AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He laughs at me as we walk into the changing room, and I see we are the last two to arrive. “Boys,” I greet, nodding as I take in that most of the guys are just sitting down with either water in their hands or Gatorades. The night we won the Cup, I think we left the arena at seven in the morning. The families stayed and took pictures on the ice with us, but then when we went to the locker room, it was chaos, to say the very least. I think it finally sank in that we won, and everyone got their third or fourth wind. The champagne was flying all over the place, and the amount of beer that was drunk was insane. One of the guys actually did an interview while drinking a can of beer, and the interview made no sense whatsoever.
“I’m not drinking for the next six months,” Dylan announces, downing the rest of his water in the bottle. He closes the bottle and tosses it in the big bin in the middle of the room and misses it, making us all laugh. “I literally have no strength in my whole body.”
“Did you hear what your brother did?” Cooper looks over at Dylan as I sit down in my place right next to Xavier. I get up after sitting for two minutes, grabbing a bottle of water and then looking over at Xavier, who just nods at me so I get him his own bottle.
“My brother?” Dylan points at himself.
“He tried to sneak into my father’s house two nights ago.” He laughs, and Dylan just shakes his head. “My father came running out of the bedroom while the alarm was blaring.”
“Why the hell did he try to break into the house?” Dylan just shakes his head. “Idiot.”
“No idea,” Cooper says, “but he and Matty were busted and then spent the whole day helping Abigail unpack.” The minute I hear her name, the tightness forms in my stomach as I try not to listen to what they say. It always feels like I’m stalking her. Taking out my phone, I open it up to see we got an email from Nico with all the pictures we took the night we won.
Sliding through them, I see the winning goal captured frame by frame. “Did you see this?” I look over at Xavier, showing him the picture, who just shakes his head. I slide through and find a picture of Penelope and me. “Look at her smile,” I say, showing Xavier the picture. “She had the best time.” I swipe again, seeing a picture someone took of me, Penelope, and Abigail. I press the save button and then slide through until I see the parade pictures.
“It’s a blur,” I state. “The past ten days have been a blur, and I really wish I remembered most of it.”
The guys all laugh as they get up and start packing their lockers. I get up, putting my phone away, before walking over and grabbing a garbage bag to throw shit out. “What are you doing after this?” Xavier asks as he leans over and throws some of his stuff in my garbage.
“No idea,” I say truthfully. “I’m going back home in a couple of weeks to stay at my lake house and start training. You?”
“Family vacation,” he replies, opening his backpack and tossing in some of his hockey tape. “Why don’t you and Penelope come?”
I look over at him. “I don’t know.” I chuckle. “It’s a family vacation.”
“And you’ve been a part of that family longer than I have. You are practically there every Sunday for lunch.” He points out a little fact that I usually forget since it’s become a ritual with Penelope and myself.
“Yeah,” I agree. The minute I found out about Penelope, the whole Grant-Stone family was behind me. There was never a moment they judged me or made me feel like a horrible person for any of it. I mean, it took Julia a while to warm up to me, but that is only because she was the one who was the caseworker for Penelope. “Maybe.” I think about how much fun Penelope would have. She loves her time at the lake, but she would really love to go to the beach. “Are you sure this is okay?” I look back over at Xavier, who just nods his head. “It’s a family vacation. I don’t want to intrude.”
“Please,” Xavier pffts me. “Cooper,” he calls over to Cooper, who is tossing all his shit into his equipment bag. I don’t even think he’s looking at what he’s putting in there. “How many people coming on the family trip?”
“Fuck if I know. I think we were up to eighty,” Cooper answers, shaking his head.
“So would two more matter?” He motions over to me, and he just laughs.
“Fifteen more wouldn’t matter at this point,” Dylan interjects as Michael laughs.
“I’m dreading this plane ride,” Michael groans, looking over at me. “Just make sure you bring earplugs.”
I think about it for a second, and perhaps I should have thought about it a little more, but I can’t help myself. “This sounds like so much fun. What’s the worst that can happen?”
The whole group of guys moans when I say that. “Well, one year, I woke up, and my brother was wakeboarding naked,” Cooper says of Chase, “and then my daughter drew a picture at school about it.”
“One year,” Dylan holds up his hand, “Wilson and Franny got caught doing it against a tree.”
“We didn’t get caught,” Wilson says, laughing, “and we weren’t doing it.” He just smirks. “I was feeling her up, and her ass got stung by a bee.”
“That’s my sister,” Cooper groans and pretends he’s going to vomit.
“One year”—Michael puts his hand up—“Alex ran away from Dylan.”
“She didn’t run away,” Dylan denies. “She was giving me space.”
“She took a plane and left the island,” Michael points out. “That’s leaving you.”
Dylan just flips him the bird. “One year, Michael fell asleep in one of those hammock things and had a glasses sunburn on his face.” All the guys laugh, even Michael.
“Needless to say, you never ask what can go wrong because with my family,” Cooper says, “the possibilities are endless. Especially now that Matty and Christopher are allowed to drink.”
