How is she? Is she okay?
Nico has fallen in Riggs’ web, and he doesn’t want out any time soon.
I clear my throat. “Yeah, she’s with me. We are at the rink. Tell JR I’ll have her call him when we are done here.”
“Thank fuck. Tell her I’m whipping her ass for not answering her phone. We had a deal about that shit.” We both laugh and I inform her that I will tell her she sent that message along.
I was thankful that Riggs and I were able to get back to our brother, sister relationship we had when she was younger. I’d missed annoying the fuck out of her, and each day she seemed to be healing more and more. She was healthy. Everything had seemed to fall in place.
Until this moment when it seemed everything was now hanging by one loose thread.
“Bishop, I need you to do me a favor,” she says, and I can only imagine what she is going to say.
“What do you need, Aurelia?” I say jokingly into the phone.
“Don’t fuck it up this time, okay? She loves you, so don’t fuck it up.”
I swallow the lump in my throat, sighing. Riggs had always been protective of her best friend's heart because she knew how damaged it was.
“I won’t, Riggs. I promise.”
The sound of the call ending rings in my ears, and I toss my phone on my bag. Running my hands through my hair as I stand up. I slowly make my way towards the tunnel to enter the rink, and chill bumps run the length of my arms.
The memories that fill this space are ones I’ll keep forever. The first time I stood here for my first professional hockey game. Running through here after we won my first Stanley Cup. It was the place JR told me he was retiring, and it was where I planned to tell Nico and Kai.
I moved through the dark hallway, breaking out onto the bright ice. My freshly sharpened skates glide on the surface below me. Hockey was my first love. When I first learned to skate and picked up a stick, I was hooked. I had never felt passion like that before. It started this burn inside of me that fueled me to want better for myself. There used to be no feeling like touching this ice.
Until her.
There she was, standing in front of the goal. Her back was to me, and her long hair was cascading down her back. It brought me back to when I first met her all those years ago. This is the place it all started. The day fate chose to cross our paths for the first time.
How fitting that it was on a hockey rink.
She'd been mine since she was seventeen. I owned her heart, her essence, her mind. I was there when she needed to cry. To remind her how strong she really was. I was who she ran to when she had good news and when she was happy. The person who always picked up the phone. Our future was hanging in the balance of this moment.
I wanted her. I wanted her more than I had ever wanted anything in my fucking life. I wanted early mornings with her grouchy ass. I wanted to make her coffee so she wasn’t so hateful. I wanted to bring home Chinese food when she had a hard day. I wanted to keep extra ice in the freezer because I know how she loves ice baths. I wanted the house, the kids, all of it.
I owned her past. But I wanted her future.
"Can I ask you something, B?" she calls from her spot on the ice. I slowly start to make my way towards her.
"Anything."
"Do you believe in fate?"
The question makes me pause. I stop skating when I’m a few inches away from her. I know what she is asking. How is it that the mother who left her is the woman who replaced the mother role I needed? How was it that our paths were this intertwined? I sighed.
Did I believe in fate?
Had my mother never killed herself would I even have picked up a hockey stick? I would never have made it to Chicago. I would’ve become a lawyer or accountant, and I would have married my high school sweetheart. I would have never met Valor, JR, Riggs, Nico, Kai, Anna, Eric. I wouldn’t have any of them in this life.
So was that fate’s plan all along? Or was it fate’s apology for my mom?
If Anna would have never left, Valor would have grown up in a two parent household. Would she have played hockey? Probably, because that shit is encoded in her DNA. But where would Eric be? Would he have been willing to help a kid like me if he hadn't met Anna? Once again I never would have met any of the people I have in my life.
I clear my throat, skating closer to her. My front is pressed against her back. I love how warm she is all the time. Even on the ice, she’s burning up.
"I believe that you were made for me. I believe that whatever created us took a piece of my soul and placed it in you. I believe that the spaces in me are the spots you fill, and the sun always shines a little brighter when I wake up next to you. I know that I have loved you before, I will love you in this life, and I'll love you in the one after. It's always us, Vallie."
I breathe the last words, leaning and tucking my head into the crook of her neck, inhaling her shampoo. One of my favorite places to be. "Whether that is fate, chance, or destiny, I don't know. But I plan to spend eternities with you figuring it out."
She slowly turns to face me, once she is all the way around, I tug on one of her curls in greeting. A smile on my face.
Valor is the girl who is too tall for some guys. The girl who isn't afraid to tell you how she feels; isn't scared to take the lead. She's the girl most guys are intimidated by in life, due to her success, her drive, her passion, her presence. The one who doesn't need a man to support her, but wants one by her side. She cusses, burps, doesn't care if she makes a mess with her food, laughs too loud, and loves hard.
And that is exactly what makes her so goddamn beautiful it hurts. It’s why I’m hopelessly in love with her.
She’s magic.
“Nothing makes sense anymore, B. Where do we go from here? What does this mean for our future?” she asks. I swallow roughly, licking my bottom lip.
Her fear is pulling her away from me. Her self-doubt. I’m not fucking losing her again. Not when I just got her back. I refuse. So I do the only thing I can think of. The only thing that makes sense to her right now.
“I’ll play you for it.”
The dullness in her eyes evaporates and a spark of excitement ignites. Got her.
“Play me for what?” she questions, with a quirk of her eyebrow.
“Your future.”
Laughter spills from her, that soft airy laugh I love. Her freckles move with every giggle, and I refrain from touching them. This is how I want Valor all the time. Laughing and free. I want her to be happy.
“I’m a lot better than I was when I was ten, Maverick.”
I smirk. “I’ll be the judge of that. I’ve still got some years on you, Sullivan.”
“What do I get when I win?” she questions with a confidence that has my cock stiffening. Jesus fuck, this girl has me twisted in a knot.
“If you win, I’ll leave you alone. You won’t hear from me again. I’ll go to New York and let you live your life, Vallie girl.”
The thought of living a life without her in it seems colorless. She’s the light in my day, and I know without her, it’ll all just be darkness.
“But,” I start, I grip her chin between my fingers, pulling her face closer to mine, “if I win, it’s game over. It’s you and me forever. No more just friends bullshit. You’ll be mine and I’ll be yours. The way it was meant to be.”