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“What’s complicated?” Connor looked up, and I gawked at him.
“What the fuck is this?” I ran my eyes over my teammates. I’d expected a handful of them, not half the fucking team.
“Called in a few favors, didn’t I?” Noah grinned. “Our biggest fan deserves a proper show.”
“I… shit, thanks. You guys didn’t have to give up your Sunday morning to do this.”
“We’re a team,” Connor stood, pulling on his pads. “A family. We wanted to help out. Besides, Leon and Ward could do with the extra practice.”
“Hey, I’ll skate circles around you, asshole,” Leon called from across the room.
“Okay, how are we doing this?” Aiden came over. “A little four-on-four?”
“Happy to take your direction,” I said. “I appreciate you being here.”
“Wouldn’t have missed it.” He held out his glove, and I bumped it with my fist.
“Thanks.”
I swallowed over the lump in my throat. I didn’t get close to many people. But as I looked around the locker room, I realized Connor was right.
These guys weren’t only my teammates.
They were family.
And I was a fucking lucky guy to have them in my corner.
* * *
“I’m coming for you, hotshot,” Connor taunted as he skated toward me. I spotted Noah in my periphery, but Ward had him pinned down.
“Take the shot, Mason brother,” Scottie bellowed. “Take the—”
Connor checked me hard, and I went down like a sack of bricks, the air whooshing from my lungs. “You hesitated,” he said, looming over me. “There’s no time to hesitate. Unless you were distracted by a certain—”
“Do not finish that sentence,” I growled, letting him pull me to my skates.
Regaining my balance, he handed me my stick with a smug chuckle. “Coach D’s daughter has you all tied up in knots still, doesn’t she.”
“I’m not doing this.” I skated off, but his laughter followed me.
“But it’s so much fun.”
I flipped him off over my shoulder, frowning when I noticed Mom sitting on her own. “Timeout,” I called to my friends, heading over to her.
“Where’s Scottie and Harper?”
“Oh, they just went to—”
A commotion over by the door leading to the locker rooms caught my attention, and the ground nearly went out from under me as I watched Harper help Scottie teeter along on his skates.
“What the hell is she doing?” I bit out.
“Mason,” Mom soothed, “it was his idea.”
“What?” I gawked at her because, surely she had it wrong. Scottie was terrified of the ice. He’d had more than one meltdown in the past over it.
“This is a good thing, sweetheart,” she said. “He wants so desperately to share this with you.”
