by Brooke Baker
“But they still found us, Wright,” she said. “And look…”
She twisted so she could see behind us, and we saw the tracks stretching out behind us through the snow.
“They’ll just be able to follow right behind us.”
“They will,” I agreed. “But they won’t be able to catch us.”
“Why not?” She frowned at me.
“Because we’re going down the mountain the fast way.”
“What are you talking about, Ethan?”
“The toboggan,” I said. “We’re going to slide down the mountain.”
“You’re kidding.”
"Nope. My dad and I used to go sliding in this one spot. Fifty years ago, there used to be a ski hill over here. They shut it down, but the slopes are still there and not too overgrown. We can slide almost the whole way out of here. They can follow, but unless they have a sled, too, they'll never catch us. They may use the snowmobiles, but they still can't go that fast downhill without either crashing or burning out the engine."
Kat grinned at me and grabbed my face, kissing me.
“That’s brilliant.”
Good thing, my cheeks were already red from the cold, or she might have seen me blushing like a schoolboy.
We arrived at the hill and got on the sled. As I got ready to push us off, there was the sound of running and yelling behind us.
“Quick, Ethan,” she said, already sitting on the long thin sled and holding the rope. I pushed us off and jumped on, putting my legs around hers and wrapping my arms around her waist.
We picked up speed quickly, and I smiled. Sliding was so much fun. More fun, of course, when you're not being chased by criminals.
A shot rang out in the quiet day.
"Oh god, they're shooting at us," Kat said, and I was glad that I was behind.
“I’m going to steer us back and forth,” I told her. “To make us a harder target.”
One of the bad guys fired another shot at us, but I ignored that and focused on steering us without dumping us off the sled. I took the rope from Kat and began pulling on one side, at the same time I put my foot down on that side, dragging it in the snow a bit, and that turned us to the left. I did the same thing a moment later, and that turned us to the right.
Shots were still being fired, but nothing hit us.
Then I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my left shoulder, and I let my leg drop too much. The sudden braking on that side from my foot was too much for the stability of the sled, and we dumped off, tumbling and rolling down the steep hill.
When I finally came to rest, my shoulder hurt, but I could sit up. Kat was beside me in a moment, dragging the sled.
“Kat,” I said, frantically, glancing back up the hill. “Go. It’s you they want. Get somewhere safe and call the police.”
"No," she said, and there was a determination in her eyes like I had never seen. "You pushed me away before, Ethan. I am never letting you do it again. Now get your ass on this sled, and let's get out of here."
I blinked, feeling like I was going to lose my shit right there, right then.
I did as she said, and she pushed us off again, jumping on behind and wrapping her arms around me.
“We’re in this together,” she said as we zipped down the hill with shots firing all around us.
*****
After that, things went remarkably well. We flagged someone down where we landed on the road and got a ride to the police station. The cops went and picked up the bad guys where they were still looking for us on the mountain.
Jarvis was put in a maximum-security prison with minimum interaction so he couldn't keep playing puppet master from jail.
And me, well, the bullet just grazed my arm. Like a scratch. And I was able to play at the final game.
We were tied with the other team, and as the clock ticked down, I zeroed in on this moment.
Dylan got the puck when the ref dropped it and took off down the ice. Hunter and I were there on either side of him, but so were the defensemen.
We passed it back and forth to keep it away from them, and I got to the net first. Dylan passed it to Hunter, who shot it to me. I could see a vision of the goal happening as clear as day before I even caught the pass.
The puck hit my stick, and it all felt like it was going in slow motion. I flicked my wrists and shot the puck into the top left corner. The goalie lifted his arm, but he was a fraction of a second too slow, and the puck hit the net.
I raised my arms and yelled.
The next moment the buzzer sounded. We had won the cup. Dylan and Hunter piled onto me, and the whole team was coming out on the ice.
We won!
But in the midst of the celebrating, as they brought the cup out and Dylan held it up, my eyes went to where I knew she’d be sitting. Kat gave me the biggest grin and two thumbs up.
