I yanked the covers off and sat up. “I was with the WAGs. And their spouses. My parents were there, too. Rhodes Olson is so cute. He’s like a mini-me of Jackson. Oh, and both of your dads were there. Kind of think they like me. And Trish. I love her.”
“They love you as much as I do,” Cole murmured. “You were with my family?”
My throat grew thick. “Is that okay? I mean, Maverick invited me, and I thought it would be fun. It’s like a giant found family.”
“What about Zach? Was he there?”
“He sat with Tate the whole time.”
There was silence on the line before Cole spoke again. “You’re family, too, baby. I’m so happy that you’ve been included in the WAGs again. When I come home, I want to make things official.”
“You don’t want to wait until after the playoffs are over?” My heart thumped against my chest. Everyone would know. I could publicly claim Cole as mine. And I would be his. What would that mean for him?
Cole chuckled softly. “Baby, I want to tell the world you’re my boyfriend. My forever.”
I yawned again. “Sorry.” I didn’t even want to know what time it was.
“I’ll let you go back to sleep. I just wanted to hear your voice. I wish you were here. But we’ll be home in two days. And then I can kiss you again.”
I stretched back out on my bed. “Among other things,” I teased. “I love you.”
“I love you, too, Reed.”
Chapter Fourty
Cole
We lost the following night in overtime. I tried to keep the disappointment off my face as we headed to the locker room, but it clung to me like a second skin. Even though I had scored one goal, I was still disappointed. Now that meant we had to go home and beat Seattle again. Three more times. What if we didn’t? What if this was it and Seattle was going to wipe the ice with us? I could be happy with everything we’d done so far, but I wanted that Cup. Just once.
“Hey.” Oscar dropped onto the bench next to me. He was still wearing his compression clothes and was covered in sweat. “You good?”
I lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. “Sure, never better.” Never mind that I feel like a huge disappointment to my team.
“You’re a terrible liar.” Oscar raised his brows at me. “You have nothing to feel bad about, Cole. You did everything right. I’m the one who lost the game for us. I let in too many pucks because I was too much in my head.”
I stared at my best friend. “We’re a team, man. We let you down because we couldn’t get hold of the puck for longer than two seconds.” And I wasn’t sure if it was just me, but I was exhausted. My entire body felt like I’d the shit beaten of me. I couldn’t wait for the off season. I was going to sleep for a week.
“Yeah, we are a team. Which means you can’t take all the weight of the loss on your shoulders. It’s not just my fault or your fault. We’re tired. Most of us have injuries we’re hiding. We wantto win this, but we want to go home, too, and just rest.” Oscar gripped my shoulder.
I caught Jackson’s eye as he stepped into the room. “Who exactly is hiding an injury?” It wasn’t me, even though my ankle had been bothering me.
“Can’t tell you that.” Oscar stood up. “But it’s probably not who you think.”
I sighed as he left me alone and dropped my chin. At least I was going to be going home to my boyfriend. I missed Reed more than I thought possible. He told me he was going to watch the game again with the WAGs, and I wondered if he was disappointed that we lost. I grabbed my phone and couldn’t stop the smile that spread over my face when I saw the string of texts that he had sent.
Reed:OMG! I hate that guy. The one who tried to start the fight with Jordan.
Reed:Get ‘em, baby! So proud of you for that goal.
Reed:HOLY SHIT! Oscar can move pretty quick for such a big man. He goes down into a split like it’s no big deal. I bet Oscar could do that, too, and not even break a sweat.
Reed:Sorry, that didn’t sound that creepy in my head.
I glanced up to find Oscar standing before me again, now dressed in his suit. “My boyfriend thinks your splits are impressive.”
“I’ll have to thank him the next time I see him.” Oscar gestured behind me. “Are you getting dressed or what? The bus is going to head to the airport soon.”
I placed my phone on the bench beside me and took the fastest shower on the planet before I was dressed and heading out the door. I couldn’t wait to get home. Mostly I wanted to wrap myself around Reed and hold him until my ugly nerves had disappeared.