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“You look good,” I tell her, winking at her and then smirking. “I see the tights will be a challenge.”
Her cheeks turn a bright pink. “I’ve never known you to back down from a challenge.”
I put my head back and bark out laughing. “Challenge accepted.” I wink at her again before I walk out with the girls toward her SUV. Opening the back door for them, I wait for Koda to come. I walk around the truck with her opening the passenger door for her to get in.
I get behind the wheel, something I’ve been doing for the past couple of weeks when we’ve gone out or to hockey practice or to pick up the girls. I drive them.
I make my way over to the arena with the girls chatting about their day and what they did. I pull into my spot, turning the car off and getting out. I open the back door on my side and Koda opens the back door at her side. The girls walk over to the trunk, waiting for me to hand them their backpacks with the skates we packed and their helmets and gloves.
I close the trunk and see the girls waiting for me and look over at Koda. “You ready?” I ask, and she takes a deep breath as she slips her hand in mine.
Our fingers link together. “Now, I’m ready,” she says, rubbing her thumb over my thumb. “Shall we?”
“I want to hold Christopher’s hand,” Rain states, walking to my side while Luna looks at her mom and runs over to hold her hand.
“Here we go.” I look at her as we walk toward the silver door. I release Rain’s hand for a second so I can open the door, but then she grabs it again as we walk in.
We walk down the hall, the four of us attached in one way or another. When we get to the locker room, the girls release our hands to run in and chat with a couple of the kids. “Hey, guys,” I say to the room, Koda’s hand squeezing mine tightly for a second. The room goes almost silent and you can literally hear a pin drop. I’m ready to throat punch anyone who says anything mean toward Koda.
I see a couple of the guys look over at us with a smile and then look down at our hands connected, their mouths opening and their eyes looking like they are about to bulge out of their sockets. “Hey,” a couple of the rookies respond, trying not to be too awkward.
“Uncle Chrissy!” Luna yells my name as she sits on the bench where I sit, taking her skates out of the bag.
I give Koda a squeeze of the hand before I let her go and walk over to the girls. Rain has her skates already on, waiting for me to tie them. I feel Koda behind me as she waits for the girls to get laced up. The chatter in the room is now back to normal as Rain stands up first and then Luna. “We are going to head out to the ice,” Koda says, “see you out there.”
I nod at her as she walks out with the girls, her head high, and I couldn’t be more proud of her. It took a lot to come back to this arena, and she did it time and time again. But then it took even more courage to come back while holding my hand. She did it, and she fucking killed it.
“Holy shit,” Cole says from beside me, “you and Koda.”
“Yeah, me and Koda.” I sit down, kicking off my sneakers and grabbing one skate, waiting for whatever will come. Knowing it’ll for sure be a shock for all of them, but knowing that I’m not going to sit here and take shit and criticism from them. I’ll go down fighting for her today and every single day after.
“It’s cool.” I look up to see Andreas sitting at his spot, not even bothering to get ready. “It’s beautiful.”
I laugh at the way he says it, and I’m not the only one. “When did this happen?” Cole asks from beside me.
“Not too long ago.” I don’t give him any details because even if we said we would come out, we really didn’t discuss what we would say.
He shakes his head as I lean forward to tie my skate. “You and Koda?” He laughs as he says it.
“Me and Koda,” I repeat, looking over at him, the smile now filling his face.
“Happy for you.” I sit up, my eyebrows pinching together.
“Well, you weren’t going to go there unless you were a hundred percent sure of it.” He gets up on his skates. “So I’m happy you found her.” He looks around. “And I’m sure as fuck happy she found you.”
“Thanks,” I mumble, trying not to freak out at his words. I put my other skate on, standing up and heading out of the room. My head spins from his words.
I see Koda by the benches talking with Brittany as she looks over at me. “Hey.” She smiles at me.
“Your girl is out there skating around all of the boys,” Brittany observes, and I smirk, looking over and finding Rain right away. She’s skating around a couple of the older guys, and she smirks at them.
“Those extra lessons are paying off,” Koda declares, folding her arms over her chest. “Totally worth the extra five hours a week we are in the arena.”
“I told you,” I say, knowing she’s sarcastic, winking at her. Brittany’s eyeballs almost pop out of her sockets. “Next year, you’ll be on skates.” I point at her, and she just shakes her head.
“You wish.” I skate backward away from her.
“I love a challenge.” I smirk at her as she rolls her eyes at me, making me laugh. I skate over to Rain, who is skating like a boss, going to Luna who is getting better and better as the weeks progress. Not as good as Rain, but better.