Only then did the victory feel complete.
Chapter 8
Kat
A few weeks later…
It was Friday, and The Jaded Glass was packed. We had a good table. Nothing but the best for the guys who had won the cup. Maddie and Dylan were there, looking so in love, it was almost sickening. They were moving in together this weekend, and we were all going to help.
Hunter was here on his own — the life of the party, as usual. He was so funny and always up for being rowdy. But I thought there was something sad behind his eyes. As if he maybe wanted what his friends had.
"To winning," Hunter said, raising his glass, and we all raised our glasses and clinked.
"To moving in together," Dylan said, and Maddie kissed him, and we all toasted that.
"To evil criminals," Ethan said, and we all stared at him. "What? That's how Kat and I ended up back together."
We all laughed at that.
Ethan turned to Hunter. "So Hunter, do you think you will end up with someone from your past too? Dylan and I did!”
“Yeah, you both got together with someone from your past. But don’t think I’m going to be doing that,” Hunter laughed.
“Right, who would that even be?” Dylan said. “I can’t think of anyone you even went on a third date with.”
"There's only one old flame I went on a third date with, and the last time I saw her, she had braces and pigtails."
“Hunter,” Maddie said, aghast.
"What? She was twelve, and so was I," he defended himself. "Julia kissed me. And I liked it so much that I kissed her back. But apparently, she liked kissing me more than she liked being kissed, and she slapped me for it. Then she moved, and I haven't seen her since."
The table roared with laughter again.
"And she might have been cute, but I am not getting involved with her again. Guaranteed."
Hunter. What a guy.
I had a feeling that when he did fall for someone eventually, he’d fall hard. And I just hoped when it happened that she wouldn’t break his heart like this Julia because he was a good guy. And he deserved a good woman.
Then Maddie started telling us about the new house she was designing, and I forgot all about Hunter and his love life. Maybe if Ethan and I ever wanted a home, Maddie could design it for us. I snuggled in tight against Ethan, where we sat in the booth, with a quiet sigh. There was no place I'd rather be.
Ethan
I took Kat’s hand as we walked through the park on our way home from the bar.
“So, now that your team has won, what happens?”
I shrugged.
“Golf?”
She laughed.
“You play golf?”
"Nah," I said. "That's just a stereotype about hockey players playing golf in the offseason. I mean. I can play. And I do, sometimes. And lots of players do but…"
She giggled again and stopped to pull me in for a kiss.
“You’re so cute,” she said, putting her arms around my neck.
“So are you,” I said. “And I’m so glad that you don’t have to worry about Jarvis anymore.”
"Nope,"
she said, giving me a happy smile. "He's locked up tight, and they've thrown away the key."
"And your job? Is it better?" She'd told me that she felt like an outsider there.
"It is amazing. I finally feel like I'm really a part of the team."
“That’s great.”
We kept walking arm in arm through the warm night.
“Kat?”
“Mm, hm?”
“I want to thank you.”
“For what?”
“For not leaving me behind on the hill that day,” I said, feeling serious.
“As if I would have left you,” she said, her eyes filling with tears. “I would rather have stayed there and been shot with you.”
“I know,” I said, a lump in my throat. “And I love you for it.”
“Ethan,” she whispered, her eyes wide with wonder.
“You know I have some issues when it comes to people leaving me.”
She bit her lip.
“And it means more than you can ever know that you didn’t. I’m probably still a bit messed up, Kat. But I’ll do everything I can not to push you away ever again.”
“Even if you try to, like I said before. I won’t let you.” She told me.
I kissed her forehead.
“And I love you, too,” she added.
“What do we do now?” I asked her.
“I don’t know,” she said. “But whatever we do…
I smiled, and we finished the sentence at the same time.
“We’re in this together.”
Book 3 in the Curves for the Hockey Player Series tells Hunter’s love story.
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Brooke Baker
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