Hat Trick (D.C. Stars, #4)

by Chelsea Curto

I wish I had the balls of a mediocre white man who thinks he’s hot shit. I’d be unstoppable.

same

I’m quiet; she’s loud. The life of every party and vivacious as hell with witty comebacks and a laugh that would bring any man to his knees. And if it were me down there, I’d wear a collar and crawl if she asked me to.

There’s nothing I love more than kicking men’s asses and watching them cry. Especially when they think they’re the superior species.

amen

“What’s what?” Riley glances down. He snorts and reaches into his left pocket. “A lime.” “Do you regularly carry fruit around with you?” “No.” He tosses it in the air, catches it, and switches it to his other hand. “I wasn’t sure Maverick had any. I stopped at the store on the way over.” “You—” I blink. It feels like I’m missing the punchline of a joke. “I’m confused.” “You mentioned you liked limes in your drink. Didn’t know if that only applied to cocktails or all forms of fluid.”

It’s a good thing I didn’t die the night of the accident. If I did, I wouldn’t have gotten the chance to see the real heaven that is Lexi in her gold dress.

“I follow this woman down in Florida who has a weather show. She’s been in tornadoes and hailstorms, and she’s a total badass.”

hmmmm easter egg?

I watch her go, a single thought echoing in my brain. Funny how all my good days include her.

“Crawl,” I say, and he gets on the floor without a second thought. A wince flashes across his mouth, but before I can stop him and tell him to ignore what I just said because it might be painful, he’s moving toward me on his hands and knees, a determined gleam in his eye I’ve never seen from him before. When he’s right in front of me, he stays there, looking up and waiting for my next ask. I smile, smug and bold, and lift his chin with the curve of my finger. “That’s a very good boy, Riley.”

I’m waiting for the big third-act conflict. The wrench that gets thrown into my plans and fucks everything up.

me too

But… it’s him, and if it’s going to work with anyone, it’s going to be with the man who brings me doughnuts and tells me how capable I am. The man who listens to me and encourages me, and every wonderful thing he’s done for me in the time we’ve spent together comes racing to the front of my mind.

Riley’s bed is just as comfortable as I remember it being. So is the big purple T-shirt he gave me to slip on before and I curled up next to him with a book I picked off his shelf. There’s one in his lap too, and I smile when he drapes an arm around me. “Is this our life now? In bed by eleven and reading side by side?” I ask. “There goes my youth.”

“What does your tattoo mean?” I whisper, and the room is so quiet, I can hear a car horn beeping from all the way across the street. “It’s the stars in the night sky the day I stepped foot into the arena for the first time. And, consequently, the day I met you.”

Is this what love feels like? Like the first bit of sunshine peeking through the clouds after a rainstorm? Like a warm blanket on a cold day? Like a million stars lighting up a night sky? Like I might not be able to breathe if he isn’t around, and like I’m taking my first deep breath in years when he’s close?

“A really good day,” I agree. “But they’re all good days with you, Lexi baby.”

A peek into what my post-recovery career as a professional hockey player might look like, and if it inspires other athletes or a kid out there who wants to give up because they look a little different than how they used to, I’ve done something good for the world.

“All of this is for you.” She gestures at the rink then down to my leg. “I’ll make a hundred calls if it means finding something to get you back to the sport you love. I’ll stay here every day after practice with you if it means helping you feel closer and closer to who you were before. I’ll cheer you on even if you fall on your ass three hundred times in a row, because that smile of yours when you were out there was the greatest thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life.”

“You want to know why I’ve had all those good days? Because you were there. Because I’ve been an idiotic, pathetic mess of a man since the first day I saw you. I can’t think straight when you’re around. I can’t walk right when you smile at me. I can’t… I can’t fucking breathe unless you’re looking at me. And everything in your past might have fallen apart, but we won’t. We can’t, because deep down, I know you love me too,”

“If you want to run, I’ll chase you. If you want to build a wall to keep me out, I’ll climb it. If you need time, I’ll give it to you. I’m patient, Lexi.

“This month’s book sucked,” Grant groans. “A third act breakup? Miscommunication? Read the fucking room, bro. No one wants to read that shit.”

“You just have to be patient a little longer, man,” Hudson says. “The best things are always worth the wait.” “Yeah.” I grin. I think about Lexi and me ten years down the road. The smirk she’s tossing me and the way she’ll still have my heart. She’s still taping up ankles and I’m there, happy to just be around her. “They are.”

I’m doing it for him and the demons he faced in the hospital bed. For the nights when he wanted to give up and give in to the pain, and when an opponent cross-checks me into the boards directly in front of where my friends are all sitting, I can’t help but laugh.

“All three. To liking you. To loving you. To spending the rest of my life with you, however that might look for us. I want all of that, Riley, and more.” “That’s a hat trick, Lexi baby, and that means I win.” “Win?” She wrinkles her nose, and I kiss away her frown. “What the hell do you win?” “You, obviously,” I say. “I don’t need anything else.”