28. Grace
“Oh, that was brutal.” I grimace as Colton is checked into the boards.
Harlow stands, screaming at the player on the opposite team. The New York Bears are playing against the Los Angeles Raiders. This time on home ground.
The LA player who hurt Colton looks at her, turns away before turning back and staring at her again. His eyes don’t leave hers as she slams her hands on her hips, glaring back at him. He blows her a kiss as he skates by.
“What the fuck?” Harlow hisses as she plonks her ass on the seat.
I laugh, forgetting that Colton was hurt. “I think he likes you.”
“I have a boyfriend.”
“Since when does that stop alphas?” I reply.
“When he finds out this…” She makes a figure of eight with her index finger around her face and body. “… is not an omega.”
I glance down at her breasts and laugh. “He was probably ogling your tits.”
“I’m cold and this piercing in my nipple always hurts when I’m cold.” She rubs her fingers over her tit, trying to warm herself up.
“Really Harlow,” I whisper-hiss as she fondles herself. “No wonder you have men blowing you kisses and smiling at you.”
The deafening roar of the crowd fills the arena as Jenson James, a New York player, is hook-checked, causing him to crash onto the ice with a resounding thud.
The crowd erupts as the referee’s whistle pierces the air. He calls a penalty, sending the guilty player to the sin-bin.
I’m just grateful for the game to pause a moment to allow my heart rate to calm down and for me to work out where Stanton is. The game is so fast; he whizzes by and I lose him again.
“Is it always this vicious?”
“Yeah.” Harlow stares at my jersey with Stanton’s name and number fifty-five on my back. Her eyes shift to my tummy again. “Stanton’s quite cute, really.”
I finally catch Stanton’s gaze, and he responds with a genuine, heartwarming smile. The thought of exploring a potential relationship has already started to consume me.
After all, Lucas rejected me and his baby. Why should I give up on alphas because one of them doesn’t want me?
“Do you think he’ll appreciate you calling him that?” I ask, shaking my head. I don’t know Stanton very well, but I know there’s a dominant alpha underneath the gentleman he’s turning out to be.
“Do you like him?” I feel her eyes burning into the side of my face.
“He’s nice.”
“Oh. Not good.”
I twist to her. “What do you mean?”
“You can’t tell him he’s nice. That’s friend-zoning him.”
I laugh out loud before shaking my head and watching the ice as the game starts again.
“And Lucas?” she says, and I know there’s an unspoken question there.
“He’s ignored me the entire time I’ve been here.”
“He probably hasn’t seen you,” she responds. He has and I hate he knows I’m here but refuses to even look at me as he skates by. “Have you spoken about the baby?”
“He sent me some money.”
“Bastard. That’s it?”
“What else is there?”
“Being a fucking father,” she hisses. “Manning up and doing the right thing.”
“I don’t want someone who only wants me because I’m pregnant.”
“But...”
“No Harlow. Don’t go there.”
“Where?” she huffs. “You don’t know what I was going to say.”
“Yes, I do. You’re going to make a derogatory comment that omegas need alphas, but we both know that isn’t true. Mom’s life has been better since our father left us.”
“He was a jerk, claiming her when he shouldn’t have. When she wasn’t his scent match.” Her eyes glance at Lucas. “What’s his scent?”
“I can’t remember.”
“Liar.” She spins on her chair to me. “And there is only one reason you’re lying. He’s your alpha. Your mate.”
“He doesn’t want me.” I feel like my body is sinking into the chair. “He told me as much.”
“Fuck! I’m sorry.” The crowd erupts as Harlow wraps her arm around me. “I really am sorry.”
I shake my head. “Let’s watch the game because I haven’t got a clue what’s happening.”
She laughs into my shoulder and kisses me on the cheek. “I’ll be here for you. You know that?”
I nod.
“Okay, where are we?” She stares at the ice and continues. “Still being a player up, New York has the advantage,” Harlow tells me because in truth I haven’t got a clue what is going on. “Oh, yes...”
Lucas skates past us, his stick controlling the puck as he darts through LA’s defense with lightning speed. He flicks the puck to Stanton and my heart is in my mouth.
Harlow yells, pointing to her boyfriend’s brother. “Pass to Carver!” she screams, and I wish she wasn’t sitting beside me.
