Page 8 of Beach Bats

Between sticks, helmets, pads, and all the other gear they wore, Vin was lucky that he’d managed to catch his little one. He lifted Aries into the air while the rest of the team congratulated Vin on a very lucky shot.

“Alright,” Vin said. “Back to the bench.” He let Aries down as the boy was talking a mile a minute to the point that Vin couldn’t even keep up. He had to direct Aries to the team bench since didn’t appear that Aries was ready to head in. They still had a lot of game left to play. Another six minutes could turn something quickly.

Vin needed to get his boy focused again. Two goals up didn’t guarantee a win. Not when they were playing a team like Dallas. One mistake could steal the championship away.

Grabbing the back of Aries’s neck, Vin squeezed hard bending down to talk to his boy. “Focus,” Vin said. “We haven’t won anything yet.”

Aries nodded as he gripped his own knees, which hadn’t stopped bouncing. “K. I know your right. I’ll calm down.”

“You are playing amazing,” Vin told him, wanting Aries to know how proud he was.

“I haven’t scored,” Aries said and scowled.

Vin squeezed again. “It’s not always about scoring. You are assisting your teammates and playing a great game. Keep it up.”

Aries looked up at him. “Can we have ice cream tonight?”

Robbs’s face was suddenly between theirs. “I want ice cream too.”

“Fucker!” Vin laughed and shoved Robbs away. Why the hellhound, who Vin knew was a dominant in his private time, often acted like a damn teenager was beyond him.

“That wasn’t a no!” Aries said, clapping.

It wasn’t a no. In six more minutes, Vin would give his boy whatever he wanted even if it meant the biggest chocolate sundae that Vin had ever seen in his life. Because Aries had been right earlier. They were going to win the Iron Cup tonight!

Ice cream followed by a bath before Vin gave Aries another surprise. The special gift that was wrapped and waiting on the coffee table would be Aries’s reward for a fantastic season. Win or lose. But they were going to fucking win.

Evan

“Yes!” Nix screamed at the top of his lungs. Like he thought that Aries would hear him from all the way up in their suite.

Hell, for all Evan knew, Aries might just be able to hear him. Nix was that damn loud.

Gem wasn’t much better as he grabbed hold of Nix, lifting the middle triplet off the ground, yelling as well. It amused Evan to see the normally quiet and stoic triplet losing his mind as Aries scored the third and quite possibly winning goal.

Luka joined Evan on the quiet side of the suite and passed him a beer.

“Thanks.” Evan lifted in beer in a toast. “Looks like Vegas got it.”

Luka nodded as he sipped his own beer. “I’d probably feel worse about where we ended up if it wasn’t so amazing to watch Vin and Aries have one hell of a season.”

“That they have,” Evan agreed.

“Besides, now that I’m with Boston for a full season, next year it’s going to be ours,” Luka stated with a smirk.

“Oh no!” Evan nudged him. “Next year is Florida’s year.”

“Bet!” Luka replied.

That intrigued him. “Bet?” Evan asked. He had been friends with Luka for a long time. They’d started their careers together when they’d both been drafted into the NHL back before anyone knew about the paranormal world. They couldn’t bet on games legally so they’d always had fun terms.

Luka nodded. “Like the good old days. A friendly wager, no money exchanged, of whose team goes farther next season.”

“It’s so fucking on!” Evan declared. This was nice. Seeing how Luka thrived since being with Gem. Mainly Evan loved seeing the darkness that started to take over Luka was now gone. Gem had helped Luka find his purpose. Renew his zest for life.

“What’s on?” Nix jumped on Evan’s back seconds after speaking.

Evan grunted and swung an arm around to hold Nix up, since he hadn’t been prepared and didn’t want to drop his boy.