One Pucking Destiny (Crane Hockey #4)

Chapter 13

CHAPTER

THIRTEEN

BASH

T he ball flies directly toward Ariana, her eyes wide and her body frozen in shock. I lunge toward her. My hand reaches the space in front of her face just as the ball hits my hand. The hit isn’t well placed, but Jaden gets to it and spikes it over the net. Eddy misses the spike, and a point goes to our team.

“Winners are on fire!” Jaden chants.

Ariana grabs my wrist. “Please don’t leave my side. Better yet, please get me out of this.”

I thread my fingers through hers beneath the water and squeeze. “I’m afraid it’s too late to get out of this one, but I’ll protect you.”

“That ball was coming right at my face. I saw it, but I couldn’t move. I just froze.” Her big brown eyes hold mine. “I’m not cut out for athletics.”

Looking at Ariana and her smoking body, I find it hard to believe that she’s ill-equipped to play sports. More accurately, I think she just never has and, therefore, doesn’t have the confidence to do so. From what I know about Ariana, she excels at everything she commits to. She has this fiery, stubborn nature to her. I’d guess that knowing nothing about volleyball makes her brain tell her body not to try.

I move to pull my hand from hers, but she holds me tight. “I’m serious. I don’t admit this often, but I’m over my head here. Get me through this stupid game without looking like a fool or getting a black eye, and I’ll owe you.”

So many snarky comebacks come to the forefront, but the genuine nature of Ari’s plea holds them back. At this moment, I’m not the guy trying to get in her pants. I’m the man making her feel safe, and that feeling is better than anything.

“You’re good. I promise.” I squeeze her hand again, not wanting to let go.

“I believe I’ve heard that before.” She raises a brow, referring to the promise.

But this promise is different.

I release her hand and wipe a wet strand of hair from her face. “I’m not letting anything happen to this pretty face.”

Max calls out the score and serves the volleyball to the other side. The teams go back and forth, and despite our side having—let’s be honest—one less player, we hold our own. As promised, I stay close to Ari and intervene when a ball comes her way. I even get Beckett to agree to let me serve for her by giving some excuse that her wrist hurts. I took a play from her seventh-grade playbook for that one. We all know Beckett only agreed because she’s Elena’s daughter, but a win is a win.

It helps that Cade and Iris are wrapped up in their love bubble. When they’re hugging all over one another between balls, we quickly serve without waiting for them to be ready. Eddy and Beckett call cheating. I say Cade and Iris need to get their head in the game.

Beckett grumbles at his sister and best friend. “Seriously? We’re going to be on stupid dish duty. Save it for the bedroom!”

“Rude!” Iris laughs, splashing water at her brother.

I serve the ball over the net, and Beckett lunges to hit it back toward us. We volley back and forth a couple of times until Eddy jumps up, spiking the ball into the net on their side and giving us the final point we need to win .

“Winners!” the four of us roar. Huddling in the middle of the pool, we jump up and down in celebration.

“I can’t believe we won!” Ariana shrieks, a huge smile on her face.

“Feels good, doesn’t it?” I ask.

“It feels great!”

“We just might make an athlete out of you yet.” I take hold of her waist and spin her in the water.

She laughs. “I wouldn’t go that far. You know I never touched the ball, right?”

“All team members are important,” Max says. “You played your role well.”

None of us mentions what that role was specifically because none of us knows, but we’re celebrating nonetheless.

After a few minutes of rubbing our win into the other team’s faces, we retract the volleyball net.

“Sean, beer us,” Beckett says to Logan.

Logan stands from the lounger. “Raise your hand if you need a drink!”

Eight hands shoot up in the air.

We swim to the side of the pool, where Logan waits with the cooler. He supplies each of us with a beer. Some of the others climb up on to floaties. Max, Ari, and I sit on the built-in ledge seat at the end of the pool .

“What’s the plan for tonight?” Max asks.

“I think we talked about playing that poker game,” I answer.

Ari sits between us, and her leg rests against mine. The movement is intentional. Otherwise, she’d retract it. I don’t move my leg, afraid she’ll retract hers. The small connection is soothing.

