Lucky Score (The Hawkeyes Hockey Series Book 6)

Staring down at the stadium below me with my ticket clenched in my hand, my eyes immediately shoot to the goalie on the home team.

The game is already well into the first period, and the score is tied one to one.

From this distance, I can’t make out any of Seven’s features except for the layers of padding covering every inch of his six-foot-five body.

I watch as the players all skate full force toward him, an opposing player makes a shot, but Seven blocks it, and the stadium erupts in cheers with a few boos from the away team fans.

Now the home team has the puck and starts skating as hard as they can in the opposite direction.

I start to ease my way down the stadium stairs, looking for Cammy.

I check the ticket for the row and find it says Row 1.

We must be close to the plexiglass.

Right before I get to the Row, I see Cammy sitting in her seat with an open one next to her, wearing a Wrenley jersey. This is the first time in my life that I’ve ever wanted to wear someone’s jersey. To wear someone’s name on my back as if he owns me and I own him.

Cammy jumps out of her seat, cheering, and high-fives all the fans sitting around her when the Hawkeyes get one past the opposing team’s goalie.

She must feel my eyes on her because just as she’s about to sit down, she looks up and her eyes connect with mine.

She squeals with excitement seeing me coming down the stairs, but I can barely hear it over the roaring of the crowd as everyone besides us is watching the game.

‘You came,’ I see her mouth more than I hear the words.

I shrug as I make it to the last step.

‘Excuse us, can you let her in?’ Cammy asks of the people standing in our row, not seeing me walk up.

They all smile and step back towards their seats.

‘You’re here. You made it,’ she says as we embrace.

‘I ended up having free time.’

‘Wait… how did it go with Daniel?’ she asks.

‘It’s over. It’s actually been over for a long time… I just didn’t know it.’

‘Oh my God, are you serious?’ she beams.

‘You could pretend to feel sad for me,’ I chuckle.

‘But you don’t look sad in the least. Are you?’

I just had a major relationship end, and I couldn’t be more relieved. It’s weird.

‘No,’ I say, my smile widening.

‘Are you here to tell my dad?’

I nod, and she reaches over and squeezes my hand.

‘Did I miss anything good?’ I ask.

‘Not yet. Powers has been in the penalty box once already, but no surprise there. No good fights yet, but it’s still early. You have to give them a little time to get good and angry before fists start flying.’

‘What about your dad? Do people ever mess with him?’ I ask.

I’ve watched a few games, but I’ve never seen him in a fight except to help another player.

‘Oh no… that’s a cardinal sin. There’s an unspoken rule that you don’t screw with each other’s goalies. That’s how you get an entire roster of players jumping over the wall to beat the shit out of you.’

‘That sounds a little terrifying.’

‘Oh yeah, if anyone fucks with my dad or Reeve Aisa, you’ll see twenty-two players put the beat down on one guy. That’s how you get whole teams in a brawl… it’s not pretty, but it makes for good TV to watch the refs try to break up forty pissed-off hockey players.’

‘Oh…’ I say.

The thought of Seven stuck in the middle of that isn’t entertaining to me at all.

We’re still standing when the first period ends, and the players are skating towards the tunnel to head for the locker rooms.

As Seven walks by, his eyes catch on Cammy and he gives her a smile and a nod. Then as if in slow motion, his eyes reach over to mine.

I can see the moment that recognition of who I am hits him.

His eyes flare, and then he shoots a look at Cammy and points at me as if to say, ‘What is she doing here?’

He doesn’t look happy to see me.

Could something have happened between last night and now?

‘She broke it off with Daniel,’ Cammy screams from across the distance.

Seven’s eyes flash back to me, and he stops in his tracks until a player behind him runs into the back of him trying to get off the ice.

His jaw drops and his eyebrows furrow, the most facial expression I’ve seen from him in a while.

I turn to Cammy once Seven disappears behind the stadium walls.

‘I shouldn’t have come. This was a mistake to have shown up like this. I should have called ahead or something.’

If me being here affects his playing, then being here was a mistake.

I turn to leave but Cammy grips my arm.

