49. Emmy
FORTY-NINE
Grady
I’m not great with geography, but I’m pretty sure Toronto is closer to San Diego than DC is.
Right?
Me
I think it is.
I have so much to catch you up on.
The trade. Moving (again).
Maverick.
Grady
Interesting.
A few months ago you told me nothing was going on between you two.
How the tables turn……
“I can’t believeyou have to go to Toronto.” Grant groans. “That fucking sucks. It’s cold there. Don’t they have moose? Moose can be deadly.”
“A lot of things can be deadly, Grant.” Hudson pats his shoulder. “But if I had to pick between Emmy and the moose, I’d take Emmy.”
“When do you leave?” Riley asks.
“I’m flying out the day after tomorrow. If everything comes back clear with my physical, I’ll be good to play in less than a week,” I say.
“Want me to break your kneecap, Em, so you have to stay?” Ethan chimes in, and I laugh.
“Thanks, E, but I’d prefer to keep my knees intact.” I tuck my feet under me and smile at the guys. They’re all gathered in front of me on the floor in Maverick’s living room, and it feels like I’m doing story time at a library. They’re hanging onto my every word, and even Liam is leaning against the wall and listening. “This might be my last team dinner as a member of the Stars, but you can’t get rid of me that easily. I’m still going to be here on the occasional Tuesday, and we might see each other in the playoffs.”
“Oh my god. No, Emmy. I could never shove you into the boards,” Grant says. “I won’t do it.”
“She’d shove you right back,” Connor interjects, and Seymour nods in agreement.
“Are you going to get a place?” Hudson asks. “There’s only a month and a half left in the regular season.”
“No. They’re going to put me in a hotel for the time being. My contract is only for the season, so if they offer me an extension, I’ll start looking for a more permanent place.” My eyes flick over to Maverick. He’s watching me from the entryway with a giddy smile on his face. “Or maybe somewhere between DC and Toronto.”
“Speaking of that, there’s something we want to tell you all,” Maverick says.
He reaches out his hand, motioning me forward, and I climb over Connor and Grant to get to him. Ethan tries to hold my ankle, but I shake him off.
“What’s happening?” Riley whispers.
“I don’t know. It better be something good,” Grant whispers back, and I’m going to miss seeing which of them wins Lexi’s heart. “We paused Madden for this. Emmy’s announcement was worth it, but you never know what Cap has up his sleeve.”
“Glad to know where I stand.” Maverick snorts and drapes his arm over my shoulders. He looks down at me, and his dimpled grin is as bright as I’ve ever seen it. “Doing okay, Emmy girl?”
“I’m doing great, pretty boy.”
“Do you want to tell them, or should I?”
“Fucking shit.” Ethan stands up. “Please don’t tell me you’re leaving too, Mav. Oh, god. The whole team is being split up, aren’t we? Next thing you know, Liam’s going to be in fucking Phoenix complaining about how hot it is. Seymour’s going to be in Montreal, and Grant will be in Europe because he failed to make a new roster.”
“I hate the heat,” Liam grumbles.
“Whoa, fuck you.” Grant launches a pillow across the room and it hits Ethan in the face. “If anyone’s going to Europe, it’s you. Your face-offs have been shit the last two games.”
“I can’t go to Montreal. Brooke is pregnant, and her whole family is here.” Every single pair of eyes settles on Seymour, and he grins. “Oh, right. Surprise! I’m going to be a fucking dad,” he says, and the room erupts into cheers.
“God, I’m going to miss this chaos,” I whisper, and Maverick laughs.
“Are you sure? I’ve heard rumors that Toronto is a little more subdued. They won’t have the bond we do, and they definitely won’t have a Grant or an Ethan.”
“Six months ago, I would’ve been grateful for some peace and quiet. I’m used to it now, though, and I love the noise.”
“I love you,” he murmurs, then he kisses my forehead.
“Whoa. What the fuck was that, Cap?” Connor blinks, and everyone’s heads turn our way. “Why are you kissing Emmy?”
“Yeah. So.” Maverick rubs the back of his neck, and his cheeks turn pink. “We’re, uh, dating. And not in a casual way. It’s more of an I love you way? Which I know I’ve never experienced before and I’m still kind of figuring out the ropes so I don’t fuck this up, but I’m happy. We’re happy, and we wanted you all to know. You’re our family, and we don’t want to keep it a secret anymore.”
