Page 157 of Scarred

“I’ll be ready. Are you going to watch?”

I nod my head. “I wouldn’t miss it.”

“Wish you were sitting behind my net instead.”

“Me too,” I say softly.

“So cupcakes, huh?” He smiles, and it’s so different now than when we first met. It reaches his eyes now, and I get to see the real Cayden that very few ever get to see.

“Not just cupcakes. Pink cupcakes with sparkles on top,” I grin.

“Sounds exactly like what Scar would pick out,” he chuckles before his eyes turn serious.

“Thank you,” he says quietly. “I know I have Mae, but it’s…”

He shakes his head softly before rubbing his hand on the backside of his neck.

“It’s nice not feeling like I’m doing this all on my own.”

My breath catches in my throat as my chest tightens.

“You don’t have to do this alone anymore,” I whisper. “Not if you don’t want to.”

“I’m beginning to realize that.”

He stares at me like he’s still unsure I’m real before finally running a hand through his hair and pulling his gaze away. “I should let you go, I need to get ready for warmups.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll call you when I get back to my hotel room.”

“I’ll answer,” I smile.

“I don’t think my heart would take it if you didn’t,” he says so quietly that I almost don’t hear it. “Bye, little moon.”

“Bye,” I breathe, watching his face disappear as the call ends.

Letting my hand fall to my lap, I pray that Mae is right.

Because somewhere along the way, they had stopped feeling like someone else’s family.

They had become mine.

And the thought of losing either of them hurts more than I ever want to admit.

FORTY-SIX

CAYDEN

My eyes open as soon as the wheels touch the asphalt. It’s been a long week on the road, and you can tell everyone is feeling it by the silence on the way home.

It’s dark in the cabin except for a couple of dim overhead lights from the seats of coaches and assistants as they go over the game play from tonight’s loss.

We won two out of three of our away games, but no matter how many wins you get, it’s always the losses that sink their claws into you that you can never shake.

The other team was just better tonight, and that’s a hard pill to swallow. We had too many defensive breakdowns, the turnovers happened left and right…not to mention all the penalties we racked up, making the power plays one of our biggest disadvantages in the game.

I was left hanging in front of the net more than once tonight, but it happens. We win as a team and lose as one. The guys had an off night, but you shake it off and push through it, not letting it get in your head.