Page 197 of Play Dirty

A beat. Then—

“I just stopped getting in the way.”

He couldn’t see the smile I had, but it stretched from ear to ear. I felt warm inside. Fuzzy…

A sudden bang on the front door caused everyone to turn. The music cut out so suddenly, it was like someone had yanked all the air from the room.

And then suddenly there he was.

Mercer.

Standing just inside the doorway, like he’d been there the whole time.

Nobody spoke. Even Sir-Cleans-a-Lot, caught up in his jersey, beeped twice and stopped spinning.

The coach stepped forward with slow, measured steps. His eyes moved across the house, scanning everything like he was taking inventory.

Jackson straightened. Caleb dropped his drink hand to his side for the first time all night. Even Zack lowered his arms, like he suddenly remembered he was, in fact, on a professional hockey team.

Mercer stopped somewhere near the center of the crowd. He looked around once more.

Then—

“You’re in the playoffs,” he said, matter-of-factly.

That was it.

The silence shattered like glass.

A roar went up, louder than anything I’d ever heard, even at the rink, even when I was playing myself. Mercer didn’t react. He didn’t smile. He didn’t even blink.

“Enjoy it,” he added over the noise. “Tonight.”

Another beat.

“Then we get back to work.”

He turned to leave, paused, then reached out and snatched a whiskey glass straight out of Boone’s hand, without so much as a glance—

And knocked it back in one smooth motion.

Mercer didn’t say anything. He just handed the glass back and walked out.

The door shut behind him.

Silence hung there for half a second. All eyes were on Boone, who was now looking down into his empty glass.

“Did that just happen?” he asked.

And the house absolutely lost it.

The music slammed back on, louder than before, and the walls began vibrating again. This time, it felt like the house itself had decided to celebrate.

I laughed without meaning to, caught up in it, in them, in everything that had been building for weeks. All of it finally breaking loose at once.

This.

This is what it felt like.