Epilogue #2
Lexi hums in agreement while gesturing at the jumbotron hanging over center ice to make her point. I notice the score is still sitting at 1-0, Blaze, just like it has been since the end of the first period.
Perfect.
Still, I wave Lexi’s concern off. “Oh, low scores aren’t anything new. And you know how competitive—”
“It’s more about his save count, Logan,” my father chimes in, appearing over my shoulder. “He’s at almost forty already, and we’re only in the second period.”
Oh, shit.
I might not know a lot about the sport still, but I do know enough to realize that’s quite a lot of shots to block. Seeing as the Knights sit firmly at zero goals, it’s even more impressive. Or maybe I’m just down bad for the guy defending the net, and I’m impressed by everything he does.
Undetermined.
“Papa Reed, how do you even choose who to root for today?” Lexi asks, glancing up at Dad.
He holds up his hands in front of him, feigning innocence. “I will be happy with the outcome regardless, so long as everyone plays a clean, fair game.”
“That’s a lie,” I murmur conspiratorially. “We all know Quinton is his favorite child.”
“Now, now. You know I don’t play favorites when it comes to my boys,” my father admonishes while sliding back onto the stool he was occupying earlier.
My gaze darts over to Lexi, and I find her struggling to bite back a smile. What’s worse is I can read every damn thought on her face like an open book, which has me fighting a losing battle with my own grin, only for the two of us to bust up laughing.
Yeah, Dad. Keep telling yourself that.
“There’s our champion!”
I shoot a look at my father, who is practically beaming with pride as Cam steps out of the locker room.
But ever the good sport, my fiancé just laughs as his gaze finds mine.
It takes only a few seconds for his arms to wrap around me, hauling me in for a massive hug.
He smells like his musky bodywash, and his hair is still damp from his recent shower, but I slide my fingers through the strands anyway, relishing in his touch like always, before giving him a quick kiss.
“Congrats, baby,” I whisper, and he presses his lips to my temple before hugging me again.
“Okay, okay. Let everyone else have a hug too,” Dad chides once I finally release Cam.
“So much for you being the favorite,” Lexi says to Quinton.
He and Oakley have long since joined us while we waited for Cam’s post-game press conference to wrap up—which he crushed as well. Then again, having fifty-seven saves in a single game is pretty fucking noteworthy…according to Dad.
“I told you, I don’t have favorites,” Dad insists.
I glance over at Lexi, finding her carefully tucked into Sully’s side with a wry smirk on her face. Of course, it’s not just the two of us who laugh when our gazes collide but everyone else too; my mother included.
“Yeah, it was fun while it lasted,” Quinton muses. “But I don’t think either of us can compete with a Cup win. Can we, baby?”
Oakley shakes his head. “Not a damn chance. But it happens. Guess we weren’t the better men on the ice tonight.”
Dad mutters something under his breath—something along the lines of everybody’s a critic—while Oakley and Quinton each take their turns hugging Cam and congratulating him.
It’s only after they release him that Cam looks at me, and I ask him a silent question with only my gaze.
Do we tell them now?
He nods, smiling as my gaze shifts from him to my brother.
“You know, Oak…it might not be on the ice, but I actually do know where you can be the best man.”
There’s a beat of silence while my brother looks at me, eyes narrowed.
It’s only when his gaze drops to my hand, spotting the matte black ring I slipped on after the game, that understanding has his expression morphing into a wide grin.
Of course, it’s the same instance I’m smacked in the shoulder by Lexi, who is damn near fuming in my direction.
“Ow!”
“You’re engaged and this is how I find out? By asking your brother to be your best man instead of me?”
“Engaged?” Mom echoes at the same time Laura asks, “When did this happen?”
My gaze shifts between the three of them, but it’s Cam who murmurs “a couple weeks ago” in response to his mom’s question.
Of course, the admission only serves to earn me another hit on the shoulder from Lexi.
“Damnit, Lex,” I complain, rubbing the aching muscle. My attention shifts around the group, finding the whole lot of them sporting dumbstruck grins by the revelation.
“You should know secrets don’t make friends, Logan,” she chides, but she’s grinning now too.
“We wanted to wait and tell everyone at once after the Finals were over,” I say in my best attempt at reasoning.
Though, once we decided to keep this to ourselves, I’d be a liar if I hadn’t thought about how nice it’d be for this new milestone to be just ours, even for a while.
And after being under a microscope from so many different angles and our lives being dictated by so many other circumstances, I think we earned it.
After their initial shock wears off, everyone in the group takes their turn at hugging and congratulating us.
