Chapter 46 Packy
packy
I hit the water wrong and knew it right away.
One moment I was up, knees bent, the rope vibrating in my hands as the lake rushed by in a clear blue blur.
Then my edge caught, and I lost my balance.
The rope slipped out of my grip. I spun twice before crashing into the lake hard enough to knock the wind out of me. Cold water rushed over my head.
A moment later, I surfaced. The boat slowed down somewhere ahead, its wake gently rocking me.
Nix’s laughter carried across the water. “Holy shit, Pack. That was textbook. Did you want to ski, or were you trying out for a blooper reel?”
From the dock, Dog cupped his hands around his mouth. “Eight out of ten! Would’ve been a ten if you’d screamed on the way down!”
I rolled onto my back, letting the water hold me while I grinned at the summer sky. The boys kept yelling from the dock, but I flipped them off. Nix was still laughing like I’d done the funniest thing ever.
I’d fallen harder than that before. At least this time, I knew exactly what I was swimming back to.
Later, when the sun was going down, we had a burger feast in Holky and Dog’s backyard. As hot as July had been, early August was pleasant, and we relaxed under strands of overhead lights.
Dog’s grandmother was there, keeping us all in line. “Nana” to the entire team, she was an example who made us all better.
“Nico, Packy?” She smiled when everyone looked our way. “You are as made for each other as any two people I’ve ever known,” she said. “Will we hear Packo wedding bells soon?”
A quiet murmur spread around the long table, and a few guys whistled. Nana definitely didn’t beat around the bush.
Nix put an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close. “Give us some time, Nana. Pack’s the man for me, but we need to settle into this.”
“Absolutely right,” I said. “We’re not going anywhere, and I promise you’ll be the first to know.”
She nodded. “Take all the time you need. We’ll enjoy the heat every time you look at each other.”
This time, the boys hooted. “Damn right,” a few said.
I pulled away from Nix so I could see his eyes. In a couple of seconds, I was totally lost in them.
“That’s what we mean,” Riley called out, making everyone laugh. “Get a room, guys.”
Dog pointed at the house. “The guest room’s available. Feel free.”
“You’re welcome to it,” Holky said. “As long as we all get to watch.”
Nix laughed. “Fuck off.”
“Hold on, Rossi.” Abby’s Russian accent was thicker than usual. “I think maybe you want to fuck something else.”
“Someone else,” Logan said. “Like the guy sitting next to you.”
“We’ll save that for home.” I winked at Nix. “Right, babe?”
“Careful,” he stage-whispered. “They’ll be asking for video.”
The laughter continued, easy and familiar. We all had another beer and bickered about whose wipeout on the water had been the worst.
These guys were my best friends. We’d sacrificed together and won together. They’d dragged me through the worst time of my life without letting go.
Nix was laughing beside me, joining the consensus that my wipeout was the funniest. He had his hand on my thigh, and he squeezed when everyone laughed again.
My heart raced because I couldn’t let this moment slip by. What I had to say wasn’t something to toss out in the group chat or let them hear through a press release. I was moving on, and they deserved to hear it directly from me.
“Guys,” I said, but my voice was weak. I cleared my throat and tried again. “Hey, listen up.”
Like the middle of a game, time slowed. Dog’s mouth snapped shut, and Harpy stopped laughing. Nana raised a hand to quiet everyone, then looked me in the eye and nodded.
“Hey,” I said, trying to keep my voice even. “Before this turns into a full-on roast session, I have something to say.”
Nix smiled at me. I took his hand and looked around the table. “Nix and I are in love.”
Brody snorted. “Oh yeah? I’d have never guessed.”
A few guys chuckled, but no one else interrupted.
I let out a long breath. “That’s exactly it. You all know what Nix means to me, and we know what a season takes out of us.” I looked around again. “Nix and I can’t build a life on empty days and stolen weekends, so I’m choosing him.”
Everyone was quiet. Harpy, the only one who already knew, gave me an encouraging nod.
“I asked for a trade to the Condors,” I said. “Since Nix is their captain, it made more sense for me to move. The trade went through, and the teams will announce it tomorrow. I wanted you to hear it from me first.”
Harpy lifted his beer. “It’ll suck not having you here, but you’ve found something worth protecting.” He looked at Nix, then back at me. “Take care of each other. That’s what really matters.”
A murmur of agreement helped ease the knot in my stomach.
Luca, Harpy’s husband and a professional lacrosse player, cleared his throat. “Between Harp’s travel with the Warriors and mine with the Steamrollers, it gets hard. Thankfully, the Steamrollers only travel on weekends, so we have more time than you guys would. You’re making the right call.”
Dog wiped his mouth with a napkin and shook his head. “I hate this.” He paused, then shrugged. “Not because you’re leaving. I hate it because now I’ll have to pretend I won’t miss your ugly ass in the locker room.”
