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Coen takes up where Hendrix leaves off. “But since we have our smoking-hot women taking up a hundred percent of our attention, we like the atmosphere at Jerry’s. More laid back.”
Tillie and I exchange a glance, and she snorts. “You guys are whipped.”
“I am,” Hendrix admits, leaning over and kissing me softly. And just… my heart melts over his naked admission in front of his teammate. No shame at all in baring his feelings.
“Good thing I’m whipped too,” I murmur.
“God, you two are sickly sweet,” Coen mutters in disgust.
Hendrix shakes his head. “Oh, no you don’t, dude. We had to listen endlessly about Tillie when you came back to the team. Suck it up.”
“Well,” Coen says slyly, hooking his arm around Tillie’s shoulders and drawing her in, “you’ll be hearing lots more. I’ve finally convinced her to move to Pittsburgh.”
“What?” I exclaim with delight. “That’s awesome.”
I’d talked to Tillie about her long-distance dilemma with Coen, and it’s been causing quite a bit of heartache living apart. It’s hard enough having a relationship with someone who travels so much, but then add on living three and a half hours away.
Tillie’s smile is like sunshine. “I found someone to help me teach my classes, and I’ll coordinate my schedule for the longer road trips to go back to Coudersport.”
“I thought this was inevitable.” Hendrix laughs.
“Fuck, I hoped it was,” Coen says, and my heart trips on Tillie’s behalf. Like Hendrix, Coen lays it out there when it comes to his woman. The difference is that Coen was closed off before, and this is strange behavior for him. I obviously didn’t know Hendrix before we met, but I’ve learned enough through being with him and talking to his Aunt Rory to know he’s always been open with his feelings.
After we finish eating, we mingle some more until everyone is called to congregate in the grand foyer. While the house is massive, the foyer is the best place to accommodate everyone as the rooms to the left and right have wide entrances. There’s a grand staircase that rises up from the foyer and then splits to the left and right in sweeping arcs. Once everyone is gathered, Brienne Norcross walks up about five steps so everyone can see her.
She turns, clasps her hands, and beams a smile. “Our first Christmas party.” She looks around, letting that sink in. It’s not the first Christmas party the Norcross family has thrown for the Titans, but she means the first Christmas party for this brand-new group. “I have to be honest… when I took over this team, I was scared shitless.”
That produces quite a few chuckles. “I didn’t think I had what it takes to put this team back together. Adam was the one who knew hockey inside and out. I barely understood what icing was. I knew I had to rely on the one thing our father taught both Adam and me, and that was to work hard until you get the job done.
“But hard work only goes so far if you don’t have good people working with you. So I made sure to surround myself with the best. A lot of the reason we’re all standing here is because of Callum Derringer and his very wise choices—in all of you—to help build a superb team.”
A huge round of applause erupts, and I lean over to look at the general manager. He lifts an acknowledging hand but looks almost embarrassed.
Brienne scans the crowd. “Where’s Cannon West?”
He’s actually standing to the left of Hendrix, so when he raises his hand, Brienne’s attention comes our way, and her eyes glitter with bemusement. “Now, we didn’t have a great start with our first head coach.” Many more laughs because the first coach, Matt Keller, was a hot mess, and pretty much everybody hated him. Hendrix told me Keller made a horrible comment about Jenna’s scars, and Gage went apeshit. Keller was fired within moments of that happening, and it makes me respect Brienne all the more.
She continues. “Coach West was the last piece of the puzzle we needed to become a championship team. And I think our record this season speaks for itself. We have twenty-three wins, eight losses, and fifty-three points. We’re second in our division, and only three points separates us from first.” A roar of approval reverberates through the foyer, and Brienne grins as she motions with her hands to quiet down.
“Just one more thing… I want to use this gathering to announce officially that I have formed the Adam Norcross Charitable Foundation, and its main goal will be to aid dependents of professional athletes who have either died or become incapacitated and can’t play anymore. This is a global charity and will cover all professional and semiprofessional sports. We’re all too aware of how the plane crash left widows and children behind. It’s incredibly hard… the struggle to figure out how to navigate life alone when a family member is ripped away. I want to take a moment to introduce Danica Brandt, whose husband Mitch was our second-line left-winger and was on the plane. Danica, come up here.”
