38. Sebastian

Chapter 38

Sebastian

I could breathe.

Even through the exhaustion creeping into my bones as I sped across the ice, the puck beneath my stick, and five men in front of me trying to take it, I could breathe .

For the first time in weeks, my chest wasn’t heavy and bogged down with doubts or regrets. My legs burned, my knee screamed, and my lungs ached , but I was alive, every nerve alight with intent and purpose.

The puck hugged the bottom of my stick, the vibrations of its contact buzzing up my arm as I pushed, and pushed, and pushed forward. A defender closed in, his shadow looming in my peripheral, but I pivoted, cutting sharply to the right as I nailed another forward cross-over. He lunged, his body swiping air where I’d been a second before.

The roar of the crowd surged as I streaked down the ice, my linemates flanking me. Somewhere behind me and off to my left, Luke was shouting something, something I couldn’t make out over the chaos, something panicked .

But my focus tunneled. Everything zeroed in on the puck, the goal, and the clock. Fifteen seconds left.

I darted past another defender, their stick clashing against mine when they tried for a steal, but my grip tightened, my muscles straining as I pulled the puck free and kept moving. Ahead, the goalie loomed, crouched low, his gaze locked on me through the guard on his helmet.

Ten seconds.

My body buzzed with adrenaline, but God, it wasn’t just that — it was her. Knowing she was there, watching me, cheering me on. Knowing she loved me. The weight of that word wrapped around me like fucking armor, steadying me, grounding me, driving me forward.

“Nine seconds!” someone screamed.

Thinking on my feet, I faked a pass, flicking the puck to the opposite side of my stick into a backhand and weaving through the last defender. The net was clear — the goalie had shifted just slightly to follow my bluff.

Seven seconds.

I pulled back, the blade of my stick brushing against the puck.

Five seconds.

Time seemed to slow around me, and I took the fucking shot. The puck soared, cutting through the air, spinning end on end toward the net.

Four.

Three.

The red light flashed. The horn blew. The clock hit the final second. We won.

For a moment, the arena froze, no one daring to break it.

And then… chaos.

I was swarmed. My teammates came up around me, piling me in, shouting, grabbing me, their sticks slamming against the ice in a hollered celebration. I barely registered any of it — instead, my mind replayed the shot, the moment it hit the back of the net. But around it, overwhelming it, it replayed Nelly’s face, the way she’d looked at me with her eyes damp and her features soft when she’d said I love you .

The roar of the crowd was almost deafening, but through it, I could hear Matty’s shrieks of excitement. I turned, scanning, there — against the boards, beside Coach, his arms wrapped tightly around Coach’s neck as he held him on his back. And next to Coach, Nelly stood there, her hands covering her mouth, her smile hidden but wide as could be from the way it pushed her eyes up.

She was here. Right there. She’d seen it.

For the first time in far, far too long, I felt whole.

I pushed through the crowd of my teammates and skated up to the exit, my knee finally giving up and forcing me to move in a lopsided way. I didn’t bother trying to find my skate guards as I stepped off the ice. Fuck it if I chipped the blade. I’d buy new ones.

I spat out my mouthguard and pulled at the latch on my helmet, freeing it in seconds. I pulled my gloves from my hands, and dropped it all somewhere in the short distance I had to cross.

She was there, her body turning toward me, her eyes wet with what I assumed, this time, were happy tears — and relief, adrenaline, and overwhelming adoration drove me to her. I scooped her up the second I was close enough, one arm around her waist and the other grasping the back of her head.

I love you.

Her arms gripped me around my neck, nearly coming up on either side of my head from my shoulder pads, and all I could do was dig my fingers into her body, squeeze the ever-living daylights out of her, and wish I didn’t have all this goddamn padding between our chests so I could actually feel the heat of her against me.

“You did it!” she grinned, pulling back just enough to look down at me from how high I held her. “You fucking did it, Seb!”

The sound of her voice was better than the horn, better than the cheers, better than anything I’d heard in my entire goddamn life. “Marry me.”

The words tumbled out before my brain could catch up with my mouth, raw and unfiltered.

My cheeks burned as the realization hit me. Her eyes widened as the words sank in for her, too, and I quickly tried to backpedal, letting out a sheepish chuckle. “I, uh… ignore that. It’s the rush, the high, you know?—”

“What?” she interrupted, her voice nearly drowned out by the chaos around us.

I blinked at her, lowering her slightly but keeping her flush with my body. “I’m sorry, that’s… that’s crazy,” I rambled, dropping my forehead to hers as her feet touched the ground. “I’m just—fuck, it’s just adrenaline, don’t freak out.”

“I’m not, I…” Her voice wavered, but her arms stayed tight around me, grounding me. Her hand slid into the damp mess of hair at the back of my head, fingers curling like she was anchoring herself to me. “It’s too soon for that, surely?”

“Probably.” My breath came in short, quick bursts as I met her gaze, too close to focus. “Almost definitely.”

Her cheeks darkened to the deepest shade of red I’d seen them go, a shade I wanted to memorize, wanted to burn into my brain forever. Her lips parted, her eyes darting between mine, and when she spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper — but it cut through the noise like a fucking siren. “But were you serious?”

I froze. Her question knocked the wind out of me more than any fall on the ice ever had, and my pulse thundered in my ears as I forced myself to lift my head, to meet her gaze properly. The laugh that pulled from me was shaky, nervous, and fuck , what was I doing? “That, uh, depends on what your answer would have been.”

Her lips twitched upward, and for a heartbeat, I could have sworn the rest of the world melted away. “Will you think I’m crazy if I would have said yes?”

The air in my lungs vanished, replaced by a hectic pounding so intense it felt like my chest might burst. “Only as crazy as I am for asking.”