Chapter 57 Cole
Cole
The arena is buzzing for Game Five.
I finish up with the trainer and head over to the players’ area. My teammates are standing around, greeting friends and family who’ve stopped by to wish them luck before the pre-game lock-in starts.
“Hey, Cole!” Jess’s voice rings out loud along the hallway. She always was a loudmouth, I can’t help but think affectionately.
I turn to see her bounding over with my parents in tow, visitor passes around their necks. Cassie and Britt already dropped by to wish me luck earlier, but I’ve been waiting on my family to show up.
“We’re here!” Jess pants. “Are we late?”
“Yeah, you’re late,” I razz her, “the game has already started, but I decided to take tonight off.” I pull her into a one-armed hug.
“Hilarious,” Jess says sarcastically, but she can’t keep a straight face. In fact, the three of them are buzzing with excitement.
I’ve put my parents up in a fancy hotel while they’re in Boston for the playoffs. Mom is excited about it all, and even my dad, for once, has dropped his anti-Boston rants.
He slaps me on the shoulder, grinning from ear to ear. “Give ’em hell tonight, son.”
“Send their goddamn Floridian asses packing back to the swamp!” Mom says enthusiastically.
Jess and I exchange glances and try not to burst out laughing, because I don’t think either of us has ever heard our mom say the words ‘goddamn’ or ‘ass’ before.
But it just shows they know how much this means to me. But even more than making it to the finals, making it further than any Nor’easter team has in years, it means the whole world to see my family together and healthy and happy.
I watch as Jess runs a hand through her hair, excitedly chatting with our parents about the game.
It warms my heart right through, seeing Jess like this. So full of life. So vibrant. So excited for her future here in Boston. I spent so long thinking I couldn’t give it all to hockey and my own life: to my family, to my home, to Cassie. But now I know it all fits together exactly as it should.
“We’ll be watching from the stands,” Jess says. “Don’t let any goals in or I’ll totally boo you.” She punches my arm to illustrate her point.
I roll my eyes and she laughs. “Thanks, Jess. Just what a goalie likes to hear before a big playoff game.”
“You know I’m kidding. I’m crazy proud that you’re my brother, and if anyone actually did boo you I’d beat their ass.”
“Okay, you two,” Dad says gruffly, “let’s keep the fighting on the ice tonight, all right?”
“Got it, Dad,” I grin.
Coach Reed appears out of an office, yelling at the team to get our asses into the locker room because it’s Coach’s Big Speech time.
I'm ready.
Three periods later, we’re about to enter overtime.
Sweat drips down the side of my face. My heart thuds hard. The team is crushed in a locker room huddle for the last few minutes of intermission.
Coach Reed has just finished barking adjustments at us. But Landon raises a hand for us to wait a moment before returning to the ice.
“This is the night, boys.” Landon’s gentle charm always morphs into assertive command when the pressure sets in. He points around us. “We’re clinching our finals spot tonight. We have twenty minutes to show the world what the hell we’re made of.”
As the rest of the team disperse, Landon slaps my shoulder, running his hand through his damp sandy brown hair.
“Whatever happens out there… I’m proud of you, Freeze.
It’s been a tough year for you, I know that.
But you showed up. You made it count. Tonight, we show the league just what New England is made of. ”
“Damn it, Cap,” I mutter. “I’m not supposed to be the emotional one on this team. I’m proud as hell to be a Nor’easter. Nowhere else I’d rather be.”
It’s true. New England is where I belong.
With Landon, with all the Nor’easters, with Cassie.
It’s been a hell of a goddamn season, but I’m finally certain I’m right where I need to be.
He nods, eyes glinting. “Let’s go kick some ass.”
“I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure those bastards don’t beat us,” I growl.
We head back through the tunnel. The arena lights are flashing wildly.
The game is tied up 2-2, and Florida is playing hard and scrappy because they know their chance at the finals is on the line. Though we’re leading in the series, I’m not taking a win for granted.
In hockey, just like in life, your fortune can change on a dime.