But I notice Carver is setting himself up for the perfect scoring opportunity.
Stanton slides the puck back to Lucas. He spins on the ice, flicking the puck to Carver, who glances over his shoulder before he effortlessly flips the puck and finds the back of the net.
“Yes! Yes! Yes!” Harlow screams, jumping to her feet with everyone else.
Carver seems to hear her and he glances over and he gives her a rare grin as he punches the air. I’m not saying the Ice-Man Carver is a grouch. Maybe I am. There’s a reason for his nickname and not only because the only place he smiles is when he is on the ice.
The horn blasts, and the New York fans make as much noise with their cheering.
The game restarts, and the crowd erupts with a deafening roar.
With bated breath, Harlow sits on the edge of her seat, her fingers anxiously tapping against her thighs as she watches her boyfriend push himself hard with every shift.
The crowd’s energy changes as the clock ticks. They stand, holding their breath as our team glides in unison across the ice. Hoping for another scoring opportunity before the end of play.
The puck passes to Colton, who passes to Jenson, who quickly flicks it to Carver. The game is quick as he skates toward the net like there is nobody else on the ice.
Harlow’s hand lands on my forearm as she waits, a scream sitting on the edge of her lips. And when the puck whizzes past the goalie’s outstretched hand and crashes into the back of the net, her scream fills the air and the crowd bursts into cheers.
The buzzer sounds.
Harlow screams as Colton skates toward the glass. She rushes toward it, and they give each other air kisses as the player from the LA Raiders stands beside him, staring at Harlow once again.
Weird.
I make a mental note of his name and number to ask Stanton about him later.
Oliver Bradley.
“Well done, Sinclair,” he says, but his gaze is not on Colton.
Harlow shivers as his eyes roam over her body, not embarrassed at all. She squirms when his stare lands on her cold, pierced nipple.
“Harlow,” I hiss under my breath. “Cover up your tits.”
He smirks as another player from the LA Raiders congratulates Colton. His nose twitches, but my omega isn’t reacting.
I ignore it as I try to find Stanton. He’s with the other players skating around the ice, clapping their hands at the crowd. My gaze catches onto Lucas, who glares at the jersey I’m wearing with Stanton’s name and number emblazoned on the back, but his eyes are on his name on my belly.
He can fuck off!
With a quick turn, I divert my gaze from him and lock eyes with Stanton, who is now effortlessly skating in my direction with a massive smile on his face.
“Well done,” I mouth to him.
The smile on his face widens as he gets closer and closer to the gate and I’m sure he’s going to talk to a teammate, his coach, or anyone else but me.
But when he places one hand on the railing and effortlessly jumps the barrier that separates the crowd from the ice, he won a little more of my heart.
My eyes widen when he stands in front of me. There’s no space between us when he cups my face in his enormous hands, leans down, and softly kisses my lips.
My breath catches not only because of the kiss, but when his tongue darts out of his mouth and licks his lips. “You taste gorgeous.”
My heart feels like it’s trying to escape my chest, and my lungs have stopped working because I can’t breathe.
He lowers his face to mine again and murmurs against my lips, “Kiss me back, Grace. Show everyone you’re mine.”
I can’t kiss him. His pheromones are coating the inside of my nose, my throat. The smell from his sweaty body is making me purr. His scent is delicious and…
Mine.
I groan. How had I not noticed it before today?
He smiles, because he knows it too.
This time, when he kisses me, I wrap my arm around his neck. Stanton is tall, easily six foot three, but with skates on, he is so much taller. Even when I’m high on my tiptoes, I still can’t reach.
He holds my hips and picks me up with no effort at all. Instinctively, my legs wrap around his hips. “What are you doing to me, Stanton?” I whisper against his lips. “We’re in the middle of the stadium and…”
“You know you’re mine. It took you a while to realize, but I can see it in your eyes and the way you’re perfuming, you know now.”
I don’t even look for Lucas when he holds my gaze.
“Oh my God, you’re on the jumbotron,” Harlow shrieks, tapping my back, trying to get me to look.
I don’t. My eyes are only on Stanton right now, as I wonder what I missed all along.
“Kiss her!” The crowd chants over and over.
Stanton grins. “Should we give everyone a show, my sweet smelling omega?”
And for the first time since I revealed, I don’t hate my designation and I kiss him back.