“I should have been gay. I want someone to ask me,” Mark says with a laugh when we break apart.
“There’s still time,” Archangel teases. “I got this one to join the other team.”
“He doesn’t mean with him,” I clarify to Mark. “Dating one of his sister’s exes is enough. And I don’t share.”
Archangel laughs.
Mark holds up his hands. “Not my type.”
But he’s lying because Archangel and his sister honestly look really similar.
We take the shots, and Mark congratulates us again before returning to his friends.
“We both have rings on, so you know what that means?” I say into his ear.
“What?”
“I get any of your holes whenever I want them, and I need your mouth.”
He groans. “Where?”
“Ready to head back to our room, fiancé?”
Archangel lights up at the word. “Only if you promise to say that again.”
“I promise.”
EPILOGUE
ARCHANGEL
After our championship win, the lead-up to the draft is chaos. Everyone eligible on the team is pulled in a hundred directions. I have more than a couple of offers for agents, and a lot of shock when I tell them I won’t be playing pro.
“Are you sure you don’t want to see where you get drafted?” Wolfe asks as we walk in.
I side-eye him and almost get distracted by how good he looks in his new Saint Laurent suit. His new agent is in the process of negotiating an exclusive deal with them for Wolfe’s pregame looks, and I couldn’t be happier.
“A little late now to ask me that, don’t you think?”
Wolfe shrugs. “They can still try to draft you.”
“I know.” I’m not looking forward to it. I’m sure some believe I’m here hoping it will happen, and not to support my partner.
“What if we get drafted to the same team?”
“Do you want me to keep playing hockey?” This is the first I’m hearing of it.
“It’s going to be weird without you, is all.” Wolfe shrugs, reminding me how much I love him. “If it won’t make you happy, then I’d never want you to do it.”
I bump my shoulder into him, stepping aside when the photogs ask for just photos of him.
The draft is a whole production. A lot like what I’ve seen about football. People in suits, agents, players, teams making complex decisions. It feels a little like we are in a movie. Wolfe is carrying it well, but I can tell he’s nervous. I’m not sure why. I reassured him more than once that it doesn’t matter where he is drafted to, but I think it’s still weighing on him.
His agent briefed us before on how the draft would probably go, and despite being top of the rank, we don’t expect him to go in the first ten. As goalies are notoriously hard to scout and develop, they don’t usually go until later rounds. It’s a little better with the draft occurring after some college time, but still, most goalies need years of training to get to an NHL-ready level. Then since it’s such a mental game, it’s hard to tell who will handle the pressure of a high draft pick well.
So we settle in for a long evening with the guys, not expecting him to go until late tonight or early tomorrow.
“Are you nervous?” I lean over and ask Seaborn.
