Epilogue
Next summer…four months post-surgery.
Oliver
“Don’t you dare, Oliver. Don’t even think about it.”
I grinned as I held my woman in my arms, threatening to toss her in the lake.
Her skin was all warm and sweaty, and yes, she was smoking hot in a black bikini, but I loved her smile and ease of letting loose more.
She clung to my neck, refusing to let go as I neared the edge of the dock. “Come on, Doc. It’s a little water.”
“Oliver James. Just because you can carry me around with your new heart and shit, does not mean you throw your girlfriend into a lake!”
Yeah, I smiled even more.
I hadn’t smiled this much in years. Not the fake grins for the cameras, not the tight jaw after practices when I swore I was fine. This was different. I didn’t have a ticking time bomb with my heart. I felt strong, ready, better than I had in years.
Back in February, they’d run catheters up through my femoral vein and mapped every faulty pathway in my chest. Hours of ablation—burning, freezing, rerouting—until the short-circuits stopped. No open-heart scar, nothing worrying.
The weeks after sucked. Stuck to heart monitors.
Constant EKGs. Stress tests on treadmills that made me want to hurl.
But then came the moment—the first time my heart spiked during drills and came back down clean.
No arrhythmia. No blur of vision. No panic clawing at the edges. My rhythm held. Strong. Steady.
For the first time in forever, I wasn’t living on borrowed beats. I felt like I could fucking fly.
Last season had been a blur—grinding through the regular schedule, stealing a playoff win in the first round, and then bowing out the next week.
I hated watching from the sideline, but I wasn’t alone.
Ivy and Noah made sure I didn’t unravel, Jordan kept things light, and Sloane was there through every high and low.
The losses stung, but for once, I had people around me who didn’t let me carry it alone—and things with her had never been better.
HR issued her a warning a month after the incident, but no lasting impact on her file, no blacklisting.
Hell, even Mac told her he’d be pissed if she left and that the staff needed more people like her.
Sloane also received apology flowers from Hayes a few weeks ago, which was a total surprise.
He entered the concussion program the league recommended, and while he wouldn’t play again, he was doing better—and credited Sloane for the push to get help.
And June meant minicamp. OTAs wrapped last week, mandatory camp started Monday. A year ago, every practice felt like a countdown. Now I was itching to get back in pads and test out this steady rhythm under the lights. But that was after our long weekend away at Noah’s lake house.
We needed the quick getaway, and they even let my sister join us.
Rachel sat in one of the wooden chairs reading a book, while Jordan sat next to her listening to a Cubs game.
Ivy and Callum went inside to make lunch for everyone, and Noah sat in an inner tube, a hot pink fizzy drink in one hand and a large cowboy hat on.
Fun fact: Noah loved fruity drinks. The man chugged them like water, and hey, cheers to him.
“Oliver, my hair… I just did it.”
“Well, that’s on you, honey. You’re at a lake house all weekend. You’re gonna get wet.” I nuzzled her temple, smelling the combination of sunscreen and perfume, my chest aching with how much I loved this woman. “What if I gently tossed you?”
“Or, what if…we sat on the dock and dipped our toes in?”
“Boo, I want to show off my many skills and how strong I am.”
“Fine. Fine. Throw me in the water, you big, muscular handsome man.”
I chuckled, and instead of actually throwing her in the water, I set her down like she asked.
Her eyes narrowed suspiciously, her gaze darting all over my face. “You’re up to something. I don’t trust this playful, ornery version of you.”
“Me?” I widened my eyes all innocent, then slipped an arm around her waist and tugged her with me. “Never.”
The second our feet hit the edge, I leaned us forward, and we slid in together, a splash cool enough to make her squeal. She latched onto me instantly, legs wrapping around my waist as we bobbed up.
“Oliver!” she gasped, shoving water out of her face. Her face was right there, her lips wet and pursed, and I bent down and kissed her quickly.
My grin was smug as hell, especially when her nails dug into my shoulders and she clung to me.
She could pretend to be mad all she wanted, but I knew her.
I knew her fake anger, her real smiles, what worried her and what her dreams were.
I was gonna marry this woman someday, but we weren’t rushing.
We had plenty of time, now that we both could be together openly, without consequence.
It’d actually been uneventful once word got out.
Shocking…but no one really cared about us being together.
It didn’t affect her work with the guys, and it didn’t affect me on the field.
I tipped my forehead against hers, the lake lapping around us, her body snug against mine in that black bikini I had no business surviving. My hands slid over her back, memorizing the slick curve of her spine, her shoulders, every inch I’d almost lost the chance to hold. “God, you’re beautiful.”
Her cheeks flushed, even with the sun beating down, and she shook her head. “You can’t say things like that when you nearly drowned me.”
“First off, we both know you’re an excellent swimmer. Second—” I brushed a kiss against her jaw, slow, deliberate, making her shiver “—“Maybe I wanted to feel your body against mine?”
She rolled her eyes, but she smiled as she ran her finger gently over my hair. “Oh, was last night or this morning not enough for you?”
My skin hummed. We had a great time in the shower this morning, where I brought her to orgasm four times, ensuring I beat every record I set before. “Sloane, honey, I say this with all the love in the world, but I will never fucking get enough of you.”
“Yeah.” She leaned closer, her pretty brown eyes softening. “I know what you mean. God, look at us. Our friends are here, everyone’s happy…this…life’s pretty good.”
“It sure is,” I replied, keeping one hand on her ass. I used the other to push some wet hair behind her ear. “I love you so much, Sloane. I want this every day with you.”
“I love you too.” She kissed me, her perfect wet lips sliding against mine as I rocked into her.
It didn’t matter how many times we had sex or fooled around, she always turned me on.