“Emmy,” Grant whispers. “Blink twice if you need help. I’ve always wanted to be a hero.”
“Touch her and die, Everett,” Maverick says, and I’ve never heard something so hot in my life.
“I love him too,” I tell them. “I didn’t come here expecting to fall for another hockey player, and I certainly didn’t expect for it to be Maverick. I’m glad it was him though, because he’s picked me up in a way I’ve been searching for but haven’t wanted to admit for a long time. I’m not the same person I was when I got to DC, and I think that’s a good thing. All of you have played a part in that change, and I can’t thank you enough for opening your hearts to a prickly woman who just needed to learn to trust again.”
“For fuck’s sake.” Ethan wipes his eyes. “Are you determined to make me cry tonight, Emmy?”
“We love you too, Em. Not in the way Cap does, obviously, but you’re always going to be a part of us. That’s not going to change just because you’re five hundred miles away,” Riley says.
“You can be prickly around us all you want,” Connor chimes in. “God knows we already deal with Liam’s prickly ass. What’s a little more?”
“Thanks, guys.” I rub my hand over my chest and smile. “I hate that I have to leave, but this isn’t goodbye.”
Maverick turns his cheek and buries his face in my hair. “Enough with all this sad shit. We’re going to be here next week and the week after. Emmy will be back soon, and even though it might feel like everything else is changing, this isn’t going to change. Grab a beer, turn on Madden so I can watch Grant get his ass kicked, raise a toast to Seymour being a goddamn father, and let’s have some fucking fun the rest of the night.”
Everyone moves around the living room, filtering to the kitchen and out to the balcony. Grant and Ethan fight over a controller, and Liam pats Seymour on the back, a rare smile sneaking onto the goalie’s face when he looks at a sonogram photo.
It hurts to leave a place I love so deeply with people I care about, but I know there’s always going to be a spot for me.
I rest my head on Maverick’s chest and stare at his phone as he thumbs through his social media accounts.
“You have five hundred unread messages?” I ask.
“Yeah. I don’t want to look at them.” He yawns and scratches his cheek. “Most of them are phone numbers or photos from women. Opening them seems like an invitation, and I don’t want there to be any blurred lines or mixed signals when it comes to the communication I have with fans.”
“What kind of photos?”
“Use your imagination, Red.”
“Does that actually work?”
“It used to.” Maverick shrugs. “That’s embarrassing to admit, but it’s the truth. Validation, remember? They gave me what I wanted, and I gave them what they wanted.”
“How did you pick who to answer? There are eighteen messages just from tonight from women in DC. Did you open them all and pick the hottest one?”
“Sometimes. Men are visual creatures, Em. You know it doesn’t take a lot to get us going, and when I was a guy in my mid-twenties who could buy anything I wanted, a picture of a nice rack and the promise of a blow job was enough to do me in.”
“And now?” I ask.
He’s never given me a reason not to trust him, and I’m still going to trust him from five hundred miles away. I want to hear it, though. The selfish part in me wants to know it’s me and me alone for him.
“And now I don’t need any of that shit. I’m happier at thirty than I was at twenty-four, and back then I thought I was on top of the world. I could open all five hundred of those messages, and none of them would bring me the satisfaction that you do right now, Red. You look fucking divine in my shirt, and I can’t wait to take it off of you.” He tosses his phone onto the pillow and rolls on top of me. “My password is the same as it was when we used my phone to search up vans for your dad, and it’s never going to change. I have a past, but I have a future now too, and that future is with you. If you ever feel uneasy, I want you to look at all those unread messages and know that you’re enough, baby. I’ll take a night in with you over a night out with anyone else any day.”
“Wait a second.” I hook a leg around his waist, and his hand skates up my thigh. His thumb brushes over the front of my underwear, and I arch my back off the mattress. “Your password is 3669.”
“It is.”
“That’s my name. Why are you using my name as your password?”
“Is that your question of the day?”
“It is.”
“I use your name as my password because I’m fucking obsessed with you, Hartwell. Have been since the minute I laid eyes on you.”
“You’re a menace, Miller.” I lift my hips to meet his, and he shudders out a breath. “Maybe one day we can pretend like we don’t know each other. I’ll send you a picture of my chest and see how long it takes you to respond. You can try to pick me up with the moves you used to use when you were America’s hottest playboy. It’ll be fun.”
“Impossible. I could never pretend like I don’t know you. You’re my favorite girl.”