Page 119 of Three Hockey Hotties

“Right. Benjamin and Dash will obviously be there. They don’t really need me but⁠—”

“Of course they need you,” my mom says. She opens the back door of their small SUV and puts me inside. “Seatbelt,” she says before shutting the door.

My dad loads my suitcase into the back, and then they both get in.

As we back out and turn onto the street, I realize that’s it. All I had to say was that I needed to go back to the guys. My parents are asking appropriate questions, but they’re not arguing or trying to talk me out of it.

That further confirms that that’s where I need to be.

“I was scared to get too involved with them,” I say. “I was worried that I was bringing my illness and a potential relapse into their lives. I was thinking about how hard that would be. What I would be putting them through.”

My mom turns in her seat. “That’s a responsible thing to think about when you’re getting serious with someone,” she tells me. “And it would be really hard for them.”

Again, she doesn’t sugarcoat the truth.

“And now you’re realizing how it feels when someone you love is hurt and physically in need,” my dad says.

I nod. “It’s scary. And it makes my heart hurt.” My hand rubs over my chest, where my heart is still beating too fast thinking about Kane being hurt and in pain. “But it makes me want to be there even more. It makes me want to do whatever I can to make it easier and better for him. I would never want to be anywhere else.”

My mom reaches back and squeezes my knee. “Exactly. Loving someone means wanting all of them. The happy healthy parts, and the sad, scared, sick parts.” She looks over at my dad and then reaches and squeezes his arm too. “And the frustrating, annoying parts.”

He gives her a grin.

I love my parents so much.

“I’m not scared of loving the guys,” I say, wanting to say it out loud and needing my parents to know. “But I’m definitely scared of not being with them. The idea of missing something—even if it’s sitting in the hospital waiting room with two of them—makes my heart hurt.”

“You really are officially in love,” my dad says.

My mom turns and beams at me. “I am so thrilled. I can’t wait to get to know them.”

I take a deep breath and sit back in the seat, feeling contentment slide through me.

I trust Benjamin when he says that Kane is going to be fine. But even if it were more precarious, I know that once I am with them, we’ll all be so much better.

“Abby?” My dad asks. “What do your guys drive?”

I frown. “Benjamin drives a big black SUV. That’s usually what they ride in when they’re together.”

“Yeah, I thought so.” My dad signals and starts to pull over on the side of the road.

“What’s going on?”

Then I hear the honking and realize that the black SUV that passed us on the other side of the highway flipped around and is now pulling up behind us.

“Do you happen to know those guys?” my dad asks, clearly amused as Benjamin and Dash bail out of the SUV.

My heart flips over in my chest, and I feel tears stinging at the backs of my eyes. It occurs to me that maybe I should be concerned.

What are they doing here? Why aren’t they with Kane? Did something worse happen? Did they try to call me and I missed it?

But even as all of those questions trip through my mind, I know the answer.

They’re here to get me.

They’re here because they couldn’t wait for me to figure out a way to come to them. They’re here because they also realized that I need to be with them.

They’re here because they love me.