Page 85 of Against The Boards

Riley smiled. “Yeah, I liked all the ‘research’ Fi needed to do for writing one, too. It’s definitely a departure from her young adult sci-fi stuff.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, I heard a lot of that ‘research’ when I stayed with you. Why do you think I fucked off to Boston when our season was done?”

Riley shook his head at me. “So why did you and Rox keep it a secret?”

“That’s what she wanted.”

“Why?”

“Your wife put it in perspective for me. I thought it was because of TJ, but it’s because I told her I was thinking of asking for a trade. She didn’t want to get attached if I was gonna leave her.”

Riley furrowed his brow at me. “You didn’t ask for one, though, right?”

I shrugged. “Steve gave the team my list of places I’m willing to go, and Boston is at the top of it.”

“Benny!” Riley scolded. “You know if the press gets wind of that, they’ll have a field day.”

“Nobody’s gonna find out.” Riley gave me an unsure look, but I shrugged. “Doesn’t matter now. Rox and I worked everything out.”

“You have been a little mopey lately, but I couldn’t figure out why.”

I nodded. “You know I go all in.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You? No?”

I glared at him.

He rolled his eyes at me. “Does she know you talked to Steve?”

I shook my head. “Nah.”

“Dude, make sure she knows.”

“Why?”

He raised a blonde eyebrow at me and then looked across the ice at my girlfriend checking Noah into the boards. “Because if she finds out you gave the Bulldogs a list of teams you’d be open to going to, that’s basically you asking for a trade, and she’ll go ballistic.”

“But I didn’t,” I argued.

He narrowed his eyes at me. It seemed like he wanted to say something else, but he held his tongue.

Noah and Rox ran through plays together while Riley and I skated to the other zone. Riley was a defenseman, so we didn’t skate on the same line together, but he was perceptive in terms of what our team needed to work on.

During the off-season, I stayed off the ice for a while, preferring to stick to cardio and weight training to keep in shape. Couldn’t say the same for Riley and Noah—those two never left the ice. It was why they didn’t even flinch when I asked them to help me get Rox back into playing shape. I knew working all day long and then coming home for a quick dinner before getting out on the ice was tough for her, but the smile on her face told me it was worth it.

I skated over to the bench where Rox was standing with her helmet off and fixing her sweaty hair. I wrapped my gloved hands around her waist from behind her, and she smiled up at me. I kissed her cheek. “You’re looking good out there,” I said into her ear.

“Thank you for pushing me. I missed this,” she said.

Riley and Noah skated over and sprayed us with ice. “Aw, you two are so disgustingly sweet!” Riley teased.

Rox and I gave him matching middle fingers, and we laughed while she reached up and pulled me down to kiss her hard in front of my teammates. They both catcalled us, but I knew these two fuckers were just as in love with their women as I was in love with Rox.

When I pulled away, she gave me a wicked grin. “Want to cream these two assholes?” she asked.

“You say the sexiest things to me.”

Chapter Twenty-Five