41. Gabriel
Chapter forty-one
Gabriel
In love with a nutjob.
~ One Week Later ~
I finish adjusting all my equipment then rest back against my bench, waiting for the call to hit the ice.
Music plays on a Bluetooth speaker to get us into the zone, but there’s really no need; we’re all ready.
We have so much to prove this year. Prove that we are the best of the best, and that we will bring that cup home once more.
With one minute left, Silas gets up in the center of the room and begins delivering his speech as captain. “All right, boys, this is it! Let’s go out there and make our fans proud!”
“Yeah!” everyone in the room yells.
“Let’s remind them exactly why we took that cup home last season!”
“FUCK YEAH!”
“And exactly why we’re gonna take it home again this year!”
“WOO-HOO!” we all shout as we jump up and head down the players’ tunnel to the rink.
Fog billows through the tunnel and onto the ice, screams and shouts vibrate down the hall as fans cheer us on, excited to get the game started.
Blue, yellow, and white lights flick around the arena, the music dying down as the announcer comes on and begins naming every player and jersey number as they hit the ice.
Noah stands before me, jumping up and down on his skates as he waits for his name to be called. “Ready to stop all the pucks from making it in?” He smirks.
“Ready to stop those fuckers from coming at me?” I smile back at him.
“You know how much I love sending them flying back where they came from.” His grin widens, a wicked glint shining in his eyes.
“Number Seventy-Nine! Noooaaah Adleeerrr!”
Silas slaps him on the ass as he races off onto the ice.
“Come on, guard dog. Make sure we win that game! Show them who’s boss tonight!” Silas yells over the cheers and slaps my ass just as the speaker announces my name.
“Number Eighty-Six! Gabrieeelll Elliiiissss!”
My heart pumps as I step onto the ice, stick held high in the air as an explosion of screams comes along with my name.
I look up at all the filled seats, people standing and throwing their hands up.
A beaming smile stays glued to my face as I skate around the ice and into my spot, waiting for the rest of my teammates to join us.
My eyes drop to where the girls are bouncing on the spot, clapping along with everyone, and despite the dim lighting and flickering lights, blue hair catches my gaze just as she blows me a kiss.
God, I love this girl.
Once the whole team is here and the announcer has finished his speech, we speed off to do our quick warm-up before the national anthem and the start of the game.
I make my way to the goal, throwing my bottle above the net and placing my mask on properly.
I skate to the side, leaving the net free to practice shooting pucks, and sink to my knees.
I stretch out my groin and rock back and forth, keeping one leg straight, then the next.
“She’s looking at you like she wishes she was beneath you right now.” Noah drops beside me, chuckling. He places himself in a similar position as me but keeps both his legs bent and drops lower to the ice.
I laugh and look over to our woman. “Yeah, it’s not just me anymore. I’m pretty sure if I squint, I can see some drool on the corner of her mouth.”
“Don’t tell her that, she’ll smack you.” He stands, shaking his head with a smile.
“Maybe I like it when she smacks me.” I wink at him.
“Fuck off.” He laughs and heads over to Ronnie.
From there I do the splits and bring my chest toward the ice, feeling the satisfying burn in my hamstrings and groin. Then I jump back onto my skates and do a few butterfly pushes and slides before joining the girls just as Noah, Clay, and Silas vacate the spot.
Greyson bends to pick up a puck just as I reach them, purposely bumping him with my hip and sending him toppling over. When he picks himself up, he turns to face me with a glare. “Was that necessary?”
“Sorry, just a habit. Whenever Ronnie’s bent over like that, I just can’t help myself and need to ram into her. I guess I got a little confused.” I give him a shit-eating grin.
The girls giggle at my comment, except for Ronnie, who folds her arms over her chest with a raised brow. “You got confused? And how often does that happen?”
Oh fuck…
My smile instantly drops. Greyson snickers beside me as he passes a puck over to his daughter through the hole, his every-game tradition when she’s present. My eyes are wide and filled with horror.
“No. Nooo! Never. Baby, that’s not what I meant at all. Promise. No one but you,” I rush out, hoping to save my ass from my stupid comment.
She then laughs and the tension lifts off my shoulders, letting me breathe again. “I’m kidding, baby. I know you wouldn’t.”
My smile returns as I watch her. She’s wearing a jersey just like mine, blue with white and gold bands at the bottom and on the sleeves, with a huge white ‘G’ in the center and a golden griffin crawling out from it.
We had hers custom-made, since they don’t have any jerseys with both our numbers on it.
