“Because there’s no point in waiting. If you love someone, don’t you want them to know it?”
I couldn’t argue with the sound logic of an overly emotional pregnant lady. “You’re right.”
“You should text him right now and tell him.”
“Don’t you think I should say it in person for the first time?”
Myla’s hand landed on my side. “You can say it to him again when he gets home in the morning. You can say it every day, all day, until the day you die, and you should.”
“If I didn’t know better, I would say you were fucking drunk, Myla.”
She giggled. “Yeah, I would think the same thing if I heard my crazy ass right now, but you know I’m right. Grab your phone and text that stud of a goalie. Tell him you love him and want to have tons of sexy babies.
“Go to bed crazy lady.”
“Fine, but I better hear you typing on your damn phone within the next minute or I am not going to shut up about it.”
“All right, you win.”
It was something that I had been wanting to say, but I was too chicken-shit to do it. Myla was right. What was the point in waiting another minute to tell the man I loved that I loved him. He deserved to know.
Me: I love you. I have for years.
It only took thirty seconds for Will to respond.
Crosby: I have loved you since the first time I met you in that bar after Gavin’s first goal.
Me: Good night babe. I’ll see you tomorrow.
Crosby: Sleep well baby girl.
Chapter 16
Jordan
It was game seven and I was about to shit myself with nerves as we all sat in a box together. Myla couldn’t sit still and had to pee every two seconds.
“I am going to miss this entire game sitting on the damn toilet,” she complained.
Jessica and Karla were chatting a few seats away from me, and I couldn’t believe how calm Karla was about the entire night. I supposed it came from years of dealing with the roller coaster of being a player’s wife.
Tears started streaming down my face as we stood for the national anthem. I wasn’t typically the sappy type, but I couldn’t have been more emotional than I was in that moment. I was consumed with so much pride and love, and my eyes were locked on my handsome goalie decked out in his number thirty-three jersey.
Myla grabbed for her bag, excitement taking over her. “Fuck! I almost forgot.”
She handed me a plastic bag. “What did you do?”
She shrugged. “It actually was Gavin’s idea. He didn’t want you to feel left out up here.”
I opened the bag to reveal my present—the best tank top in existence. It was heather gray with the Otter’s logo in the upper right corner and a huge number thirty-three in the center with the words Crosby’s Girl in scrolling cursive.
More tears. “This is the best!”
“The best part is that Crosby has no idea I had it made.”
“Thank you so much!” I hugged Myla before taking our seats to watch the game.
Our guys killed it out there. It was a clean game, no scuffling and not too much trash talk. I was impressed, to say the least.
“I think the other guys lost their mojo after winning game three,” Griffin commented when there were only two minutes left in the third period.
“Hush. Don’t jinx it now.” Olive sneered at Griffin and Myla whipped around to glare at him.
He threw his hands in the air. “My bad.”
I chuckled, shaking my head at him. “Don’t you know better by now?”
He dropped his head. “Yeah, you’re right.”
Luckily, Griffin did not jinx us. I couldn’t believe what I was watching. The New York Otters were holding the Stanley Cup, and we were all crying and hugging in the box as we watched our victorious men celebrate on the ice.
“To my house!” Myla yelled.
We all climbed into a stretch limbo and were heading to a party that was already all set up. We had figured win or lose, we were going to be gathering, so we’d prepared for every scenario.
“Don’t worry, Jess, I remembered the Tito’s,” I teased from across the back seat.
Her face lit up. “That is because you are incredible.”
It didn’t take too long for the entire team to burst through the door of Gavin and Myla’s apartment.
Gavin tried to say hi to me, but I blew him off, rushing into the arms of the only man I cared to see at that moment.
Will picked me up and crushed my lips to his.
“You were incredible tonight.”
“I can’t believe we won!”
“I fucking can. There wasn’t even a competition.”
He set me down after kissing me one more time.
“Oh, babe, look at what Myla got for me.” I was proudly wearing my new tank top.
He dropped to his knee. No one was paying attention to us; we were all alone in the crowd.
“Marry me. Right now.” Will’s eyes were locked with mine.
“Excuse me?” I stood up a little straighter, wrapping my arms around my body.
His hands landed on my hips as he looked up at me, tears starting to well up in his eyes. “I have waited for you for the last ten years. I finally have you and I never want to wake up next to another woman for the rest of my life. I don’t want to think about calling anyone else when I am having a bad day and just need to talk. I don’t want to relax on the balcony under a blanket drinking tea during a rainstorm with anyone but you. I don’t want to fight with anyone else when we’re both being stubborn, complain to anyone else when the Otters lose a big game, celebrate with anyone else whenever something remotely amazing happens, or buy just-because presents for anyone else when I see something that reminds me of the love of my life. It’s always been you, Jordan. It always will be. Let’s not go another day without each other for the rest of our lives. Marry me.”
“Can I tell our friends first?
“Is that a yes?”
I nodded as tears down my cheeks and neck. “Yes, Will Crosby, I will marry you.”
