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Epilogue
FINLEY
A WEEK LATER
Unpackingthe last box of things from my room on campus, I didn’t hear my attacker when they jumped on me from behind. The person was small, barely moving me, but I took a step forward to balance. Her arms wrapped around me, her pomegranate scent washing over me.
“Oof, you didn’t stick the landing. Gotta mark a point off for that,” she teased before hopping down and flopping onto the nearest surface, which happened to be a humongous bed.
“Hey, Sawyer,” I said, smiling at my best friend. “Did you guys just get back?”
She sat up, smiling at me as she pulled her feet up under her. Sawyer began to survey the room. “Yep. It was nice to meet Mateo’s family, but I’m glad to be back here. Though, I wish school wasn’t starting in a week. Madeline has us training practically every minute of the day to maximize our time before the ice is overcome with students. I’m starting to regret my dream of going to the Olympics.”
“No, you’re not.” I tossed a pillow at her head, and she caught it, a massive smile on her face. “You love to train.”
“Yeah, you’re right. It just feels weird not to complain about it. So I put on a good show for you.”
“Haha. I’ll have you know that I can now run five miles without getting out of breath.” And shoot a gun, but I decided to keep that tidbit to myself. Didn’t need to freak out my bestie.
“Wow, I’m impressed. Does that mean you’ll sign up to do the charity 5k with us? Is there a Team FinSin in your future? Gonna take on team Bosh?”
“Ha! No, I said I could run it, not that I liked to. And we don’t have a cutesy name. There’s only five of us, so I dunno.” I shrugged my shoulder, my face turning bright red, so I moved over to a different box to hide it.
“Shrug your shoulder all you want, Fin. I know you. What’s up?” A pillow hit me in the side of the head, and I gave up my pretense of hiding and went and joined her on the bed.
“When we first left the base, I couldn’t wait to all be under one roof. To have time to develop my relationships and become a family like you have with your guys.”
“But?” she asked, nudging me.
“Now that the guys are here, I worry they’ll regret it. Especially Ryker. Asa is still coaching, and Milo is doing his residency, so it’s easier for me to believe they have other reasons to be at Lux outside of me. Cohen is always moving around, so him working for Samson also doesn’t seem as such a big stretch. But Ryker…” I trailed off, ducking my head as I began to play with the bedspread.
“I don’t know him as well as the others, obviously, but I know you, Fin, and you’re amazing. I get it, though. There’s a certain level of doubt that starts to creep in when you have more than one boyfriend, but I can tell you from experience that it’s a wasted emotion. Trust them to know what they want and don’t devalue their actions. But most of all, know your worth, girl. You’re a brilliant hacker who can sew, knows fashion, and looks killer in a pair of heels. You’re one of a kind, Finley Amelia Reyes.”
“God, I’ve missed you.” I tackled my best friend to the bed as we hugged and giggled. Cuddling together, I thought about what she said. “Thank you. I needed to remind myself. Now,” I said, sitting up, “tell me all about Mateo’s family, Ollie going to culinary school, and the new hockey coach. I feel like I’m so out of the loop.”
Sawyer chuckled but sat up and filled me in on how things had been on campus over the summer and how she’d finally convinced Ollie to stop taking classes on the weekend and to just go for it.
“Dimitri was happy for Ollie and asked his help in finding a replacement since the Senior level needed a head coach and new assistant with only Fletcher staying on. Ollie and Dimitri talked about promoting Jacob, but in the end, they decided some new blood was needed to get the program back to where it was before the whole Council debacle.”
“Why didn’t they promote Tyler?”
“Tyler wanted to stay on the Junior team so he could still have time to work with Samson and his dad.”
“That was Asa’s reasoning, too,” I mused, remembering Asa debating what to do. “So, who did they pick? Anyone good?”
Sawyer rubbed her hands together in glee. “Well, I’d like to think my influence has made Ollie a better man because he picked Henley Henshaw to be the new head coach.”
“Wait, but Henley’s a girl…” I trailed off as a smile spread across my face.
“Exactly. What better way to make some waves than to shake everything up? I think it’s brilliant, and I’m really proud of them for being open to the idea.”
“I’m actually excited about attending some games now. Who’s the other new coach?”
She shrugged her shoulder, bumping mine. “I can’t remember his name, Reed something.”
“Doesn’t ring a bell. I’ll get the scoop from Asa later.”
A knock at the door had us breaking apart and glancing toward it. Ryker stood there, looking a little awkward with Sawyer here.