‘Why are you leaving? The game just started.’

‘Seven doesn’t want me here. You saw the look on his face.’

‘You just surprised him, that’s all. Don’t leave.’

Cammy releases me and I start moving past the next person seated in the row.

I’m almost out to the staircase when I hear the crowd cheering. Everyone is going wild.

I glance behind me at the jumbotron and see a Hawkeyes player running down the staircase on the screen.

But not just any player… the goalie with all of his gear on except his helmet.

It’s Seven.

I have no idea where he is in the stadium or why he’s in the stands.

I turn back around and start heading back up the stairs when I see someone barreling down towards me.

My belly fills with butterflies the moment I realize it’s him, a jersey clenched in one of his hands.

I stand still, unsure what to do or where to go, until he takes the last step near me. His already six five stature hovering over me. Add the blades and the extra stair step higher and the man is a mountain.

‘You broke up with Daniel?’ he asks, his hair wet and messy from sweating through a tough first period, but he’s just as sexy as ever.

I nod. ‘I should have done it a long time ago.’

‘Why are you here?’ he asks, his eyes searching mine.

‘I didn’t mean to distract you. Aren’t you going to get in trouble for leaving the locker room?’ I ask.

‘Maybe… if you keep me for much longer, but the worst they’d do is fine me, and I don’t care about the money. I’d rather hear why you came to my game. And stop hiding behind what you think I don’t want.’

‘I’m not doing that.’

‘Aren’t you?’ he says, lifting an eyebrow. ‘You’ve accused me of not wanting a relationship with you, and now, that you’re a distraction. But I’m not really the reason we’re not together.’

‘Brynn!’ I hear Cammy yell.

I look back to find her pointing at the jumbotron screen.

The kiss cam is on us. I almost don’t want to turn to face him but I don’t have much of a choice.

When I look back at Seven, his eyes are on the screen too. He’s watching us up on the kiss cam for all to see.

His eyes lower back to mine.

‘So? What’s your reason?’

‘You told me once that you didn’t want to be anyone’s second choice, but the truth is, you’re the only choice I can’t live without.’

His eyes soften, and then he bends down and reaches both arms around my back, lifting me up until I’m face to face with him, my arms wrapped around his neck.

‘Can you see yourself spending the off-season in Mexico with me? We don’t have to stay during the hurricane—we’ll leave. I’ll take you somewhere safe.’

‘I don’t mind the storms as long as you’re there beside me. And I kind of like being boarded up in a house with you,’ I say, tightening my arms around him. He smiles at me. ‘It turns out I do my best writing with no electricity and a hot man in my bed.’

He laughs.

‘I fucked up Brynn. I fucked up the second I opened my front door, didn’t I?’

‘We both made mistakes. I held onto the idea of Daniel, and it held me back from realizing that I wanted to be with you. I shouldn’t have left with him. I should have stayed with you. But does any of that matter now?’

‘No, it doesn’t as long as you’re mine now.’

‘I am.’

‘Will you wait for me after the game? I still owe you a first date.’

‘A first date? What are we going to do?’

‘I don’t care what we do… as long as I’m with you.’

‘Me too.’

He looks back up to the jumbotron behind me for a second and then looks back down.

‘The entire stadium is watching. Can I kiss you now?’

I wet my lip in anticipation for his kiss. ‘Yes, and do it quick. You were such a tease last night.’

He smiles and then bends down, pressing his lips against mine. The entire stadium erupts in applause and catcalls.

I giggle into his kiss at the ridiculousness of thousands of fans cheering during our kiss.

‘Do they always get this excited over a kiss cam?’ I ask when Seven finally pulls away.

He looks around the stadium for a second, a wide smile across his face and then he looks back down at me. ‘Everybody like a good underdog story.’

‘Underdog? Is that what you are?’

‘I wasn’t favored to win this one, if you recall.’

I shake my head. ‘Don’t remind me.’

‘Can I come home with you tonight?’ he asks.

‘As long as you promise to leave a note before you leave this time.’

‘I don’t plan on ever leaving… not this time.’