I brace myself in front of the net. This is the biggest game of our careers. The thought of that is weighing with a heavy pressure, yes, but instead of feeling anxious about it, I feel entirely locked into the moment.
Overtime kicks off, and there’s an immediate tussle down Florida’s end. I feel a stab of tension straight through me as Miller makes a turnover.
Florida’s forward seizes the puck, turns on his skates and makes a lightning-fast breakaway.
He’s barreling toward our end; I can tell you better than anyone that there’s a high percentage chance this play ends in a goal.
Hard to read, hard to defend. My heart slams against my ribs so hard that it hurts.
It’s just me and the offense, staring each other down before he gets close enough to make a shot, swinging his stick back.
The fans seem to all suck in their breath at once.
He hits it, a one-timer slapshot, fast as hell.
In that split second as the puck flies off his stick: I can see it in my head so clearly, how I could easily let this goal in, and how we could lose the series, and how every bad thing I’ve ever feared could come true, but—
I block it, catching it hard in my glove.
The arena goes fucking crazy, and bright adrenaline rushes through me, a grin breaking out under my mask. Maybe I’m imagining it, but I think I can hear Cassie’s yells of joy above everyone else’s.
Landon quickly takes the puck and speeds down the left wing, flicking a pass over to Noah, who takes it forward, then hits it back out to Landon.
Our captain makes a smooth, fast shot toward the net, and—it sails right past their goalie into the top left corner. Which means—we fucking did it, the series is ours, we’re going to the finals!
The horn blares, and everyone is screaming like crazy. Our team races together in a crush—I’m taking off my mask, crossing the ice, feeling Landon and Miller and Noah yelling and laughing as we crush each other with hugs.
“Captain, you beautiful bastard,” I pant, gripping Landon’s shoulder, “that was one hell of a shot—”
“Only made it ’cause you got the save,” Landon grins.
The announcer’s voice booms around the arena. The Nor’easters have won the series! For the first time in sixteen years, they’re heading back to the finals! And that save in overtime, folks, is why you lock up your star goalie!
We move in one big euphoric mess of a team toward the edge of the ice and all stumble off, shedding padding and helmets.
Coach Reed is—and I’ve never seen him grin like this before, actually smiling a real smile, not just one quirk of his brow—pumping his fist and yelling something joyful at Landon.
I look past the team into the seats, because there’s really only one person’s face I want to see right now.
Before I can spot Cassie, a reporter rushes up to me.
“Congratulations, Cole,” she says, holding the mic up to my face. “That last save was one for New England’s history books. Who do you credit with your success with the Nor’easters this season?”
“This is a great group of guys. They’re my brothers till the end.
And we’ve had an incredible coaching staff this season.
But for me personally?” I push my hair back, scanning the crowd, catching sight of myself on the huge jumbotron above us.
“I’d like to thank Cassie Wells. She’s an agent at Legacy Sports.
If you haven’t heard her name before, you’ll know it soon, because she’s taking the world by storm.
She turned this season around for me. She turned my whole life around. ”
The reporter is saying something, asking another question, but I don’t even hear it.
Because I see Cassie.
She’s moving through the crowd, so stunningly beautiful, wearing my jersey. My name on her back.
In an instant, I’m pushing past everyone to get to her. The national broadcast cameras swing around to follow me.
Which is fine by me. I’m hit right then by how much I want it. How much staying totally private from the world doesn’t matter so much when I badly fucking want the whole planet to know she’s mine.
Let the world see how much I love this woman.
“Hey, sunshine.” I don’t waste a second before scooping her up, drawing her into a hug and spinning her around.
“You did it, Cole, you did it,” she begins, her voice kind of muffled against my chest. Her bright eyes are shimmering blue. “You’re going to the finals—”
I know Cassie is about to say something sweet and smart and meaningful, but there will be time for that later. Hell, we’ve got the rest of our lives to talk. Right now, I just want to kiss her, so I do just that.
I kiss Cassie Wells in front of the whole world.
Deep and soft and sweet.
Turns out there’s something better than winning the biggest game of your career.
And I’ve found it.