My teammates swarm me, screaming and pounding my helmet. We hold on for the final five minutes. When the buzzer sounds, the arena erupts into celebration.
We won.
We actually fucking won.
The Stanley Cup is ours.
Guys are piling onto the ice, onto each other, onto Ace, who just posted a shutout in the final minutes. The Cup is being brought out, gleaming under the arena lights.
Cole lifts it first, as captain, skating it around the ice while the crowd loses their minds. Then it's passed from player to player, each of us getting our moment with the most coveted trophy in hockey.
When it's my turn, I lift it over my head, and it nearly brings me to my knees.
We did it.
But the joy feels incomplete.
The locker room after is pandemonium. Champagne everywhere, guys singing, music blasting, the Cup in the middle of it all.
I slip away to shower, needing to clear my head before the press conference. The hot water helps, washing away the sweat and the stress of the game, but it doesn't touch the ache in my chest.
I'm toweling off when I grab my phone.
Me: I need to see you. Please. Just five minutes.
I stare at the screen, waiting. The three dots appear, disappear, appear again.
Finally. Avery: Where?
Me: Outside the locker room. Please Avery.
Another long pause.
Avery: Fine. Five minutes.
I throw on clothes faster than I've ever dressed in my life, barely bothering with my hair. When I emerge from the shower area, the locker room is still chaos.
“Nova,” Ryan shouts. “Get over here. We're doing a team photo.”
“Five minutes,” I call back, already heading for the door.
I find Avery in the hallway outside, arms crossed, looking beautiful and furious and everything I've been missing for three weeks.
“Hey,” I say.
“Five minutes, Liam.”
I grab her hand and pull her back into the locker room before she can protest.
“Liam, what are you doing?”
“Everyone out,” I announce to the room.
The chaos stops. Everyone turns to stare at me.
“Out,” I repeat. “Now. I need the room.”
“We're not done getting dressed,” Jake protests, gesturing at his towel.
