I read the text from Kinsley over and over again. She wasn't coming tonight. Ironically, I was the reason. Not that she knew that. But this project that was keeping her in tonight, was our dream house and she had no idea I was the client.

The game was starting soon and I, along with the rest of the team were in locker rooms gearing up. Lei was on the other side of the bench seat dividing our aisles and he'd been avoiding me from the moment we got here.

Even during our media this afternoon when we gave a few interviews and sat on the panel talking to journalists, he continued to avoid me. Idiot. I was sure he must know by now that Ash had called and told me about the run in at her apartment. Poor Kins having to witness Lei getting his thrust on.

"Lei," I said, standing up and cracking a towel in his direction. Like me, he was in his pants and nothing else, keeping his back to me while he pretended to look through his locker. "You can't avoid me forever."

"I'm not avoiding you," he said, face still pressed into the dark wooden cube.

"You're sleeping with my little sister," I cracked him in the back of the leg with the towel and a few of our teammates within ear shot all perked up at the scandal I was earring out. "Least you could do is own it and look at me."

He went still, his shoulders went up like hackles on a dog and I had to fight back a grin when he started to turn around. I knew Ash was capable of looking out for herself and there was no doubt she'd drop Lei if he wasn't treating her right. But I couldn't resist having a little bit of fun with it.

Lei faced me now, his scarred brow raised. "You know?"

"You know that I know, idiot."

He sniffed, shifting his weight from foot to foot. "You wanna. . . fight me or something?"

That almost cracked my composure. Matthews, who was standing off to the side, folded his arms, wearing a shit eating grin and nodded, encouraging a brawl. He was always eager to see fists swinging.

Wade, who was also hanging out beside his locker, doused himself with underarm. "No, fuck heads. Don't fight right before a game. One of you ends up with a swollen face, what good is that going to be? You'll end up benched."

Matthews waved him off, but he didn't argue. Not that I planned on fighting Lei. Truthfully, I was surprised he didn't tell me himself. He told me what happened last time they slept together, the guilt was too much for him but he assured me it was a one and done. Not because he wanted it to be once, but because Ash kicked him to the curb before he'd had the chance to get his pants back on.

Something had to be different this time in order for him to keep it from me and I suspected it was because it was no longer casual.

Just for good measure, I cracked the towel straight at Lei's crotch.

He grabbed his dick and thrust his hips. "Ha, good one. I'm wearing a cup, mother fucker."

"I knew that, dick head, I was sitting right here when you put it on."

Lei sighed and threw his arms open. "Then what is this? What's going on? You pissed? Hate me? Bro, I'm super into Ash. She's a beautiful, sort of bat shit crazy, definitely not all that mentally well, woman. But she's caring, and funny, and sweet and she makes these sexy ass videos in corsets while she holds swords. Man, I would kneel for that woman in a heart beat. I have knelt for that woman. I've spent hours on my knees for that woman. I find her to be the scariest woman I have ever met but I love it. Keeps the heart going strong. You know what, she'd straight up kill for the people she cares about. You'd never prove it either. Never. I love that in a woman. She's perfect."

A few of the guys made girlish cooing noises. Sitting down on the bench seat, I surrendered, not able to keep up the facade that I was unhappy. Was it unexpected? Yeah, a little. It wasn't the first time Ash had thrown me through a loop with some sort of surprise I hadn't been anticipating.

"I didn't need to hear all of that," I pinched the bridge of my nose and then I looked up at him and despite the fact that he was a six foot two toddler with a sense of humor that I found both endearing and atrocious, I smiled. "But it's nice to hear you appreciate her."

He extended his hand and I stood up, embracing in a quick handshake that ended with us in a half hug. For good measure, I gave him a brutal slap on the back and it made him cough. He gave me a shove and turned his back to the mirror at the end of the aisle.

"That's going to leave a fucking mark."

We were up, three to two. The Canucks were fighting a good fight, the first two periods weren't a clean up. Their defense were keeping us out and their goalie was on form. He'd kept out nine of our goals so far, if it weren't for him, we'd have swept the floor with these fuckers. While we were all desperate for the win, it made for a good game when it was a challenge.

Sweat dripped down my temple as we got prepared for the third period. Coach was telling us to either go hard against their defense or leave our useless dicks at the door when we leave. As far as inspirational speeches go, this one was more on the aggressive side.

"Maverick," he pointed at me, shouting over the roar of the crowd. "You need to get that little shit off your back long enough to receive. He might as well be eating your asshole at this point. Get fucking open and don't dick around. You, Leighton and Wyatt need to get it past that fucking horde at the goal. The three of you, get it done."

"Yes, Coach," we shouted back because while it would be easy to argue that we'd been doing our best all night, our best wasn't good enough. We could do better. We would do better.

Skating out onto the ice, we took our positions and the puck was snapped straight to us. Coach was right, Jones had been clinging to me all night, defending harder than he'd done in a long time. There wasn't even a lot of trash talk coming out of his mouth because he was so busy stealing the puck whenever it came near me.

Leighton got the puck and sent it to Wyatt, who almost lost it but snapped it back to Leighton as the three of us zeroed in on the goal. Canucks were swarming the net, keeping their goalie safe. Instead of snapping it to me, Leighton pushed it as close as he could get before the Canucks came raining down on him. Sticks were colliding, doing their best to get possession of the puck that Leighton was guarding.

He tapped the puck backwards through his legs just in time for me to break off from Jones, soar toward Lei and snap it back through his legs and into the goal.

Bracing, I anticipated the huddle just before it hit and then I was going deaf from sticks and gloves smacking me on the helmet. Bodies pushed together and we cheered with celebration. One of the best parts of this sport was that sportsman ship, coming together for each and every win, no matter how many goals we scored, each one was worth cheering for, over and over again.

