"Good. Because I reward patience."
The corner of his mouth kicked up in a half smile. "Yeah? Can I get a reward right now?"
She laughed when he swept her into his arms. "What do you want?"
"You. Again. If you're up for it. Cause fuck knows I am."
Holly grinned and teasingly pushed him back onto the bed, swiftly straddling him. "Mmm, you certainly feel up for it."
His eyelids drifted closed as she slid her hand underneath his sleep pants and wrapped it around his erection.
"But this time, I want to be on top."
He opened one eye, then grinned. "Well, then saddle up, kitten, and get ready for the ride of your life."
13
Holly bit her lip as she peered up at the scoreboard. It was the fifth game of the series, and San Jose was up 2–0, with fifteen minutes remaining in the third period.
"Ugh. We desperately need a lucky bounce," Nic complained, gesturing toward the rink. "This game is so frustrating."
"If we're frustrated, imagine how the guys must feel," Penn mused. "They're throwing everything at San Jose's goaltender and have gotten zero returns. They were really hoping to close out this series tonight."
"Yeah, but after those two goals in the first period, they haven't gotten anything on us since," Holly told her. "West is standing on his head out there."
"He'll beat himself up for that first goal later, though," Penn said. "It was soft, and he'll bitch about it. I know my boyfriend."
After scoring a quick goal from the blue line a few minutes into the first period, San Jose had taken that momentum and ran with it, scoring a second three minutes later.
Since then, the entire Kingsnakes team—every line—had stepped up their defensive efforts. The third and fourth line had been especially great, backchecking and wreaking havoc to disrupt San Jose's game.
Bella slapped her hands down on her thighs as the Kingsnakes got possession of the puck and began to cycle it down in San Jose's zone. "Come on, boys. You can do this. All we need is one goal to get things going. Just one."
Sam London took a quick wrist shot from the slot, and thepingsound it made as it rang off the goal post sent a collective groan through the crowd at the Nevada Arena.
"Fuck," Hannah yelled, throwing her hands in the air. "Fucking dammit shit sonofabitch!"
Holly elbowed Penn. "I'm legitimately worried about her blood pressure. I don't think I've ever heard her swear so much."
Nic took a sip of her beer and gave Holly an amused look. "I'm sure all of our blood pressures are nearing the danger zone. We've got a little more than ten minutes left to tie this up."
"On the bright side, at least it's not an elimination game for our team," Zoe chimed in from her seat next to Nic. "San Jose is playing for their lives right now, and it shows."
San Jose forced the puck back down into the Kingsnakes zone, and things got intense when they managed a few shots in quick succession.
"Jesus H," Penn yelped, peering through her fingers as a puck bounced off the edge of West's glove and toward the boards. "Too close."
Fally spun around and fired the puck up the ice, clearing it out of the Kingsnakes zone.
Before they could let out a collective sigh of relief, Evan Bradiere from San Jose delivered a bone-crunching check to Fally against the boards. The noise of the rattling glass echoed through the arena as Fally's legs went out from under him, and he fell backward toward the ice—directly into the path of San Jose’s Tyson Bayard.
Bayard couldn't get out of the way in time, and the result was a sickening collision with his body and Fally's knee.
Caleb Steele, Shaw Castle, and Eli got into a shoving match with a few of the San Jose players, which immediately ceased as Fally's screams pierced the air. The trainer dove over the boards and raced to help Fally as Ryder skated to his best friend's side, sinking down onto his knees to comfort him.
"No!" Nic covered her mouth with her hands as the crowd shot to their feet. "Oh my God. Fally!" She pushed past a few of the other WAGs in their row, hurrying toward the stairs with Zoe hot on her heels.
"We're going down to the door where they'll take him off the ice. I'll text you guys with any news," Zoe called.