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He groans, finally heading in the right direction for our seats. “Why does Baylor even like you?”
“I have great tits.”
His dark eyes flick down before he rolls them. “I hate that I can’t argue that.” He takes a deep breath. “But seriously, don’t disappear again. What if that dude was your stalker, huh?”
It’s not that he doesn’t have a point, but really? What are the chances? “And he just so happened to be walking by the bathroom right as I exited?”
He gives me a baffled look. “Maybe you’re unclear of what a stalker does,” he starts, but I flip him off, walking past him and taking the lead.
When we get back to our seat, Baylor’s mom beams at me. “There you are! You missed Baylor’s goal.” I do feel a little guilty about that. It would have been nice to see. She budges my shoulder as I sit down. “Maybe he’ll make another one just for you.” My cheeks flush and I can’t even begin to explain why.
Apparently I missed more than just the one goal, because the score is now 1-2, but Baylor is just taking the ice again as Tate blocks a goal and passes the puck to a player who’s name I can never remember even though I can picture his face. He goes wide before sending the puck down to Wells who takes off across the ice like a bat out of hell. Rather than Baylor getting open for a pass, he seems focused on something else. Or someone.
Just as Wells sends the puck across the ice to a waiting James, the player that laid out Baylor earlier charges toward him. Before he ever has a chance to reach him, Baylor blocks his path, shoving against him and taking him down. Just as hard as the hit he took.
The opposing player hits the ice hard and all of Baylor’s brothers shoot to their feet as they cheer in unison. James takes a shot that is deflected and the game continues, but I can’t help but chuckle. “That was hot,” I admit to Isla, making Cheryl laugh.
“It was about time he got payback,” Dylan mutters, but I catch the oldest brother, Liam—I think— shaking his head.
“He was waiting for the right time.”
Their dad nods his agreement. “That’s my boy.” Something about the pride and fondness in his voice makes me smile. Baylor really does have so many people cheering for him, loving him. No wonder he’s turned out to be such a good person when he comes from a family like this.
The rest of the game is just as exciting. The second period ends shortly after the block Baylor made. Isla convinces me to go with her to get nachos and I kick Xander in the back before leaving, making him throw me a dirty look. But he and Emery both get up to walk with us, Emery claiming nachos sound good to her too.
I decide that I love her when she orders enough food for a small army and then looks at Xander expectantly, waiting for him to pay. He grumbles and grouches, but does it. My kind of girl.
Once the third period starts, the score is still 1-2 with us in the lead. The ferocity the other team comes back out with is on a new level. More hits, more bodies hitting the ice. It’s practically a bloodbath out there.
Tate holds strong. Blocking every single shot that comes his way, which I do think is more than our defense should really be allowing. Not that I’m an expert. Based on the times Xander has cursed out the defensemen and how Beau is starting to lose his sanity on the ice, I’m probably right. Beau seems to be the only one on defense that’s actually awake out there, but he can’t be everywhere at once. A lot more shots are taken on Tate then we’re getting off on their goalie. But the way Tate uses his whole body to deflect shots is another level of impressiveness. When I say this to Emery she beams at me, telling me how he used to make her throw rocks at him in the warm months to help his reflex skills.
Xander chuckles at the memory, filling in, “He didn’t want to ask me or Zac and risk it being a hard throw.”
“You’re so rude,” she grumbles.
I lean forward to whisper in her ear. “Call him a dickhead. You’ll feel better, I promise.”
Her ears turn a cute shade of red and I consider taking her home with me to keep. She’s so fun to tease. She almost reminds me of Rayne, even though she’s not that much younger than me.
“Tate will never forgive you if you corrupt her,” Xander warns, but I shrug. I bet an angry Tate would be hot. Plus, Baylor would protect me. Which is even hotter. Sounds like a fun social experiment.
“Go, go, go,” Isla starts chanting, drawing my eyes back to the ice. Baylor just stole the puck from their center, not even giving the defense a chance. He skates up the sideline, breaking away from their defense, and cutting across the ice. No one is even near him as he makes it in front of their net and he slaps the puck. Before it even makes it to goalie I know it’s going in. High and in the corner of the net, their goalie has no shot of getting his gloves up in time.
The red lights flash and the horn blares just as a defender in black goes crashing through the net. Too late to do anything. I jump and cheer for Baylor. A smile stretching across my face in a way that I know is going to make my cheeks ache and I can’t even begin to care as I join the whistles and chants of the crowd for number 89.
He skates around the arena, pumping his hands up to encourage the cheers louder. Showboating like a mother fucking rockstar.
“Eighty-nine. Damn he’s fine. Give it to them one more time.”
I collapse into my seat, laughing as I realize what everyone is chanting. “That has to be the stupidest cheer I’ve ever heard.”
“It’s cute,” Isla argues.
“There’s another one that rhymes with our last name,” Beckett tells me, making me laugh all the harder.
Cheryl pats my knee in what I’m now associating as her signature move when she wants to say something. “Now you know where all that confidence comes from.”
Dylan and Jackson snort behind us. “The last thing that kid needs is anything more to feed his ego.”
