Chapter 10

Oliver

“No way is Joe the best one,” August argues. “Everyone knows it’s Kevin.”

“But Joe was married to Sophie Turner, Harrison states. “The girl from Game of Thrones and she’s hot as fuck.”

“Ah didn’t know you were a sucker for red-heads, Harrison.” I laugh. “Besides, Kevin is married to a nice girl who isn’t in the media all the time. They probably have a nice quiet life together. It’s the perfect situation.”

“Bullshit.” Griffin huffs wrapping his stick while still in his rubber duckie pajama pants. Seriously, he’s the only man I know who can pull off wearing the world’s wackiest pajama pants any time of day. “Kevin’s a softie. Nick Jonas is the sexiest of them all and he has the best voice hands down.” He finishes the wrap on his stick and leans it up against his locker, then stands with his hands on his hips. “Any other debates we need to have before we kick ass tonight?”

Ledger tosses out, “Back Street Boys or NSYNC, Griff?”

Griff huffs. “Uh, I’ll take Justin Timberlake on his own for one thousand, Alex.”

“Aaaaand who’s your favorite Golden Girl, again?” I ask, knowing exactly what he’ll say.

He places his hand over his heart. “Listen, my girl Rose will always have my heart. She’s so fucking sweet and her life in St. Olaf was clearly filled with educational adventures, but Dorothy was given all the best sarcastic comments. I’ve got to give props to her.”

Everyone has a soft spot for Rose.

“Hey, Magallan, I forgot to ask,” Ledger says, lifting his chin my direction. “How’d it go with Scarlett? Did you guys hit it off?”

Oh yeah. We hit it off, and we got off.

“Uh, yeah, actually. We had a fun time.” I busy myself with my skate laces so they can’t see the blush on my face.

“Did you get laid?” Griffin teases.

Ledger smacks his arm. “Hey, that’s my cousin you’re talking about.”

Griffin shrugs with a smirk. “You don’t hear him sayin’ no, do you?”

Fuck.

A silence falls over the room and I glance up from my skates to see what’s going on.

They’re all staring at me.

Double fuck.

“What are you all staring at me for?”

Ledger’s eyes grow in his blank stare and I can’t tell if he’s mildly excited or mega pissed. “Did you fuck her, Magallan?”

“I…” Letting go of my laces, I lower myself to the bench. “I’m not going to lie to you, man. Yeah. We…”

“HOLY SHIT, DUDE!” Ledger barrels over to me, nearly crushing me in a bear hug. “Are we going to be related now? I knew you two would hit it off! I just had this feeling. It’s like I was psychic or something. Tell me everything.” He cringes. “Oh, but don’t tell me about the, you know, the fucking part. We’re family and all so I don’t want to know about that.”

Griffin sits next to me, batting his eyes like a dufus. “Uh, we do, bro. Sharing is caring.”

“Fuck off, man.” I push Griff away with an eye roll and a smile and then I take a deep breath and let the guys in on my thoughts.

“Look, my time in New Orleans was amazing. Scarlett was…” I shake my head. “A breath of fresh air. We didn’t talk hockey once and I found myself thinking more and more about the idea that one day hockey won’t be my life anymore and that if I don’t start living something other than my life on the ice all the time, I won’t have anyone to share the rest of my years with. She showed me that. It’s like being with her showed me what it’s like to just live in the moment. No plans. And it was…incredible.”

Ledger prods. “So, you guys are going to be a thing, right?”

I shake my head. “That’s not how I left it.”

“What? What do you mean?” His disappointment matches how I felt leaving her.

“I wrote her a note and then left before dawn because I didn’t want to hurt either of us by prolonging the inevitable.”

“So, you didn’t even make plans to see her again?”

I shake my head. “No. I mean, she has my number and she could text or call at any time. I sort of left the ball in her court. And she hasn’t tried to contact me since I left so…” My shoulders fall. “I don’t know. Maybe I really upset her by leaving without saying goodbye. Maybe I fucked it all up. I’ve felt like a shmuck since I left.”

Ledger shakes his head. “I wouldn’t count yourself out yet, man. I say wait till we get back home and have a day off and then call her. We’re not that far from L.A. Seeing her wouldn’t be impossible.”

“Yeah.” I shrug. “Maybe. Unless I break down and end up writing her tonight after we win and I’m high enough to do something potentially damaging to my ego.”

Harrison chuckles from his seat on the bench. “So, you like her then?”

“Yeah,” I answer unequivocally. “I do. I know this might sound really stupid but I think I might even more than like her. I’m drawn to her. I haven’t stopped thinking about her.”

Ledger pats my back and passes me a reassuring smile. “This is all good news, bro. We’re going to help you get the girl when we get home. Whatever you need. Whatever we can do.”