Crosby
I scooped Jordan up into my arms again, twirling her around before yelling over the group of elated players and friends.
“We’re fucking getting married.”
Everyone stopped dead.
Gavin called from the kitchen, “It’s about damn time.”
Everyone laughed and then started to say their congratulations.
Myla walked over to us. She was so pregnant she looked like she was about to burst. “You two have made this epic day even better. I am so excited. I have an entire Pinterest board ready and waiting.”
I interjected, “Whoa, I’m not waiting a damn year while you plan this shit out.”
Jordan cocked her head to the side. “What did you have in mind?”
“We could be on a flight to Vegas first thing in the morning.”
Myla looked deflated as she watched us decide to elope.
“We’re fucking doing this, aren’t we?” Jordan said with a grin as she grabbed my hand.
I pulled her into my side. “Let’s go pack.”
I didn’t care about saying goodbye to my teammates or celebrating with them any longer. There was only one person that mattered to me in that moment, and she was sitting in the car next to me, about to become my wife.
By eight in the morning, without getting a wink of sleep, Jordan and I were sitting in first class, sipping on champagne.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this.” She excitedly looked out the window as the plane started to pull away from the gate.
“I can.” I grabbed her hand. “First thing we need to do is get a ring on this finger.” I thumbed her left ring finger.
She glanced down at our interlocked fingers. “That can wait. I just want to be your wife, and I don’t need jewelry for that.” Her gaze diverted back outside.
“Are you sure?” I fished a small velvet box out of my carryon. “I’ve bee
n keeping this safe for you since the day I got it from my mother.”
I pulled out a canary diamond that had been in my family for three generations. I hadn’t even considered giving it to Mindie when I proposed to her—I guess in the back of my mind, it was always meant for Jordan, and I just didn’t realize it until I let myself truly fall for her.
Jordan was still looking out the window, completely oblivious to what I was doing. I sneakily slipped the heirloom onto her hand. Her head whipped around instantly and then her eyes got wide as she gaped at me.
“What in the…?” She kept looking at me and then down at the ring, over and over.
“Jordan, I promise to love and respect you until my last breath. My mother wore this ring for the entire fifty-three years she was married to my father. His mother wore it before mine, and her mother before that. It was meant to be on your finger. Look”—I spun the jewelry around on her finger gently—“it’s even the perfect size.”
“I love you Will.”
“And I love you, the future Mrs. Crosby.”
The End.
Bonus Chapter: Playoff Beard
Sipping on tea from my favorite Ollie is my Homeboy mug, I sat on the balcony listening to the thunder rolling in. I could smell the rain coming quickly. The calm, cool night air wrapped around me. Even though the bustling of the busy New Work streets were only stories below, I was in a little bubble of calm. Right as I started to close my eyes, my phone vibrated with a text.
Crosby: BABE!
Me: Yes?
Crosby: What are you doing? I miss you!
Me: Watching a storm rolling into the city.
Crosby: Gah! I need to be there.
I loved that my husband was a bad ass goalie for the New York Otters. It was his passion and he was damn good at it. I hated that it took him away from home so often. Even after all of the time we had been together, I was still selfish and wanted him home with me.
Getting lost into the pages of The Air He Breathes by Brittainy C. Cherry for the fifth time, I completely forgot to reply to Will’s text. Not more than twenty minutes could have gone by when I thought I heard the front door slam shut.
“Hello?” I called, scared shitless and jumping to my feet.
Will’s voice boomed through the living room, “Hey, baby girl.”
I ran to him, jumping into his tattooed arms as he twirled me around. “I thought you weren’t going to be home until tomorrow.”
He kissed my cheek and then I saw it, his hand and wrist were bandaged up.
I gasped, “What happened?”
He shrugged, “Nothing to worry your pretty little mind over. Just got a little rough during practice before the game. No playing for me for a few weeks.”
My hand flew up to my mouth as I gasped again. “Weeks?!”
“It doesn’t hurt, sweetheart.” He tried to reassure me, but I knew better.
“You don’t get sent home for nothing, Will.” I barked.
He scooped me up. “Can we just enjoy the fact that I am home a night early?” His voice was low as his teeth sunk down into my neck. As his teeth connected with my skin, I switched into a little puddle of girl-goo.
I whimpered and nodded, “Yes, Daddy,” I breathed as he walked us out onto the balcony.
“Good girl.” Two words. Those two simple words washed over me. They were everything I craved to hear, longed to know, desired to reassured of.
He set me down on the cool tile helping me undress. Right when my fingertips were tugging at the bottom his shirt, he stopped me. “This is about you right now, little one.”
Tingles of excitement shot through me. Will grabbed my hips, pulling me into his lap, with my back pressed against his chest and my head resting on his shoulder. We sat with him lightly brushing his fingertips over my stomach, chest and arms, listening to the rain. Minutes went by with us just enjoying the simple embrace. And even though it was simple – it was everything.
“I love you, Jordan.” He sighed.
“And I love you, Will.” I shifted in his lap to kiss my husband’s soft lips.
