Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 115838 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115838 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
“Then I suggest we get home.” He kisses my lips softly, turning and gripping my hand as he moves toward his SUV. I have to jog to keep up with his big strides, the sound of my laughter filling the night. The night ends with us celebrating the big win just the two of us.
thirty-nine
Zane
Four months later
A beep sounds on my phone, telling me I have fifteen minutes before I have to head down to the bus.
“On a scale of one to ten,” Victoria says, sitting in the middle of the hotel bed while wrapped in the hotel robe, her legs crossed in front of her, “how nervous are you for today?”
I grab the jacket from the hanger, looking over at her. “A million,” I reply as I shrug the jacket on, pulling down the sleeves as she rolls her eyes at me.
“It’s not that big of a deal.” She tries to make light of the situation. “Just game seven for the Stanley Cup.” I glare at her, my stomach getting tight.
“This time tomorrow, this will all be over.” She gets on her knees and comes to the edge of the bed as I walk toward her. “And no matter what, I will still love you.” She takes my tie and plays with it in between her fingers. “I mean, I might love you a bit more with the win, but I’ll still love you.”
I can’t help but chuckle at her saying that. “Thank you, I guess. You know the bus is going to be here in an hour and a half to get you guys to take you over to the arena.”
“I know,” she replies. “Your parents and sister are going to be here fifteen minutes before and if they are not I’ll go and get them.” I smile seeing how happy he was that his family took the trip down for him. “And I’ve already gotten five texts from my father and then my uncle Nico, who just landed, by the way.”
“He’s coming to the game?” I ask, shocked.
“You think he’s going to miss Jaxon winning the Cup?” she questions, and I gasp.
“We don’t say those words out loud,” I remind her through clenched teeth. “It’s bad luck.”
My phone beeps again at the same time I hear the players’ doors being opened and then closed, and knocks up and down the hallway. “You go,” she urges, getting up off the bed to stand in front of me. “I’m proud of you,” she whispers softly. “The fact that you guys made it this far is incredible. It’s just one more game.” Her voice is soft and even though I know she’s trying to make me feel better, I know she’s lying. This means fucking everything.
“I love you.” I kiss her nose before kissing her lips. “See you later.”
“You bet your ass, Coach Gilmore.” She smiles up at me big, and I know that no matter what, having her to come home to is a win for me.
I nod at her, turning to walk out of the room and hit Jaxon, who is walking with a bottle of water in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. “Really?”
“This has been my thing since we started the playoffs.” He holds up both. “It helped us beat Vegas in six, and then St. Louis in five.” He presses the button for the elevator. “Now here we are in Florida, and it’s game seven. I’m not going to fuck things up now by not doing it.”
“Let’s not tempt fate,” I mumble to him. “Maybe you should have ditched it when we went down three to one.” He rolls his eyes as the elevator gets there.
We get in and head down to the bus. A crowd of people are outside waiting for us to leave as I go straight for the bus and Jaxon holds up a hand waving to the crowd then following me on the bus. I sit down and wait for the rest of the team to join us. We’re usually the first on the bus and even if we aren’t, no one gets on the bus before us.
No one would have thought we would be here. Everyone had Florida winning in five, but in game five we tied the game in the last minute of play. Then we got lucky when we flew back home for the next game and in overtime, there was a turnover in their zone and Kirby scored the game-winning goal. Then we flew back to Florida and now here we are, game fucking seven.
“You nervous?” I look over at Jaxon, who glares at me and puts his AirPods in. “That would be a no, I’m assuming.” I chuckle as I look out and see Kirby and Knox both walking out of the lobby and onto the bus.