Epilogue
DEVON
“Winning this game clinches our playoff spot.” Karim, our captain, gazed at all of us. Wheels as a nickname somehow suited him.
The Vancouver locker room buzzed with excitement—both from the players as well as pretty much all of the city of Vancouver. I’d thought Toronto was hockey-obsessed. Vancouver rivaled them, that was for sure.
Finally, Wheels gestured to me with his chin. “Rookie deserves a Cup run.”
Heat raced to my cheeks.
“Yeah. Heroes deserve Cups.” Ricky, my D-line partner.
Everyone laughed.
Except me. I didn’t feel like a hero for coming clean about my relationship with Jack. For having survived that press conference and coming out. My cheeks must be matching Rudolph’s nose. Embarrassment burned within me. I’d tried so damn often to downplay the entire life event.
“Let’s knock Dallas on their asses.” Wheels trying to refocus the rowdy bunch.
We had several more games left in the regular season, so tonight wasn’t do or die. Still, the sooner we secured our spot, the sooner I could exhale. Hopefully, a Cup run would refocus fans’ attention on the entire team instead of just a rookie D-man.
Cederqvist had never recovered from his injury.
In the end, the doctors explained that even if he fully recovered, he risked his future health.
Some guys wouldn’t give a shit about the future—the game today was all that mattered.
Ceders wanted to be able to play with his kids and grandkids, so he was calling it quits.
He was getting older anyway, so this gave him a gracious exit.
As we headed out of the locker room, Wheels punched my arm. “You focused?”
“Yep.”
“Your man here?”
“Yep.”
“In the cheap seats?”
“Nope. Press office put him in a freaking box. With the lead singer of Grindstone, no less. Will be interesting to see the two of them together.” Grindstone was an indie Vancouver band who had recently been making big waves in the music industry.
Wheels chuckled. “Yeah, that’ll be cool.” We hustled toward the ice. “You focused?”
I nodded. “Jack gave up everything for me. The least I can do is play my best every time I step on the ice.”
“That’s a lot of pressure.”
“No less than I put on myself before.” Sorry, Mom, just being honest. While we were in Tofino, Jack gently suggested maybe seeing a counselor for a couple of sessions to deal with the chasm of grief that still felt overwhelming at times.
I’d reached my ultimate goal—and I still felt like something was missing.
I had the man of my dreams—and I still wished my mom could’ve met him.
Grief was normal. Maybe a counselor would say that.
Or maybe I needed to let go of the intensity.
“Play your best game.” Karim leaned in. “You tell your man the good news yet?”
“Nope.” Keeping something from Jack was killing me, but I wanted to share the news in person, and there hadn’t been time today.
Wheels tapped my helmet. “I don’t think I could keep that from—” He hesitated. “—the person I loved. Okay, let’s go win this game.”
That wasn’t what he was going to say. I had no idea what he meant to say, though. As far as I knew, he was single. So if he had someone, I couldn’t say the partner was common knowledge. None of your business.
True. But anyone who might take the pressure of coverage off Jack and me would be appreciated.
Fans roared as we hit the ice. Again, I felt like the cheering for me was louder than ever. Probably just my imagination. And I was not looking into the stands to find Jack. Bad enough he’d been dragged into this. Except it normalizes your relationship.
Right.
I skated my heart out. Again, I managed two assists.
We knocked Dallas on their asses.
Not literally. But a 6-1 blowout felt pretty damn sweet.
Jack waited for me.
He wore my jersey.
Unreal.
And apparently the damn things were selling well. More of that hero stuff, I suspected.
Or maybe because you’re a really good player.
Jack opened his arms.
I stepped into them.
We kissed.
Fortunately, all the other players were occupied, and so no one paid us any mind. Just a player and his partner.
Jack pulled back first. Then he leaned in. “I have news.”
“Oh?” I cocked my head. “I have news too.”
His brow knit. “Maybe we have the same news?”
I shook my head. “If you knew my news, then you’d know I already knew.”
He guffawed. “God, that’s convoluted. Are we going to the bar?”
“To celebrate? Hell, yes. It’s within walking distance, so let’s head out.”
I reached for his hand. He took mine.
We walked into the fresh Vancouver air. Today’s rain had ended, and the streets sparkled under the streetlamps.
“Your news?” Jack gazed around—clearly wanting to assure himself that no one was within hearing distance.
