Noah stands before me, jumping up and down on his skates as he waits for his name to be called. “Ready to stop all the pucks from making it in?” He smirks.
“Ready to stop those fuckers from coming at me?” I smile back at him.
“You know how much I love sending them flying back where they came from.” His grin widens, a wicked glint shining in his eyes.
“Number Seventy-Nine! Noooaaah Adleeerrr!”
Silas slaps him on the ass as heraces off onto the ice.
“Come on, guard dog. Make sure we win that game! Show them who’s boss tonight!” Silas yells over the cheers and slaps my ass just as the speaker announces my name.
“Number Eighty-Six! Gabrieeelll Elliiiissss!”
My heart pumps as I step onto the ice, stick held high in the air as an explosion of screams comes along with my name. I look up at all the filled seats, people standing and throwing their hands up. A beaming smile stays glued to my face as I skate around the ice and into my spot, waiting for the rest of my teammates to join us.
My eyes drop to where the girls are bouncing on the spot, clapping along with everyone, and despite the dim lighting and flickering lights, blue hair catches my gaze just as she blows me a kiss.
God, I love this girl.
Once the whole team is here and the announcer has finished his speech, we speed off to do our quick warm-up before the national anthem and the start of the game. I make my way to the goal, throwing my bottle above the net and placing my mask on properly. I skate to the side, leaving the net free to practice shooting pucks, and sink to my knees. I stretch out my groin and rock back and forth, keeping one leg straight, then the next.
“She’s looking at you like she wishes she was beneath you right now.” Noah drops beside me, chuckling. He places himself in a similar position as me but keeps both his legs bent and drops lower to the ice.
I laugh and look over to our woman. “Yeah, it’s not just me anymore. I’m pretty sure if I squint, I can see some drool on the corner of her mouth.”
“Don’t tell her that, she’ll smack you.” He stands, shaking his head with a smile.
“Maybe I like it when she smacks me.” I wink at him.
“Fuck off.” He laughs and heads over to Ronnie.
From there I do the splits and bring my chest toward the ice, feeling the satisfying burn in my hamstrings and groin. Then I jump back onto my skates and do a few butterfly pushes and slides before joining the girls just as Noah, Clay, and Silas vacate the spot.
Greyson bends to pick up a puck just as I reach them, purposely bumping him with my hip and sending him toppling over. When he picks himself up, he turns to face me with a glare. “Was that necessary?”
“Sorry, just a habit. Whenever Ronnie’s bent over like that, I just can’t help myself and need to ram into her. I guess I got a little confused.” I give him a shit-eating grin.
The girls giggle at my comment, except for Ronnie, who folds her armsover her chest with a raised brow. “You got confused? And how often does that happen?”
Oh fuck…
My smile instantly drops. Greyson snickers beside me as he passes a puck over to his daughter through the hole, his every-game tradition when she’s present. My eyes are wide and filled with horror.
“No. Nooo! Never. Baby, that’s not what I meant at all. Promise. No one but you,” I rush out, hoping to save my ass from my stupid comment.
She then laughs and the tension lifts off my shoulders, letting me breathe again. “I’m kidding, baby. I know you wouldn’t.”
My smile returns as I watch her. She’s wearing a jersey just like mine, blue with white and gold bands at the bottom and on the sleeves, with a huge white‘G’in the center and a golden griffin crawling out from it. We had hers custom-made, since they don’t have any jerseys with both our numbers on it.
On the right sleeve, she has Noah’s number,79. And on the left one, she has mine,86. But the best part is at the back, where it says‘Mrs. Ellis-Adler,’and both our numbers are below it, side by side. I think that makes it pretty damn clear she belongs to us.
“You look beautiful, Vixen,” I tell her, checking her over. She has her blue and white hair curled, gold eye makeup on, and below her jersey she’s wearing white skintight jeans. Her entire look fits with our team, and I love it.
“Thank you, baby.” She bites her lip and blushes slightly. “I love you. Now go and get in the zone.”
“I love you, too.” I smile while skating away, feeling different for the first time on the ice. Feeling like I finally have a reason for everything. And that reason is right there, sitting with the rest of my self-made family.
VERONICA
