EMBER
Harper’s in labor. One minute Cassidy and I are in the new office building more shelves, and the next minute, the group chat starts going off.
Issy: Harper is in labor. It’s go time.
“Oh my god, Harper’s in labor,” I call out to Cassidy.
“No way. That was lucky, the boys head to training camp tomorrow,” she calls back.
She’s right. Hockey season starts tomorrow. Summer is over.
“I can’t believe they will have a baby sometime today,” I say excitedly.
“I bet Harper is excited to have it out.” Cassidy and I both laugh at that. The poor thing has been through it in her last trimester.
“First baby of the group. Who do you think is next?”
“Oh, Issy and Pierre for sure,” I say.
“I wouldn’t put it past Fish to knock Collette up,” Cass muses.
“True. But I’m not sure she’s ready yet. They are a lot younger than Issy and Pierre.”
“Or it could be Emmett and Jo. Now that would be a plot twist. I can’t wait for them to have babies, they are going to be so cute. There’s no way I’m going to be an aunty anytime soon.”
“You’ll probably have a baby before him,” I joke.
“Hell no, now is not the time. Two years and I think I will be ready, even if I have to do it by myself. I was talking to Kimberly, you know the event planner at the engagement party, and she said she is considering having a baby by herself,” Cassidy tells me.
“Really? I thought she was with Sam?”
She shakes her head. “No, they are just good friends, or so she says. Apparently, Sam suffers from that same condition most men suffer from, playboy-anitis.”
I burst out laughing, she’s not wrong. “Talking about playboys, what about Nelly?”
“Training camp starts tomorrow …” she says.
“And that means everything that’s been happening is now over?”
She nods.
“I’m sorry.”
Cassidy shrugs. “Look, will I miss the sex? Yes, but that’s what we agreed on. I’m almost finished at his apartment. I was going to pop around tonight, probably after the hospital, and you know, one last time before we say goodbye.”
“Totally understandable. Are you going to be okay seeing him with another woman?” I ask.
“Yeah, probably. What about you? Anything more been happening with Connor?” she asks.
I still and then internally hyperventilate. “No.”
Cassidy raises a brow at me. “You’re lying.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Yes, you are.” She points her finger at me. “You’ve hooked up again!”
I’m like a deer caught in headlights. I don’t know what to do or say so I just stare at her.
“Em?” She gives me a weird look.
“Yes, okay,” I say, throwing my hands in the air.
“Knew it.” She smirks. “Also, gross.”
“I know, okay,” I tell her.
“When?”
“After girls’ night,” I confess.
Her eyes widen. “Oh, did he get jealous because of that guy?”
I shrug. “Doubtful.”
“Ooh yeah, for sure. He did leave early, especially when he had all those puck bunnies around him.” She states.
“It wasn’t because of me.”
“Or maybe it was,” she pushes. “Maybe he has a crush on you.”
I shake my head. “No, it’s just sex, like you and Nelly.”
“Really? I guess he is just there, it’s convenient. Guess if I was living with Nelly and his sister, I would be jumping him in the middle of the night.”
“You don’t hate me?”
Cassidy bursts out laughing. “Hell no, also, it’s still the best revenge against Kevin. If he knew, he would be so pissed.”
“Doubt he would care.”
“Have you heard from him?”
I shake my head. “No, the only communication is through the lawyer. You?”
“No, which I’m happy about, but it’s weird. I also don’t really think about them,” she explains.
“That’s because we have been keeping busy.”
“This is true. Our lives are so much better.”
“Come on, let’s finish this stuff and head to the hospital,” I tell her.
By the time we get to the hospital, the waiting room is already full.
Pierre and Issy are cuddling together, Collette and Fish are sitting with Harper’s parents. Emmett and Jo arrive with coffee for everyone. Sully, Bouch, Nelly, and Evan came straight from the gym still in training gear.
Moments later, Sam, Kimberly, Marlowe, Camryn, and Nate arrive. Everyone has bouquets of flowers, balloons, or some kind of gift for the new parents.
We’re all just waiting until we are allowed to go in. Finally, a nurse comes out and tells us Harper and the baby are ready for visitors, but that we will have to go in smaller groups.
When it’s our turn I walk in, and Harper is sitting up in bed looking exhausted and glowing, and Felix is holding this tiny, red-faced human like he’s made of glass.