“Nope. You first.”
He chuckled. “Delayed gratification?”
“You bet.”
“Yesterday, Hairs was put on unconditional waivers for termination of contract.”
I halted and turned Jack to face me. “No shit?”
“No shit.” He grinned. “No way was Emil keeping around a homophobic blackmailer. He runs a clean team. Plus, Amy’s secured a contract for next year.
Hairs had been subtly undermining her. Whether because he’s sexist on top of everything else—or just equally homophobic between gays and lesbians—Emil had his limit. ”
“His blackmail is still a secret, right?” If that was revealed, I knew something would break inside me. That people would look at my relationship with Jack differently.
“He’s been ordered not to speak about it. On threat of a lawsuit and a bunch of other stuff.”
“So, waivers…” My heart sped up. If he got picked up, then I might wind up on the ice playing against him. I could still be sent down again.
Not that I wouldn’t do everything in my power to avoid that.
“No one claimed him. His career is done.” Jack grinned. “At least for now.”
At least for now. Because things could be forgotten. Bad boys could, if their hockey game was good enough, be redeemed. Total bullshit. If a guy was an asshole off the ice, I didn’t give a fuck if they were the best player in the world—they didn’t deserve the honor of being on any team.
Hairs wasn’t that great of a player—but he could be vicious. Some general managers looked for that in their players.
“So, for now, we get a reprieve?”
“Yep.”
“Okay.” I felt like I could finally take a breath. “What aren’t you telling me?” He still had a shit-eating grin on his face.
He shrugged. But his smile didn’t diminish. “Okay, since you asked nicely.”
I punched him lightly in the gut.
He oofed but, again, his grin didn’t diminish. “I’ve been offered a job.”
My heart sped up. Oh God, he’s leaving Vancouver. He’s leaving Canada. Someone sees how brilliant he is and—
“Relax.” He placed a thumb to my frown line.
“Skills coach. For the Vancouver women’s hockey team.
Since I’m one hundred percent gay, they figured I was safe to take a chance on.
” He pressed a kiss to my lips. “And they saw I was in a very committed, very public relationship. I’m not likely to randomly start a relationship with a female player. ”
“And if you tried, they might chop off part of your anatomy.”
“With a dull skate blade—and I wouldn’t blame them. What I did with you was bad enough. I’m never going to do that again.”
Never was a long time. There might come a time when he found himself back coaching a men’s team. As head coach, no less.
“Hey.” Again, he soothed his thumb to my frown line. “You’re my future. Forever. You get that, right?”
I tugged him toward me for a fierce hug. Yes, I do get that. And I promised myself not to borrow trouble—as my mother would’ve said. She also would’ve loved Jack.
He pulled back. “And you?”
“I might’ve signed a one-way, two-year contract with Vancouver before tonight’s game.”
Jack stilled. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Holy shit?”
I laughed. “Did you mean that as a question or a statement? Because it works either—”
He tugged me into a bear hug. “Yeah, holy shit. Statement or question.”
“Uh—”
“Yeah,” He pulled back for another kiss.
“We have an audience.”
He broke eye contact and gazed around us. No fewer than three phones pointed at us.
“Oh.”
“Yeah.” I chuckled. “We’ll fall out of the spotlight eventually, right?”
“Not if you win the Cup.”
I rolled my eyes. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” I didn’t want to jinx us. Vancouver was good—but we weren’t the best in the League. At least not this year. “I love you.”
He blinked. “I love you too.”
“Then let’s go celebrate—the win and the contract.”
“Sure.”
He leaned in to whisper. “Tonight, I think I deserve a reward.”
I chuckled. Because his rewards meant I’d get to do my favorite thing as well—beat the shit out of him. “Can we go house hunting soon? Then we won’t have neighbors.”
One of the most luxurious hotels in Vancouver also had surprisingly thin walls. I couldn’t go to town on Jack unless he wore a gag. And where was the fun in that? I liked to hear him scream.
He blinked. “Forever?” He said that loud enough for everyone to hear.
“Yeah, forever.” We’d have bumps. We’d have bruises. We might even have fights. But I wanted to put a ring on this man as soon as possible. He might not want that. He’s been burned—
Maybe. I’d just have to make sure I was a better man than his ex-husband. If it took a lifetime to convince him, then my time would be well spent.
I grabbed his hand. “Let’s go rock this party.”
And so we did.