“Two truths and a lie,” he mutters as we skate toward the nets.
I nod. We’ve played this silly game for years. I don’t remember how it started, but when one of us is spiraling out during practice or a game, we use it to rein ourselves back in, to get back to focusing on what truly matters—hockey.
“Dirk’s dick is the size of my thumb, I’m gonna kick your ass in this drill, and you’re going to be the best damn goalie the NHL has ever seen.”
Frowning, I hold up my thumb. “Dirk’s dick is this big?”
JJ spins, spraying ice as he comes to a quick stop in front of me. “Nah,” he huffs out. “That’s the lie. It’s not even the size of my pinkie.”
A loud laugh escapes me, echoing around the cavernous arena.
His face is lit up as I push past him, skating toward the net. “Nah, I’m totally gonna kick your ass.”
He’s chuckling when he catches up to me. As we approach our coaches, we slow. They’re setting up for the next drill like they didn’t see the altercation between JJ and Dirk or don’t care.
“Did you mean it?” I say, my words quieter.
“That you’re going to make it to the NHL?”
I give a jerky nod.
“Yeah, Addie, you’re going to be a legend.”
He can’t see my smile behind my mask, but it’s big enough to make my cheeks ache.
I believe him. One day I’ll prove every one of those other assholes wrong and I can’t wait.
ONE
ADDIE
“He shoots, he scores!”The mischievous voice bounces off the walls.
JJ’s daughter Avery makes a whining sound, and then my sister is hollering from where she stands at the sink.
“Declan Langfield.”
Her four-year-old son barely blinks, and he’s already got his straw lined up to shoot another spit ball, this time at his brother Beckett. Winnie named her boys after the two men in our lives who never let us down, our stepdad, Beckett, and our uncle, Declan.
“Daddy, are you sure we have to stay here?” Avery asks in her sweet high-pitched voice.
JJ strides past me carrying another moving box. My father is right behind him, as is my brother Finn.
Apparently it’s a damn family affair.
With a soft smile, JJ runs his free hand through her silky blond curls. A hand I have absolutely never dreamed about. I swear. Then those blue eyes of his land on me.
My stomach hits my throat, like it always does when he’s around. I glance away. I’m not ready to deal with my ex-best friend or anything he has on his mind.
This is so not how I saw my first day in the NHL going.
Then again, this isn’t how I saw my life going either. By now I should have an apartment in the city like the rest of my friends.
Okay, not all of my friends.
My best friend Savannah just moved out to the burbs with her fiancé, who’s nearly twenty years older than we are.
But my other two best friends, Josie and Sutton, are both living my dream.