“Liar,” Riley said. “You’re going to cry.”
Dog nodded. “Only because I love him.”
Brody leaned back in his chair, arms crossed. “So, let me get this straight. You’re leaving a dynasty team and unlimited free meals at Nana’s to go play with Rossi in New York?”
Nix smiled. “Define ‘play with.’”
Brody laughed. “I think you can figure it out.” He shook his head. “Took you idiots long enough to figure things out.”
Abby lifted his glass, looking serious. “In Russia, we say when you choose love, you choose strength. You will be good Condor, Packy. But you will always be Warrior.”
My eyes burned, and I didn’t even try to speak.
Nana reached across the table and took one of Nix’s hands and one of mine. “Hockey ends. Love doesn’t. Any man who knows that and acts on it is doing the right thing.” She smiled. “You’ll always have a home here.”
Dog croaked, “Jesus, Nana.”
Riley was quick to lighten the mood. “This isn’t goodbye. It’s Packy switching jerseys so we can chirp him twice as hard.”
“Damn right,” Holky said. “Condors are fair game now.”
I shook my head, smiling through the bittersweet ache. “Wouldn’t expect anything less.”
Back at our house, I locked the door behind us and watched Nix kick off his shoes and stretch his arms over his head, punctuating it with a satisfied groan. When he caught me looking, he grinned. “What?”
“Nothing,” I said, but I couldn’t stop staring at him.
We showered to wash off the lake water and summer sweat, then went to bed. We took our time, moving slower than ever before. There was no hurry.
Afterward, Nix curled into me, resting his head on my chest and hooking a leg over mine. I draped an arm across him and traced slow, absent-minded circles on his back with my thumb. His breathing evened out, but he kept moving, never settling.
“Hey.” I patted his back.
He moved, then looked up to meet my eyes. In the low light, I could barely make out his soft, serious expression.
“I know this is right,” he said. “Us and everything we’ve decided.” He paused, and his throat worked as he swallowed. “But sometimes I still can’t believe it actually worked. That we’re together.”
I tightened my arm around him. “Me too.”
He huffed a quiet laugh. “That’s not exactly reassuring, babe.”
I kissed the top of his head, breathing in the lemon scent of our shampoo. “What I mean is, we’ve been through a lot. We don’t have to be sure all the time. All we have to do is keep choosing this.”
He was quiet for a moment, and then he shifted, moving up the bed so we were face-to-face. “You’re right. This is the best thing we’ve ever done.”
We kissed slowly, taking our time. When we finally pulled apart, we kept our foreheads touching and our legs tangled together. His breath was warm on my lips.
“Tomorrow will be chaos,” he said. “Once the trade announcement drops, our phones will blow up, and social media will go nuts. We only think we’ve seen Packo mania before.” He smirked. “I still can’t believe I only got the O in Packo.”
I sighed. “Relax. Packo’s a brand. We can renegotiate your share later.”
He mumbled and waved me off. “Prepare for a Condors invasion. I told Kai, and he’s sure they’ll all be on the next plane here as soon as the news breaks.”
I laughed. “Maybe Holky and Dog will let us use their place for another cookout. We’ll have two HFNA teams giving us shit all day long.”
“I can think of worse things. You?”
“Since I’ll be a Condor now, I should get to know my new teammates.”
“That’ll happen soon, either way. Remember, we’re going to Theo’s party in New York next weekend.”
We settled, chest to chest.
“You nervous?” he asked after a while. “About the trade? Playing together?”
“A little, but mostly I’m excited. We’ll be good together on the ice. Really good.”
“Damn right we will.”
“Hope you don’t get sick of me,” I said. “From being together all the time.”
“I’ve been waiting almost ten years for that.” He traced a finger along my collarbone. “Do you ever think about how we got here?”
“Only all the time.”
He sighed. “It’s been quite a ride. Best friends in college, then enemies for years. Now this.”
“Idiots for years,” I said. “Not enemies.”
He patted my arm. “We talked about that, remember? At least we’re happy idiots now.”
“Know what’s wild?” I asked.
“Hmm?”
“We could’ve had this the whole time.”
He was quiet for a moment, then shook his head. “It’s risky to second-guess the past too much. I hate what happened, but we were very young. Maybe we needed these years to mellow out.”
“Could be,” I said. “Or maybe we just had to grow up.”
“That too. Either way, we’re together now. Probably stronger than we would’ve been without the bad times.”
What could I say since he was right? “Love you,” I whispered.
“Love you too.”
I closed my eyes and enjoyed lying next to him. The trade would bring a lot of noise and questions. The press would want statements, the league would expect photo ops, and everyone on social media would demand confirmation that Packo was here to stay.
But it would be fine, because with Nix, I had everything. For the first time I could remember, I wasn’t afraid of what came next.