroline, grinning and hanging on them. “Then I crown you theoretical champion, Andi. Congratulations. Your unborn baby would be proud.”
Caroline punches Carter in the stomach. He oversells it, bending and coughing for a few seconds before straightening, teeth gleaming in the dim light. “Anybody seen my teammates?” he asks.
“You mean the squad of young, pretty girls who all had absolutely no idea what they were doing?” I ask.
“Oh, they knew exactly what they were doing,” Carter says. He leans into the table, lowering his voice. “They were auditioning to see who got to come home with me tonight. But, now I can’t find any of them. I’d already picked two winners, too.”
“Two winners?” Jesse asks. “You sure your teammates were okay with that?”
“I’m a benevolent team captain,” Carter says. “If they get jealous, they can all be winners. Or, I guess I could even think of some sort of innocent blowjob contest to determine the final contestant.”
Maddox pulls Carter away as he whispers something in his ear. The two men make a line toward a group of women who just walked through the front door.
I sink back into the seat, smiling and riding high on the moment.
It brings me back to two years ago during the holidays, making me wish the hockey team spent all year in Frosty Harbor. There’s something about the guys being here that makes the town feel that much more alive. It’s like they become an extension of my family.
“How are you feeling, Champ?” Zander asks me.
“Fine,” I say. “Actually, I’m feeling like I need to pee so badly I might pop. If you’ll excuse me–” Nolan gets up to let me out of the booth and I wobble on my ankle as I plant my foot to stand. I nearly fall, but he steadies me with a hand on my arm.
“You okay?” he asks.
“It’s nothing,” I say. I smile, and head to the bathroom, carefully choosing my footing because I can feel the instability in my ankle. The injury that took me out of figure skating never really went away. I can skate sparingly, but I always pay for it afterward, and it takes me days to fully recover. I can feel now that I pushed it too hard today. My ankle feels like jelly.
Even as I’m trying to be careful on it, my ankle gives out when I plant my foot to pull open the bathroom door.
It rolls to the side and an instant jab of pain shoots up my leg. I bite back the pain and try to use the bathroom like nothing is wrong, but the throb in my ankle just keeps getting worse.
By the time I get back to the table, I’m barely holding a calm face. “I’m actually going to head home,” I say. “I’m feeling pretty tired.”