He growled from the contact and shoved me up into the aderondack chair that was to my left. Kneeling in front of me, he spread my legs. Kissing from my knee up my inner thigh, he teased me so well. The anticipation of his impending touch coursed through me. I started to shake in his arms with barely being touched.
“Excited, little one?”
I nodded and moaned as his flattened tongue pressed onto my pulsing clit. I gripped the arms of the chair as my body tensed. With every little flick and suck, my body went farther and farther down the rabbit hole euphoria. The rain, honking horns, loudness of the people crowding the city streets – it all faded into nothingness. The sheer pleasure that Will was bestowing on me was all consuming. His nails dug into the tops of my thighs as he plunged his tongue into my wetness.
“Please, Daddy, finger me.” I cried out, needing to feel more of him instantly.
“As you wish, babe.” His fingers filled me. My hips bucked against his face and hand. My entire body shook. My mind went blank. I cried out Will’s name but I couldn’t even hear it.
“You’re amazing.” Will stated as he pulled me into his arms and started to carry my limp body into the apartment.
“I think I am supposed to be saying that to you, babe.” I let my head fall into the crook of his shoulder. He had taken everything out of me in minutes. His sheer power of knowing just how to be my undoing never ceased to amaze me.
“We’re amazing together, baby girl. That’s the whole point.”
Off Duty
A Shots On Goal Standalone
By Kristen Hope Mazzola
Dedication
To my Rockstars -
y’all are amazing and I wouldn’t have The Otters or this entire series without you!
Chapter 1
Whistler
I would never forget the first fatality I saw while on the job. The haunting, grisly scene was staple-gunned into my mind, plaguing me, haunting me. I watched as the life of a mother was snuffed out, felt her last breath escape her lips in the freezing rain in the middle of the road.
Early one evening, in terrible weather with black ice covering the asphalt, my partner and I got the call. I had been on the job for only a few months, and I was not at all prepared for what we were about to encounter. I was a young buck, fearless, ready to be the big bad hero, to swoop in and save the damsel in distress—what a fucking joke that idea was. Up until that point, the worst I had dealt with was a drug bust gone wrong were a UC was shot in the shoulder by a kingpin. That was child’s play compared to what I was about to witness.
That day had started off like any other. I showered, got dress, drove through to get coffee for my partner and I—it was almost like clockwork. We were nearing the end of our shift, that’s when our day went from pretty routine with speeding tickets and regular traffic violations and went into a day that would change me forever.
With lights flashing, my partner pushed the engine of our squad car to her limits. We flew down the road toward the intersection, and we were on the scene within minutes. Off in the distance, the wailing of horns and the blaring of sirens signaled that the ambulance and fire truck were already en route to provide assistance. We were the first to arrive out of all responding units, and I wished that hadn’t been the case.
The scene was what you’d expect from a damn movie, I honestly could not believe my eyes at first. An eighteen-wheeler had jackknifed and slid off onto the shoulder with a green four-door sedan plastered to its grill like a giant bug. The entire driver’s side of the car was smashed in, the horn was blaring, and the windshield was blown out. The driver had been expelled from the car, the passenger’s head was a bloody mess on the side window, and neither of them were moving. The truck driver wailed in agony as he frantically tried to open the cab’s door.
“Sir! Try to remain calm!” My partner was a senior officer and knew what he was doing. He sprang into
action as I froze in my seat.
“Get the woman!” Todd screamed at me as he flew out of the driver’s seat. “I’ll try to get the girl out of the car.”
After shaking my head violently a few times to come to my senses, I rushed to the woman where she was sprawled out on the frozen pavement, her limbs thrown about like a ragdoll as she lay on her back, gasping for air.
Looking down into her pleading eyes, I tried to figure out what to say—but what do you say when you know someone is fighting for their life? How the fuck are you supposed to comfort a stranger when they’re dying right in front of you?
“Ma’am, can you tell me your name?” I asked, looking over her mangled body. Her long golden hair was stained with blood. Her clothes were torn and disheveled. Her exposed skin was scraped, bloody and bruised. I tried to access her injuries but I had no idea where to even begin.
“My daughter!” she cried. “Help Myla!”
“My partner is with her. He’s got her. What’s your name? Can you tell me your name?” I yelled, trying to hide the panic that was coating my tone.
She started to gurgle as blood poured from her lips and ears. Her skin drained of color. Her body shook. Her eyes got wide. I pulled her contorted, wounded body into my arms, rocking her while trying to comfort her in her last moments on this earth.
“You’re going to be all right. The paramedics are on their way. You’re going to be all right.” I repeated it over and over while the EMTs were rushing over to us, but they were too late. She had slipped through the cracks.
In ruthless, bitter rain, I felt her final breath leave her lungs. I watched as she blinked for the last time. I held her as she cried for us to save her daughter. In her last seconds, she was completely selfless. Her love for her daughter was at the forefront of her mind, and right there, I learned what true, unconditional love looks like.
The Shots On Goal Series Box Set Page 39