“Thanks guys. I think for now, we focus on kicking a little ass tonight. They’re not going to just hand this win over to us.”

We’re all suited up and ready when Bear comes through the door. His uniform and pads are on, but his game face looks anything but normal as he shakes his head, confused.

“You alright there, Bear?”

“Yeah.” He hitches his thumb behind him toward the door. “Just passed this girl in the hallway with one of the Red Tails staffers.”

Griffin pipes in. “Was she hot?”

He shrugs. “She wasn’t not hot. Harrison might like her. She had dark red hair and she’s wearing this wedding dress that looks like she pulled it straight from the trash.”

I swear, my body stands on its own accord. “Did you say wedding dress?”

“Yeah. Paint and stains and who the fuck knows all over it. What do you suppose—”

I don’t wait for Bear to finish before I run for the door, pulling it open and bolting through staffers in the hallway as fast as I can on my skates.

“Scarlett?” I shout down the hallway as onlookers give me curious glances.

“Scarlett Dayne!” I check the pressroom window but she’s not in there, so I continue on through the next set of double doors and that’s when I spot her.

“Scarlett!”

“Oliver!” Her smile is like the goddamn sunshine on the cloudiest of mother fucking days as she runs toward me, crashing into me and wrapping her arms around my neck. “I believe, Oliver. I one hundred gazillion times believe!”

Her reference to my social media posts earlier brings a smile to my face and a huge sigh of relief to everything else. I squeeze her body against my pads as hard as I can. Anything to be able to feel her again.

“I’m so fucking happy to see you. I can’t believe you’re here. What are you—”

My words are cut short when I spot my sister standing with the woman I believe to be Colby Nelson’s wife a few steps away. “Charlee.”

“Yes,” Scarlett answers. “Don’t be mad at her Oliver. She saw your post and wrote to me and I’m so glad she did. The moment I woke up in an empty bed I missed you. I knew then that I wanted you. I just wasn’t sure of your feelings.”

“My feelings?” I laugh.

She leans back so she can see my face. “Yeah, your feelings.”

“Well, let me see if I can make myself a little clearer.” Lowering her so her feet hit the floor, I turn around and back her up against the wall, cupping my hand behind her head and kissing her gently with as much passion as I can muster when my heart is literally pounding itself right out of my chest.

“I want Rowena to be right, Scarlett. I want you to be the cheerleader by my side. I want you to be my greatest love. More so than any game of hockey. I know it’s fucking fast, and I’m more than willing to slow down if that’s what you want or what you need, but Scarlett Dayne, I want you in my life. No, I need you in my life. And I want to be in yours. Every adventure. Every crazy idea. I want to give you everything you could ever want.”

She lays her palm against my heated cheek. “All I want is you, Oliver.”

“Thank fuck for that,” I murmur before I lean in and kiss her again. When we come up for air, I take her hand. “You’re staying for the game, right?”

“Of course! Charlee and I had dinner earlier and she said I could sit with her and the Red Tails wives.”

I stop and look at what she’s wearing, my eyes narrowed. “Well, you can’t sit with the Red Tails crowd like that.” I pivot and shout down the hallway. “Hey Stephens!”

Our uniform manager turns my direction as I pull off my jersey, the cool air hitting my chest. “Get me another jersey, will you?”

He smiles and shakes his head. “Sure thing, Magallan.”

I tug my jersey over Scarlett’s head. It’s huge hanging on her body, but that’s okay with me. The more of me on her, the better as far as I’m concerned. “So, are we burning this dress tonight when we get off the plane?”

She shakes her head. “Not a chance.”

“What? Why?”

“Because this is my lucky dress, Oliver. Without it, I wouldn’t have you.” She tugs at the colorfully stained ruffles. “Look at it. It’s filled with memories of us. Our first lunch together, our painting adventures with those kids, lying in the cemetery together, drink stains, marinara sauce…all the fun we had. It’s all right here in this dress, so I don’t ever want to get rid of it.”

“I love it.” I kiss her again. “Make me a promise.”

“Anything.”

“Promise me, when we get married one day—and we will get married one day—you’ll wear this dress.”

She laughs. “Oh, my God I would love to. Will you make me a promise too?”

“Anything you want.”

“Promise me you won’t ghost me at the altar. My heart could take it the first time, but with you? It would crush me.”

“I’m not him, Scarlett. You’re it for me. You’re the only one I want. I want to be wherever you are.”

She rests her forehead against mine, kissing my lips lightly one more time.

“I love hearing you say that.”

“I just have one more question for you, and then I have to get back to the team so we can get on the ice for warm-up.”

“Okay.”

“How do you feel about the Jonas brothers?”

The end

Want more of the Anaheim Stars team? Read on for an excerpt of August Blackstone’s upcoming story in WHAT IF I TOLD YOU releasing October 23 rd !