Page 157 of Offside Angle

People are standing, crying, clapping over their heads while stuffed animals keep raining onto the ice, and none of us make it to the tunnel.

We just stand there.

Elias has one glove pressed over his mouth while he stares into the stands. Cole is beside him with tears running openly down his face now, apparently having decided he’s done pretending tonight. Viktor looks genuinely stunned, which might be the first time I’ve seen that expression on him in all the years I’ve known him. Shane finally pulls his mask off and holds it at his side, his face stripped of every bit of that goalie calm he usually hides behind.

Even Damian has stopped near the bench.

I look back toward Lena.

She’s crying now, but she’s smiling too.

Something catches painfully in my throat.

We lost.

We lost Game 7 of the Finals in our own building, with the Cup close enough that for a few minutes tonight I could practically feel it in my hands.

And twenty thousand people are still standing.

Still screaming our name.

Still covering our ice in red and black because apparently losing the last game didn’t erase everything we did to get here.

I swallow hard and look around at my team.

Fuck.

That almost makes it worse.

Cole taps Elias on the ass with his stick. “Go on, curls.”

Elias turns to look at him, wrecked and red-eyed, and Cole just gives him one firm nod like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

That’s all it takes.

Elias takes off running.

Actually running.

He launches himself into the biggest pile of teddy bears he can find and disappears under them for a second, which makes the entire arena scream all over again. Then he pops back up with his arms full of stuffed animals, yelling at the top of his lungs, face wet and open and laughing in a way that feels half broken and half reborn.

The crowd absolutely loses its mind.

Of course Santi is filming it.

I hear myself snort, the sound coming out halfway between a laugh and something sharper, and before I can think too hard about it, I’ve already made up my mind.

The rest of the team starts drifting toward the tunnel, but I cut the other way. I step off the ice, pull off my helmet, and head straight for the space behind the glass where Santi is. A few of the guys notice me veering off. Nobody says a word. Nobody tries to stop me.

Santi lowers the camera the second he sees me coming, his expression shifting into something questioning and soft all at once.

I don’t explain myself.

I don’t think I could if I tried.

I just stop in front of him and look at him properly while the building keeps roaring around us, teddy bears scattered all over the ice behind me and Elias somewhere in the middle of them completely losing his mind. Then I reach out, take the camera carefully from Santi’s hands, and kiss him.

Right there.