As we spread out, getting ready for the next play, I scanned the wall, peering through the glass because while I knew Kinsley wasn't coming, I'd spent the entire night hoping she'd appear.

My fist tightened around the stick, because there she was. On the other side of the glass, in her Flames Jersey with her hair up in a bun and a smile lifting those kissable cheeks.

She lifted her hand in a wave and from here, I could see the slight quiver in her lip. My heart stuttered, wondering what could've upset her and if she was upset, why was her smile so big?

The noise in the stadium faded into the background as we stared at one another. She'd shown up, she'd surprised me.

But when she lifted her hand and turned it around to show me the ring on her finger, the same one I'd planned on giving her as my fiancee, the entire world fell off.

She found the ring. She was wearing the ring. I was distantly aware of someone shouting at me but it didn't seem to pull me out of the trance I'd fallen into because Kinsley mouthed 'yes'.

A shove in the arm made me stumble and Matthew's interrupted my line of vision. "What the fuck. Get into position."

As soon as he moved, I looked over at Kins again, wondering if it was all in my imagination. Perhaps I'd taken a puck to the head.

No. I wasn't imagining it. Because when I looked at her again, she mouthed the word 'yes' once more and I almost fell to my knees. It made no fucking sense. She was agreeing to be my wife?

Just a few weeks ago she'd asked for us to slow things down, to pump the breaks and start over. The fact that she didn't have all the information had been too much for her and now she was agreeing to an engagement?

I needed to talk to her. Now.

Looking around, I saw the team in position and it was a mere second after I looked at the ref, did the whistle blow and we were straight back into it. I couldn't focus. I couldn't fucking see where the puck was going. All I could think about was the woman I loved had shown up wearing her engagement ring and I wanted to know what had changed.

Jones was beside me, as usual. He spared a glance, probably under the impression that I was up to something. Which, I was now. The plan formulated rather fast because there was only one way I was getting off this ice without it seeming out of character.

Taking off, I skated up the rink toward the action and came to a sudden stop when Leighton snapped to me. Jones was quick, slipping his stick under mine to steal the puck. He made it no more than a few feet before I checked him so hard he lost his footing and by the time he was up again, my gloves were off and I swung, punching him straight in the face.

No one would ask what provoked me because half of the fights around here were due to a level of disrespect only an opposing team would sink to. Jones and I had a long list of previous brawls that had been fueled by stupid shit, most of it I couldn't remember.

I caught the confusion in his face just before I punched him for a second time because he hadn't said more than a few words to me this entire game. There was no point in feeling bad, he'd get me back at some point. He swung back and I ducked, swinging at his gut and getting him under the ribs. The sooner we went down, the better.

"Fuck you, Maverick," he spat. "What the fuck?"

He gripped the front of my shirt and swung, busting his knuckles on my helmet. Pushing my body at him, I made sure we toppled over, because I wasn't in this for the fight. I had somewhere to be. The ref grabbed me around the arm but he didn't need to pull me off, I jumped up and went straight for the box, spitting my mouth guard out and ripping off my helmet.

Coach slapped me across the head as soon as I stepped off the ice.

"What the fuck was that?"

Without answering him, I shoved my helmet at him, slipped my mouth guard into my pocket and swung a leg across the barrier. The crowd went fucking ballistic as soon as I was among them. Hands grabbed at me as I walked along the wall, pushing past fans with mumbled apologies. It was a good thing people were afraid of their toes being stood on by my blades, it gave me a little bit of room to get through.

Then I saw her, still standing in the same spot, her focus on me. The closer I got, the harder my heart beat until I was sweeping her up and she was standing on my boots. I put my back against the glass and held her around the waist, ignoring the onlookers, tuning them out with ease because no one held my attention like this woman.

It was like a fucking spell and I'd never been able to make sense of it, how when she was around, everything else felt unsubstantial in comparison.

"You're wearing the ring?" I rested my forehead on hers, fingers digging hard into her side.

She looped her arms around my neck and nodded. "I remember, Phoenix."

My heart stopped. "What?"

"Not all of it," she sniffed, her gaze was glass. "But I remember enough. A small moment after we got engaged. I remember how I felt. I remember how excited I was to be your wife, to plan a wedding while we traveled. I remember how nothing had ever felt better than hearing you refer to me as Mrs Maverick. I remember us. I remember how it felt to be in love with you."

I kissed her because I didn't know what else to do, I didn't know how else to express that I'd never been fucking higher than I was right now. The fact that we had thousands of people watching our moment should've bothered me but this was our moment, in the same place it all started.

When I saw her in these stands, I fell in love and now here she was wearing an engagement ring, agreeing to be husband and wife.

"You like the ring?" I asked, mouth beside her ear, I nipped her lobe and tugged her in tighter.

"It's beautiful," she said and then she bounced on top of my boots and when I looked at her, she was smiling so hard, just as she had been the first time I saw her. "I can't believe I remember, Phoenix. I'm so fucking in love with you, it's ridiculous."

"I want to leave."

She peered past me and then her head slowly tracked over toward the box, but I wasn't interested in anything apart from her. "Uh, I don't think that would be a good idea. It looks like your coach is pissed enough as it is."

I shook my head, leaning back into her. "I don't care. I just want to be with you."

"Phoenix Maverick," she tiptoed and cupped her hands on the back of my neck. "We have the rest of our lives together. I'll be here after the game. We'll go home together and we'll celebrate our engagement all night."

"I can't fucking wait," I said, resisting the urge to drag her out of this stadium right now, abandoning all of my responsibilities and never looking back. But she was right.

We had the rest of our lives together.

____

I so appreciate everyone who has given this book a chance. Thank you for the comments and love! We're almost at the end now. I have absolutely loved writing this book ! ♥️