Chapter 29
twenty-nine
My life has changed so much in the past couple of months. I went from a college student who was never able to do anything because of responsibilities at home to a social butterfly.
Ever since Dad died, I haven’t missed a single game of Wyatt’s. I make sure to show up for him as much as he has always shown up for me. Will has even come to a few games with me.
I still feel guilty for being happy when Dad is gone, but I am learning to cope with it. Will is too.
He took my advice and asked Rachelle out on a date. He is still working nights, but now that he has fewer restrictions, his boss is fast-tracking him to management.
Sometimes I feel like Dad visits me in my sleep. I’ll go to sleep sad and missing him, but when I wake, I feel like he is there telling me it’s okay to keep living.
Wyatt is a huge help too. We haven’t slept away from each other since we got back together for real this time.
That was the other surprise. The girls didn’t hold our little lie against me. They are only happy that we found our way back to one another.
I am beyond blessed to have them all in my life.
Peyton nudges me. “Your man is about to make the game a shutout.”
It’s the championship game tonight. Wyatt has been playing one hell of a game. The Bears have been a hell of an opponent, but Wyatt refuses to let a single puck by. He even took one to the helmet that made me wince.
I don’t like seeing him hurt.
“So are Kellan and Calvin. The whole team is doing well,” I tell her.
“They are. We are going to win this,” Grace says from my other side.
Will brought Rachelle and came to the game with me. All of the girls showed up for the game too. Brett is here cheering on his family. Even Cora’s mom showed up to be here for her adopted sons, as she called them.
The only two missing are Beckett and Clay, but that’s only because they have their own game out in Seattle tonight. We will be watching that as soon as this is over. Wyatt rented out a whole bar just for us to have a watch party.
That’s something I will never get used to. Wyatt has money. It doesn’t matter to me, but I never noticed it before. He is such a humble man, and he cares so much.
Now that everything is on the table, he’s started letting me help him choose which charity projects should be funded. It makes me extremely happy to help others. I’m glad he feels the same.
The program he started for me? He has now spread it to fifty areas across the country. His goal is to have it in every major city in five years’ time.
He’s named it the Jerry Wayne Program.
“There Kellan goes.” Cora slaps across Peyton to hit me.
“Chill out,” Emery hisses at her. “I just got Alissa down.”
“You guys, this is it. This is the winning shot,” Brett yells as he stands.
Sure enough, Kellan slaps the puck over to Calvin, who passes it right back to him. The next thing I know, the buzzer is going off, indicating that he scored.
We all stand and cheer, with Emery being the exception. She is smiling, though.
Thirty seconds is all that’s left. All they have to do is hold off the Bears for thirty seconds.
It doesn’t seem like a lot, but in hockey, it’s a lifetime.
I watch as the other team gets the puck. My eyes ping-pong as I try to keep it in sight. The Bears are rushing toward Wyatt in the net. They will have time to tie it. They need to make this shot.
Wyatt needs to stop it.
It’s as if time stops yet passes in the blink of an eye at the same time. One moment I see the Bears’ player pull back his stick, and the next the puck is gone.
I hold my breath as Wyatt holds up the puck in his glove. We all cheer as he tosses it to Kellan just as the timer runs out, a loud buzz letting us know the game is over.
The Walker University Wolves are champions once again.
I can’t help but beam.
We stay in the stands, watching the whole awards ceremony. As soon as it’s over, we rush the ice, our wristbands showing us as family. They let us through onto the carpet covering the ice.
I don’t hesitate. I take off running looking for him. It takes me a moment to find him. He’s talking to a reporter. I don’t care, though. Neither will he since he hates them.
I rush toward him. He sees the movement and turns, ignoring the reporter to catch me as I fling myself into his arms.
“I’m so proud of you!” I yell into his ear.
“I love you, Lyla. So much,” he yells back before kissing me deeply.
When he finally sets me back on my feet, he turns back to the reporter.
“Sorry, where were we?” he asks, keeping me under his arm.
She smiles. “Is this your girlfriend?”
“She’s more than a girlfriend. She’s the love of my life.”
“May I ask your name?” she asks me.
“Lyla.”
“Lyla, how does it feel to know that your boyfriend is a championship winner and likely to go early in the draft?”
I look up at Wyatt, smiling. “Wyatt has always been a winner to me. No matter who drafts him, they will be lucky to have him. He is one hell of a player, sure, but he is an even better person.”
“The fans will want to know, will you be going with him when he drafts?” she asks.
I still don’t look at her. I look at Wyatt instead, saying the words I know are true to my heart.
“Where you go, I follow.”
He smirks down at me. “Same, baby. No matter what.”
He kisses me once more before turning back to the reporter. “I’m done with media for today. We have a game to watch. My brothers are playing.”
The reporter starts to yell questions about Beckett and Clay, but Wyatt ignores them as he leads me off the ice and back toward the locker room.
“Let me shower, and we can go.”
I nod. “I love you. Take your time. I’ll be waiting here for you.”