If it wasn’t her body, it was her mind. If it wasn’t her brilliance, it was her subtle humor.
If it wasn’t that, it was her shy smiles that I read like a book.
“I’m so happy. It sounds so cheesy, but I didn’t know life could be like this. ”
That made the ache in my chest grow. “I know the feeling.” I sighed, unable to stop smiling at her. “When should we get married?”
She blinked, eyes widening. “Oliver, what?”
“My heart is beating twice as hard thinking about how much I want this with you. I want you to be my wife. I want to be Mr. Doctor Mercer.”
“That’s not a thing.” She blushed, hard, making a few freckles stand out. “Oliver, did you just propose to me in a lake?”
“Eh, not really a proposal. There isn’t really asking going on.” I tickled her side, and she splashed me, pushing off me and swimming away. “Hey, come back!”
“There isn’t really asking going on. Are you kidding me?” She swam closer to land, kicking water at me the whole time.
“Honey, stop swimming away from me.”
“Can you believe him, Noah? He just asked when we should get married. No proposal. No ring, just some bullshit ask.”
“My dude.” Noah lowered his sunglasses and shook his head in disappointment. “That is not what Sloane deserves.”
“Okay, this backfired.” I pushed forward, water sliding off my shoulders as I stalked closer to Sloane. “Doc, stop running from me.”
She shot me a look over her shoulder—smug, mischievous, and so damn sexy.
Then she pushed herself out of the lake in one smooth motion, droplets sliding down her body like the universe was showing off.
That string bikini somehow looked smaller than I remembered, clinging to every curve, and God help me, her ass could’ve brought me to my knees if I wasn’t already wading waist-deep in water.
Her laugh carried over the dock as she darted forward, strong legs dripping and glistening in the sun. She had maybe a yard on me, but I ate up the distance, the competitive part of me lighting up. “Don’t think you can outrun me, Mercer!”
She squealed as I lunged, wrapping my arms around her waist and lifting her in one swoop. She wriggled and laughed, her wet legs sliding against me, slick and maddening.
“Oliver!” she gasped, smacking my shoulder, but she looped her arms tight around my neck anyway. “Put me down!”
“Gladly,” I teased, spinning us once for good measure.
Except the dock was wet, my footing slipped, and gravity decided to remind me I wasn’t invincible. My heel skidded, her laugh turned into a yelp, and I cocooned her against my chest as we toppled backward in slow motion.
The world tilted. Water exploded around us when we hit, cool and shocking.
She burst out laughing before we even surfaced, clinging to me as I kicked us upright. “Oh my God—you idiot!”
“Correction,” I panted dramatically, pushing my wet hair out of my face, “your idiot.”
She shoved at my chest, but her grin gave her away. “You’re impossible.”
“Yeah, but you love me anyway,” I shot back, pulling her closer until her body pressed tight against mine again. The lake rippled around us, warm sun cutting through the chill of the splash, her laughter still vibrating against my skin.
I brushed my thumb over her cheek, wiping away a bead of water. Her smile softened, her breath catching, and I swear the whole world paused. Just me, her, and the taste of sunshine on her lips when I kissed her—slow, reverent, like I was still trying to convince myself this was real.
Her fingers slid into my wet hair, tugging lightly, her legs wrapping tighter around me. And then she whispered against my mouth, “Hey, Oliver?”
“Yeah, honey?”
“I want to marry you too.” She grinned, the familiar sexy and shy smile I loved on her.
Her words healed a bit of my heart. I held her close, both of us floating in the lake, laughing as if the world had finally let us exhale.
This was it. The dream wasn’t the highlight reels or the headlines—it was her, right here, in my arms, with sunlight in her hair and nothing but forever ahead of us.
“Children,” Ivy’s voice cut across the water, sharp and amused. “Lunch is ready, and Sloane, your hair looks…interesting.”
Sloane groaned and buried her face against my shoulder. I grinned and started swimming us back toward the dock, kissing her temple because I could.
That was when Ivy’s tone shifted. She stepped out from the porch, her brows pinched as she waved a phone in the air. “Hey, Noah. Someone’s been calling you—over and over. It hasn’t stopped.”
The easy smile slid right off Noah’s face. He paddled toward the dock, snatched the phone from her hand, and went pale as he checked the screen.
He didn’t say a word. He held the phone to his ears and stormed off, his shoulders tightening as he let out a gasp.
I exchanged a glance with Sloane, the laughter fading from her lips, replaced by the same unease curling in my chest. Whatever that call was…it wasn’t nothing.
And just like that, I knew this weekend wasn’t going to stay simple for long. But that was the whole point of being around people you loved and cared for. You weathered through shit together. Sloane taught me that, Ivy taught me that, and the guys taught me that.
The Rampage was my family, and that included Sloane.
She was not only my best friend, but my future.
We’d gone through so much the last half a year—my parents, sister, and I finding a new rhythm.
Once Rachel learned I helped pay for college, she vowed to pay me back every cent.
I refused, obviously, and told her to repay me with her time.
Cheesy, but I got to see her more, and we were both enjoying being close again.
A part of me worried she was a little too close with some of the team, but she still lived on the West Coast for now.
Sloane and I also survived her and her brother reconnecting and her going no contact with her parents.
She agreed to do therapy to help sort through her feelings, and it turned out her parents only caused her harm.
She’d been happier and lighter, and I was proud I had something to do with that change.
We still kept both condos but were thinking about moving into a new place together soon.
It wasn’t like we spent a single night apart since that day I woke up in the hospital.
Why would I even want to? She was the best part of my life, brought out the best in me, and every day I woke up wanting to make her smile, make her laugh.
Yeah, Sloane and I fought hard to get where we were at, and I couldn’t imagine a better life. So the fact she agreed to actually marry me? It was game fucking on.
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