Chapter 39 #4
The turnover happened fast. Briggs buried one of their forwards against the boards hard enough the glass shook beside the Fury bench, and the puck kicked loose into open ice before their defense could react. The second I saw it sliding toward center, instinct took over completely.
I exploded forward.
The Furnace roared immediately because twenty thousand people knew exactly what a Cade Mercer breakaway looked like before it even fully developed.
The sound followed me down the ice in one massive rising wave while my skates carved hard into the frozen surface, spraying ice behind me as I accelerated through center with everything I had left in my legs.
One defender lunged to cut me off near the blue line.
Too slow.
I dropped my shoulder and blew past him hard enough he nearly lost an edge trying to pivot with me, his stick clipping uselessly against the air behind my hip while I drove deeper into the zone.
The crowd was already on its feet now. I could feel it more than hear it.
The energy in the building swelled violently around me while the goalie came out aggressive at the top of the crease trying to challenge the angle.
Wrong move.
My hands moved automatically, fast enough the puck looked glued to my blade while I shifted left just enough to force the goalie to bite.
He dropped early, tracking low side, and the second his weight committed, I snapped back right and ripped the shot top shelf with every ounce of force still sitting in my body.
The sound of the puck hitting the back of the net cracked through the arena like a gunshot.
The goal light exploded red behind the glass.
And The Furnace absolutely detonated.
The kind of roar that shook through your ribs and flooded straight into your bloodstream.
Music blasted overhead while Fury fans launched to their feet so violently the student section nearly looked unstable.
I coasted hard past the crease breathing like an animal, adrenaline flooding every vein in my body while their goalie slammed his stick against the post behind me in frustration.
But I barely even registered him.
Because my eyes found Bliss instantly.
She was already on her feet behind the glass, both hands pressed against it while Aura and Charm lost their absolute minds beside her.
My jersey hung off her body perfectly beneath the arena lights, MERCER stretched across her chest while her cheeks flushed pink from screaming and jumping with the crowd.
Her hair spilled wild around her shoulders, lips parted in a breathless laugh I couldn’t hear over the noise, but I didn’t need to hear it.
I could feel it.
The second our eyes locked, something inside my chest tightened so hard it almost hurt.
Because she was looking at me like I had hung the damn moon.
The thought slammed through me hot and primal enough to nearly make me dizzy. This overwhelming, possessive certainty that somewhere between her wearing my jersey at the bonfire and waking up tangled together in her bed this morning, Bliss Bennett had become stitched into me permanently.
Every hit tonight felt harder because of her. Every stride felt faster because of her. Every goal felt like something I wanted her to see first.
I slammed my glove once against the glass directly in front of her, and Bliss laughed harder behind it, eyes bright and completely locked on me while the crowd lost its mind around us.
Then my teammates hit me all at once.
Briggs launched into my back first, screaming nonsense loud enough to echo through the arena while Easton grabbed the sides of my helmet and shook me hard enough my vision rattled.
“That was disgusting!” Easton yelled over the roar.
“You murdered that goalie!” Briggs shouted. “Like legally, we might need representation after that!”
Rider slammed into the pile laughing while Ryan skated in slower, shaking his head once like even he was impressed.
The crowd kept roaring while gloves smacked against my helmet and shoulders, the guys hyped out of their minds around me, but through all of it, I still looked for Bliss first.
And every single time I found her, she was already looking back at me.
The arena exploded so loud my ears rang through my helmet while my teammates slammed into me against the glass.
Fans were pounding so hard against it I could barely see, but then the bodies shifted and suddenly there she was again right behind the chaos, hands against the glass, eyes bright, smiling at me like I’d hung the damn moon.
My chest tightened so hard it almost hurt.
Briggs grabbed the front of my jersey while laughing. “Bro is playing like his girlfriend is watching.”
“She is watching,” Easton yelled.
“Exactly!” I shoved both of them off while grinning despite myself as I skated up to said girlfriend.
I slammed my glove once against the glass directly in front of Bliss, breathing hard enough fog curled inside my visor while the arena still shook around us from the goal.
Bliss’s eyes widened immediately.
Then I crooked two fingers toward her.
Come here.
The student section lost its collective mind the second they realized what I was doing. Her family reacted half a second later.
Daniel went completely still. Ryker’s mouth dropped open like he’d been personally betrayed by romance.
Knox’s brows shot up, his cop face cracking for the first time all night while Lyon shoved Emmitt so hard he nearly stumbled into the row in front of him.
Kellen, little shit that he was, lifted his phone higher and started recording with the focus of a man capturing blackmail for future holidays.
Maybe it wasn’t only for Bliss.
Maybe some dark, possessive, reckless part of me wanted every person standing behind her to understand that I saw her too. Not the version she performed when she was scared. Not the girl who made jokes so nobody noticed the exits she kept tracking.
Her.
The girl behind the jersey.
The girl smiling at me like I had reached through the glass and handed her one clean second where nothing hurt.
Aura grabbed Bliss’s arm so hard she nearly shook her while Charm screamed loud enough I could hear her even through the helmet and crowd noise.
Around them, Fury fans started catching on one by one, phones lifting instantly while the roar inside The Furnace shifted from hockey insanity into something sharper.
Anticipation.
Bliss laughed breathlessly behind the glass, cheeks flushed pink beneath the arena lights while she looked at me like she couldn’t believe I was doing this right now.
Honestly? Neither could I, but I didn’t care.
Not anymore.
I tapped the glass once more.
Her smile softened instantly after that, turning into something smaller and more vulnerable and so damn beautiful it almost knocked the air out of me.
Then she stepped closer until she was right there in front of me, my name stretched across her chest while twenty thousand people watched us from every direction.
The arena got louder by the second.
Chanting now.
Merc-er… Merc-er… Merc-er.
My chest felt too tight for my ribs. Because this wasn’t subtle. This wasn’t private. This was me standing in front of an entire arena full of people and making it very clear exactly who I wanted looking at me after every goal.
Bliss’s eyes searched mine through the glass while my teammates screamed behind me and the scoreboard above center ice flashed huge and bright overhead.
5–1 FURY.
I lifted one hand slowly and pressed it flat against the glass between us.
Bliss stared at it for half a second before lifting hers too, smaller against mine on the opposite side.
The crowd absolutely lost it. I could hear Briggs screaming somewhere behind me while Easton slammed repeatedly against the boards laughing like a psychopath, but the noise all blurred together because Bliss was still looking at me like I’d become something dangerous to her heart.
And maybe I had.
I leaned forward slowly. The second she realized what I was doing, her breath visibly caught.
The arena got even louder, not cheering anymore.
Screaming and waiting.
Bliss hesitated for the smallest fraction of a second, nerves flashing across her face while twenty thousand people watched us from every angle. Then something softened in her expression all at once, and she leaned forward too.
Our lips pressed to opposite sides of the glass.
And The Furnace completely detonated.
The sound hit like a physical force. Fans screaming, pounding against the boards, music blasting overhead while the student section lost its collective mind behind Bliss.
Neon pink Fury towels whipped through the air while cameras flashed from every direction, and somewhere behind me, my teammates were practically dying.
But I barely heard any of it.
Because Bliss was smiling against the glass.
Smiling at me like she wasn’t scared anymore.
And standing there beneath the scoreboard with sweat rolling down my spine and adrenaline still burning through my veins, I realized something terrifyingly simple.
I was already addicted to this girl, and nothing in my life had prepared me to survive it.