Mom, Laura, and Lexi host their own form of an inquisition, asking all of the questions: the wheres and whens.
It was only when they get to the “who asked who” of it that we share a comical look before Cam launches into the full story of how he ruined my proposal with his own.
Of course, while Lexi and our moms find it romantic, Sully looks like a deer in headlights.
“Fuck, you really set a high bar with this one,” he mutters, glancing between Cam and me. His gaze shoots over to Quinton and Oakley, only to say, “Don’t tell me you have an equally adorable yet nauseating version of your engagement.”
My brother smirks. “Actually—”
“You don’t wanna know,” Quinton says, cutting him off. “I promise, just quit while you’re ahead.”
Sully glances over at Lexi, who is still chatting animatedly with our mothers, before another soft curse leaves him.
“Y’all better be available for some advice when the time comes. Lord knows she’s gonna have high expectations now.”
I don’t bother fighting the smile that crosses my face, knowing just how serious he is about Lexi. As he should be, because she deserves it.
Cam wraps his arm around me again, and I catch him grinning. “Don’t worry. I’m always down to teach an old dog some new tricks.”
Sully’s eyes narrow. “And just for that, Rook? I’m not buying you a drink tonight.”
“It’s probably better you save that money for retirement anyway. You know, since it’s right around the corner,” Quinton says with a cocky laugh.
“Funny, de Haas. It’s almost like you forgot who held the Cup toni—”
“Are we done having a dick measuring contest?” Lexi cuts in out of nowhere. “Because I don’t know about all of you, but I’d like to get out of here before the janitorial staff recruits us.”
I glance around, realizing the hallway is now empty, save for the six of us loitering here. At some point during their banter, all of our parents started toward the exit without us noticing.
“Of course, baby girl,” Sully says before wrapping an arm around her shoulder.
The four of us watch as Lexi’s petite, five-foot-three frame is nearly engulfed by Sully as he guides her toward the exit without a backward glance.
“He’s so pussy-whipped,” Cam whispers, and Quinton laughs.
“As if you’re not equally as dickmatized?”
“Oh, no, no. We don’t need to go there,” Oakley objects with a grimace. “Some things are just better… Yeah, no.”
The four of us head toward the door after Lexi and Sully, and Cam’s fingers lace through mine. It feels a little odd, having the ring on now, but in the best way. Because it symbolizes everything that’s to come, and I couldn’t be more excited about this next chapter.
“You mean it? About the best man thing?” Oakley asks, a hint of disbelief in his voice.
I glance over to where he’s walking beside me and nod.
“Absolutely. Who knows if this would even be happening without you, even when the whole thing was fake.” I smirk, arching a brow. “Just don’t go offering me up for tutoring services anymore, okay?”
He lets out a rich laugh. “Hey, it worked out for the best, didn’t it?”
He knocks his shoulder into mine playfully as he says it, but of course, it happens to be the same one Lexi just slugged me in, and I wince before rubbing the spot.
“Ow, careful. I’m gonna have a bruise for a freaking month.”
“You thought her reaction was bad?” Quinton teases, nodding toward where she and Sully are walking out ahead of us. “I can’t wait to see what your fiancé here looks like when Theo finds out.”
Cam chuckles beside me, and I catch him shaking his head. “Oh no. That fucker has no right to get upset. Not when he and Madden decided to up and elope in Vail this winter without a word to any of us.”
“Yeah, I know we joked about that a couple years ago, but I definitely had my money on Holden pulling that stunt instead,” comes from Quinton.
“But speaking of…” Cam glances at me, then my brother and Quinton. “Do you think we should call the chat? Let them in on the news?”
“I’m surprised they haven’t—” Oakley stops mid-sentence and laughs, only to hold up his phone toward us, showcasing a FaceTime notification. “Well, looks like we’ve already been summoned, so…”
He trails off, leaving the option open for the two of us. Cam looks down at me expectantly, but I just shrug.
“Your friends, your call, baby.”
“Think of it this way,” Quinton starts. “If you tell Theo over the phone, it gives Logan a chance to start planning your funeral early.”
“Or you could always just pretend it happened tonight after the game,” offers Oakley. “They’d never be any wiser. And trust me, we know how to keep a secret.”
Cam laughs and shakes his head before pulling out his phone. I watch as he navigates the screen to the chat call active with Holden and Theo, a little smirk still on his lips.
“Nah, we’ll tell them the truth,” he murmurs before glancing at me. “I think we’ve played pretend enough to last a lifetime.”
THE END