He laughs. “You think knowing you’re waiting is going to make me take my time? No, my love. It means I will go faster to get back to you soon.”
He kisses me and leaves me with those parting words.
My world has been turned upside down this year, but Wyatt makes it all worth the pain.
I didn’t know I could be this happy. I seriously wondered if the happiness that my friends all found wasn’t meant for me. I spent my life wishing on stars only to find that I never got my wish. It had me feeling like this was my destiny.
Then I met Lyla, and everything changed. It was like I found my reason for being. The reason why I needed to go through so much pain was so I could appreciate her the way I needed to. So I could understand her and be the man she needs.
“Where is the baby?” Lyla asks Emery as we all watch the game at the bar I rented out for us.
“Louise took her for the evening. She said we should be out being kids,” Emery tells her, referring to Clay and Cora’s mom.
“I get that. Will used to say that to me a lot.”
Will cuts in. “Because you weren’t being a college kid. You took on the weight of the world.”
Lyla nudges him. “So did you.”
“I love the bond you two have,” Rachelle says, leaning into Will.
“Eh, she was a brat as a kid,” he teases.
“He’s mad that I always beat him at video games,” she tosses back.
“Dude, she’s a sharpshooter,” Calvin adds.
Will ruffles Lyla’s hair. “Of course she is. Me and Dad taught her best.”
“That you did.”
The game comes back on for the second period, drawing our attention back to the screen. Once I’m sure everyone is distracted, I grab Lyla’s hand and start to pull her away.
She goes to say something, but I hold my finger up. She laughs lightly but follows me.
I take her back to a storage room I scouted out earlier and pull her inside. As soon as the door shuts, I pin her against it, my lips on hers.
“What are you doing?” she asks when I pull back.
“I know we have to be here for our friends and all that, but I wanted a minute alone with you,” I tell her.
She reaches down, grabbing my hard cock through my jeans. She gives me a coy look.
“Oh, do you need some release? I bet all that adrenaline built up, huh? Let your girl take care of you.”
She goes to drop to her knees, but I grab her hand and pull her back up.
“Oh, my girl is going to take care of me all right.”
I turn her toward the door, quickly undoing her jeans, pulling them down. She pushes her ass back into me as I undo my own pants. Pulling out a condom, I sheath myself before I thrust inside of her. She moans out, her head falling to the door.
“I love how you feel inside me,” she groans.
“I love the feeling of being inside of you,” I tell her. “I love even more how you look being fucked with my name on your back. You know that my name will be yours one day, right? I’m going to make you mine in all the ways that I can.”
“I’m already yours.”
I love to hear it, but I need her to share my name. I need to own her in all the ways she will let me.
Letting the subject drop, I focus on the here and now before I propose to her mid-fuck. She deserves much more than that.
I continue to thrust into her, reaching around to play with her clit to bring her to a quick orgasm. Normally I like to draw it out, but we are on a bit of a time limit. Eventually they will realize we are gone, and I don’t need anyone coming to look for us.
When I feel her clench around my cock, her moan coming out higher, I know I’ve given her pleasure. I chase my own, finishing quickly before I pull out of her, holding her to my chest.
Once we have both caught our breath, I help her clean herself up before finding a trash can for the condom.
Once we are presentable, I put her under my arm, leading her back to the bar.
It’s the third period now, the Foxes having scored while we were gone.
“Where did you two go?” Cora whispers, nudging Lyla.
“Mind your business,” I tell her, making her cackle.
“What did I miss?” I ask Kellan.
“Clay scored. Their goalie is looking like shit, though. He can’t stop anything. I think they are going to pull him soon. He’s not doing anything.”
I growl. I hate knowing my friends are on that ice killing themselves and their goalie isn’t pulling his weight.
The third period doesn’t go well for the Foxes. They lose three to one. I hate watching it for my brothers. I know they will be disappointed with that result.
“I’m going to go wait for his call,” Grace says, stepping away from the group.
“Me too.” Peyton goes with her.
“I hate that for them. I feel the same way when you lose,” Lyla tells me.
“I lost once,” I remind her.
She shrugs. “Still broke my heart for you.”
I tap her chest. “You keep that heart whole for me. No breaking over a loss. Hockey is just a game. I can lose it and be fine.”
She turns in my arms. “Oh yeah? You’ll be fine without it?”
I nod. “Hockey was always more about the brotherhood it gave me. Somewhere to belong. I found a new place to belong now.”
“Where is that?”
“With you, of course. I could lose hockey over and over and not shed a tear, but if I ever lost you, Lyla? Might as well put a bullet in my head. I wouldn’t have a life worth living anymore.”
“That’s quite dramatic,” she teases.
“It’s how serious my love is for you.”
She leans up, pressing a kiss to my lips. “I love you too, Wyatt. When you are ready to change my last name like you hinted before, the answer will be yes.”
I want to drop to my knee right there and ask her, but I don’t. Instead, I kiss her as I start to plan the most perfect proposal for her because with Lyla, it needs to be perfect.
I’ll settle for nothing less for the love of my life.