“Congratulations, guys.”
“Thanks so much for coming.”
“Of course. We got you some flowers and some soft cheese and crackers.”
Harper’s eyes widen. “No, you didn’t. Give me the cheese now.” We hand over the little mini cooler which has all the goodies she couldn’t eat while pregnant, and she dives in.
We walk over to where Felix is standing. “This is little Bastien.” He’s so cute with his squidgy little face, and he’s so small. “I didn’t think I could love anything as much as I love Harper,” Felix tells us.
Aw.
“How long till you get him on skates?” Bouch asks.
“As soon as I can.” Felix grins. “Next cup champion right here.”
“How was giving birth?” Cassidy asks Harper, while the boys talk about Bastien playing for the Mavericks when he’s older.
“Horrendous. Take the drugs. It hurts, it’s scary, I’m glad it’s over, but now when I look at what I just pushed out through my vagina, I want another one.”
“You hated being pregnant,” Cassidy adds.
“I know, but look at him, he is just so cute,” she says, getting teary-eyed.
I look over at the little bundle in his father’s tattooed arms, and my mother’s words about giving her grandkids run through my mind.
Then a flash of Felix being replaced with Sully and it’s me in the hospital bed runs through my mind.
What in the hell? Where did that come from?
He did say he would give you one if you wanted one.
He was just being nice, he didn’t mean it.
He then fucked you with no condom again.
I’m on the pill, it’s okay. It’s not one hundred percent. I wasn’t ovulating, so I’m fine.
We come home to a quiet apartment. We had to get creative with the lie that Cassidy told her brother about where she was staying tonight. He questioned it for a second and then shook his head, and we headed home.
Sully drops his keys on the counter and looks at me. “Have you eaten?”
I shake my head. “Not really.”
“Last cheat meal before the season. Are you up for some pizza and ice cream?”
“Um, hell yes.”
He picks up the phone and calls downstairs to place an order.
“I’m going to have a shower and get into my PJs. I’m wiped out.”
“Me too. Do you mind if I watch the sports report tonight? I wanted to see who is going where,” he asks.
“Of course.” I nod and head to my room to shower.
Twenty minutes later, we are sitting on the couch with a pizza each, and he’s flicking through the sports channels to find the right one.
He’s half-watching, half-talking about the rookies, the schedule, and which teams look dangerous this year.
I listen and nod and pretend I know anything he is talking about while I inhale the pizza.
We clean up together afterward, grabbing the cartons.
I put my leftover pizza in the fridge, it’s going to be good in the morning.
He wipes down the counter. We keep bumping into each other in the small kitchen, hip to hip, shoulder to shoulder, and every time the air sparks.
I feel it, and I know he feels it too. I finish drying my hands and step back.
“Night,” I say, already turning toward the hallway. “Good luck at camp tomorrow. Hope you don’t die,” I tease.
“Me too, it’s going to be brutal.” He nods. “Night, Em.”
I make it three steps down the corridor before I hear him mutter, ‘fuck it’ under his breath.
Then he’s right behind me. His hand closes around my wrist and spins me around.
His mouth crashes onto mine, hungry, he’s not pretending.
He walks me backward into his room, kicking the door shut hard enough that it rattles.
He doesn’t waste time, my pajama top hits the floor, his shirt follows, and he lifts me onto the bed like I weigh nothing.
He slides his pajama pants down slightly and pushes into me in one long, deep stroke that punches a moan out of both of us.
“Fuck,” he groans against my neck.
It’s the last night of the off-season, and we both know it.
He fucks me hard and deep, one hand braced beside my head, the other gripping my thigh and keeping me open for him.
Every thrust is rough, deliberate, the sound of skin meeting skin filling the room.
I dig my nails into his back and meet him stroke for stroke, chasing the edge.
“You feel so fucking good,” he rasps, voice low and filthy. “Taking me like this, like you need it as bad as I do.”
“I do,” I moan my confession.
I come first like I always do, hard, clenching around him with a broken cry of his name. He follows a few strokes later, burying himself deep with a low, guttural groan against my neck as he comes.
We stay like that for a long moment, breathing hard, his forehead pressed to mine.
Neither of us says what we’re both thinking.
Tomorrow everything changes.