On the right sleeve, she has Noah’s number, 79. And on the left one, she has mine, 86. But the best part is at the back, where it says ‘Mrs. Ellis-Adler,’ and both our numbers are below it, side by side. I think that makes it pretty damn clear she belongs to us.
“You look beautiful, Vixen,” I tell her, checking her over. She has her blue and white hair curled, gold eye makeup on, and below her jersey she’s wearing white skintight jeans. Her entire look fits with our team, and I love it.
“Thank you, baby.” She bites her lip and blushes slightly. “I love you. Now go and get in the zone.”
“I love you, too.” I smile while skating away, feeling different for the first time on the ice. Feeling like I finally have a reason for everything. And that reason is right there, sitting with the rest of my self-made family.
VERONICA
“Fuck, he’s so hot,” I mutter to myself.
Cecilia snickers beside me. “Which one?”
“Both of them. I mean, look at that.” I point with my hand toward Noah shooting pucks at the net with all the strength in his body. “All I’m picturing right now is him slapping my ass like that as he takes me from behind.” I wet my lips as I change my focus onto Gabe next.
I’m not exactly sure what the technical term for what he’s doing is, but he’s skating in place with this angry, savage look on his face, the cage of his mask making him look even more menacing.
“And that! What even is that?! He looks like a caged beast preparing to break free. Tell me that doesn’t look dark and dangerous, yet you’d gladly let it attack you. ”
I fan myself with one hand, shifting in my seat and feeling the heat pool between my thighs. “I am definitely letting those two go feral on my body tonight.”
Emma bursts with laughter beside Cece. “As if that’s different from any other given day.”
“Oh, shut up. You know exactly what I’m talking about.” I chuckle, shaking my head, then look down at Gracie, who stares at me. “Oh, shoot! I’m sorry, I haven’t been paying attention to my words.” I place my fingertips over my lips.
Cecilia shrugs me off. “It’s fine, they can’t hear much through the noise-canceling headphones anyway.”
Relief fills me and I let out a sigh, I really don’t want to be the reason these kids start cussing like a sailor.
“How do they know who you’re talking to when you call them?” Aubrey suddenly asks from my opposite side.
I turn to face her with a confused expression. “What do you mean?”
“Well, when you call them ‘baby,’ how do they know if it’s for Noah or Gabe?” she clarifies.
“Oh! It’s simple; I only call one of them baby.”
“Wait, you call Gabe ‘baby’, But for Noah, it’s just ‘Noah’?” Emma frowns. “That doesn’t seem fair. Poor guy.”
“No! I call Gabe ‘baby’, and Noah ‘babe’. Just like they have their own nicknames for me. Gabe calls me ‘Vixen’, and Noah calls me ‘Kitten’. Also, only Gabe ever calls me ‘baby’ or ‘babe’, but never Noah. He calls me ‘love’.” I shrug.
Aubrey stares at me with wide, unblinking eyes. “That’s a lot of information to remember.”
I laugh. “You kind of get used to it after hearing it every day.”
“Okay, but here’s the real question we all want to know. Can you tell the difference between them?” Morgan leans over from beside Emma, waggling her brow.
“Oh, she definitely can.” Emma giggles.
“Really? That much of a difference?” Cecilia questions next.
“Yeah, but in a good way. Noah is longer and curvy, but Gabe is thick as hell. Like, really thick. Sometimes I think he may have ripped something up there.” I laugh, even though I’m only half joking.
“Oh God!” Aubrey covers her ears. “Please, can we not talk about male genitalia right now? I really do not need a visual of their… things.”
We all giggle, watching poor Aubrey getting extremely uncomfortable. I really wonder what her first time is going to be like if she can’t even say the word penis.
“I totally get what you mean, though. The first time I saw Gabe’s junk, I was convinced I’d need to get stitches at the ER afterwards,” Emma jokes with a giggle.
“Oh, that’s true! Sometimes I forget you’ve been with them. It’s a little weird, right?”
Despite me being uncomfortable when we bump into their former bed partners, I don’t feel that way with Emma. Yes, it’s strange and awkward to think that we’ve both slept with the same men. But it doesn’t make me jealous or hate her in any way.
“I mean, maybe a little, but she’s slept with my soon-to-be husband, so I guess it’s just a natural thing in this group.” She points at Cecilia, who gives her a displeased look for bringing it up.
“Um, no. That will not be a natural thing to happen in this group. No one is coming near my husband. I will cut you. I swear.” Morgan throws her finger in all our faces, then quickly pulls it back and blinks.
“Wow, I’m sorry. I have no idea where that came from.
These pregnancy hormones are turning me into a crazy woman. ”
“Been there!” Cecilia laughs, squeezing Dante in her arms.