“Dance party,” Lucky shouts to lighten the mood.
We’re up by one at the end of the first period, and the team is playing phenomenally. Theo and Brant have played well together, and now they’re an unstoppable duo. From where I’m sittin’, Theo knowing that Brant has his back makes them a better team. Theo would never admit it, and I won’t tell.
I tap my helmet on Theo’s before he takes the ice for the second period.
“Thanks, Maj.” He holds the back of my helmet to his for an extra second. Then he’s gone.
I’ve never set out to take Ace’s position on first line, but I’m jealous of his ice time with Theo. I wouldn’t care about lines if I could play more with him, but realistically one of us would have to switch, and he would be devastated if they demoted him. Wishing to be on first line, I’d be tempting fate with the hockey gods. That’s the worst karma.
As soon as Ace reaches the boards, I’m over and racing to the puck. Theo’s at my back, and it’s exhilarating. I poke the puck loose, and Mav is there to pick it up. We switch direction, and he crosses it over to Griff.
Brant follows us, and Theo hangs back. We close in on the goalie and circle the crease to divide his attention. Griff fakes a shot and passes it to Mav. Before Mav can shoot, their defender knocks it away to clear it. It’s time for a defensive line change, but Theo nabs the puck, and I skate wide. They’ve forgotten aboutme. Theo passes me the puck, and I slap it at the goal. The lamp lights up, and Theo crushes me in a hug, followed by our teammates.
Theo grins as he returns to the bench, and I’m soaring. I hear my mom over the crowd.
“That’s my babies,” she shouts.
I laugh and wonder if Theo hears her too. But there’s no time to check as I take my place at center ice. I love scoring with an assist from Theo.
My shift ends, and Theo greets me with another helmet tap. We hear a chirp from the crowd, but it doesn’t touch us. There is nothing greater than sharing my success with the man I love.
If everyone could feel this, they wouldn’t be as afraid to come out. Other people’s opinions can’t steal our joy unless we let them.
The other team scores, and Ace follows it with another goal, so by the end of the second period, we’re up by two.
In the locker room, Theo pulls me onto his lap, and I go willingly.
“Not fair,” Benz grumbles.
“You want trolls accusing you of incest? We can trade,” Theo retorts without heat.
“We’re all jealous.” Brant winks.
“Truth.” Mav grins.
Finn ushers us off the ice so fast after the game I don’t get to speak to my parents. We won, but Finn’s not smiling or calling us ridiculous names.
“John King is holding a press conference on public property across the street from the arena. We prevented him from doing it here, but there’s nothing we can do to stop him where he is. He hasn’t started yet, but all the major news organizations have trucks nearby, and the usual paparazzi are there as well,” Finn says in a rush.
I wrap my arm around Theo. “We can ignore him and live our lives.”
“He won’t go away on his own. He’s a bully.” Theo pinches the bridge of his nose. “What if we stand in the background of his media spectacle? If the press asks us questions, we can decide to answer them.”
Finn nods. “Could work. I can go with you, and it’ll be like the pressroom outside. But it’ll be a madhouse, and I won’t actually have control. Do we have a megaphone? I could be the loudest.”
Mr. Dimon and our bodyguard enter the room, and Finn outlines our plan. “You’ll need more security.”
“Are you sure?” I ask Theo.
He looks me straight in the eye and lies. “Totally.”
Fifteen minutes later, we’re outside in heavy Enforcer coats, flanked by Finn and three bodyguards. The team wanted to come too, but Mr. Dimon nixed that idea. He had a weird staring contest with Brant, but in the end, he’s the boss and the team does what he says.
I look nothing like my biological father. An unknown father would be better than him.
He’s speaking as if he’s holding court. Authoritative and wearing clothes that probably cost more than a month of my rent. He has no doubt that everyone will be on his side.
We weave our way through the crowd until we’re directly behind him and in view of the cameras.
