“I’m more than happily married, asshole. Kailey’s my life. I don’t need?—”
Smitty’s mouth drops open.
“You’re saying your wife is the Blue Line Matchmaker?”
Ace shrugs. “Everyone’s got to make a living. My Vi makes hers by helping people fall in love.”
Okay, now this is a turn I didn’t expect.
And also, now I need the entire story.
But I don’t get the chance to so much as utter another syllable before Ace is skating off again.
“Did that just happen?” Smitty asks.
“Apparently,” I say dryly.
“His wife is?—”
“Hey, assholes!” Gray shouts. “Are we going to play some hockey or what?!”
Ryan pats Smitty on the shoulder. “At least you know who your competition is now.”
He scowls. “Except she belongs to Ambrose, and you know if I fuck with one Ambrose, I get the other four assholes in the league coming after me too.”
That’s true.
The Ambroses are assholes who don’t get along on the best of days.
But come after one and you’ll pay four-fold.
“Maybe you all can join forces,” Ryan says. “You know, expand your circle and make more matches, or whatever you call it.”
Smitty lights up. “Now we’re taking, Ry Guy.” He shoves Ryan’s shoulder so hard my teammate has to scramble to stay on his feet. “You’re fucking brilliant!”
“Um, thanks?” Ryan says.
But Smitty is already gone, skating across the ice. “Yo, Ambrose!”
“Oof,” Ryan mutters. “That may have been a mistake.”
“You think?” I ask dryly.
“Fuck, man.” He just shakes his head and skates away.
I follow him and get down to the reason why I came out in the first place—getting ready for the season. I skate and shoot, stretch and pass. I work on my hands and my footwork and on tipping shots that Smitty fires my way.
The sting of the puck hitting my stick, the cold air on my cheeks, Smitty’s voice booming through the rink as he demands more information about Vi—it’s all familiar, all like coming home.
But even as much as it’s part of me, the rest of me is focused on the woman I left sleeping in her bed.
And the stack of bills on her counter.
Thirty-Five
Harper
“I told you they were divine!”