“Great. I love losing money.” Max pushes out a laugh.

“You never know. You could win,” I say.

“Are you kidding? Either Gunner or Beckett wins every time,” Max says before his attention shoots to Jaden across the pool. I’m not sure what Jaden said, but Max isn’t happy. He shakes his head. “I don’t think so.” He takes off toward the other end of the pool.

“And then there were two.” Ari dips her beer bottle toward mine, and they clink together.

I nudge my knee toward hers. “Tell me something about yourself, Ari.”

“What do you mean?”

“I want to know something about you. Not because we have an audience and you’re forced to play along but because it’s something you want to tell me.”

“What if I don’t want to tell you anything?”

“Then throw me a bone and think of something anyway.”

She scoots back, resting against the side of the pool. She runs her foot against my calf and takes a drink of her beer. “You tell me something about yourself.”

“My life is an open book. What do you want to know?”

“Tell me about April and Marty. How were they as parents?”

I whip my head to the side, raising a brow. “How do you know about April and Marty?” If I’m not mistaken, a blush colors her cheeks.

She chews on the inside of her cheek, looking guilty. “I might have googled you.”

“You did? When?” I laugh.

“After I arrived and you retreated to your room. I went to find you, but I wanted to know the basics before confronting you. I guess I was just so shocked that you were on the Cranes. I mean, my mom talks about the team constantly. She’s married to a player. I’ve met a bunch of them, but I’ve never met you. It didn’t seem real initially, so I had to prove it to myself.”

“I get that, and to answer your question. April and Marty were great parents and both teachers. My dad was my high school social studies teacher and hockey coach. My mom works with students with special needs. They’re wonderful people. There’s nothing much to tell.”

She nods as if she expected this answer. “So you had the perfect upbringing—loving parents, two kids, love, and enough money for everything you needed.”

“You say that as if it’s a bad thing.”

“No.” She shakes her head. “It’s not at all. It’s just that you seem like a person who had a perfect upbringing. I was just curious.”

I finish the beer and place the empty bottle on the tile behind me. “Well, if you’re trying to say that I’m a well-adjusted adult, then thank you. Now, your turn.”

“No, I’m not done with you yet. Who do you love most in this world?”

“Hattie.”

“What do you love most in this world?”

“Hockey.”

She puts her empty bottle beside mine. “Okay, so let’s say you were crap at hockey. What career would you have gone into?” She wraps her legs underneath her, sitting cross-legged, and faces me.

“I’d probably have been a teacher and a coach like my dad.”

“Why?”

I shrug. “I don’t know. I like kids; I love talking. I love learning. And I love sports.”

“So what kind of teacher would you have been? Social studies like your dad?”

“Honestly, probably not. I think I would’ve been a high school English teacher. I love reading. Hattie and I used to do buddy reads growing up. When we were finished, we’d talk about the book for hours. What we liked about it. What we didn’t. We’d discuss all the aspects of the book, from the pacing to the character development to the meanings we found. It’s so satisfying to deconstruct a book and really get into it. I think it’d be fun to do with teens, and I imagine we’d have some lively discussions.”

“What’s the last book you read?”

I sigh. “Honestly, I can’t remember. I haven’t read a book for pleasure since my first year of college. Once hockey got serious, I only had time for studying and practicing. Now, hockey is my entire life. You think that’s bad, don’t you?”

She shakes her head. “No, I actually think it’s admirable to love something so much that you dedicate your life to it. It’s quite a commitment. Not everyone could do that.”

Her answer fills my chest with warmth, and I feel that maybe she truly sees me and understands what makes me tick. “Come on. I’ve answered a bunch of questions. Surely, it’s your turn to give me something.”

“Okay.” She pauses. “I’ll tell you this… I lied to you earlier.”

“When?”

“When I told you I’ve barely thought about that night since it happened. The truth is, I think about that night every single day.”

My breath hitches, getting lodged in my throat, and my pulse races. Ari moves off the ledge.

“Wait.” I grab her wrist. “Where are you going?”

“My mom has looked over here a couple of times now. Don’t want to make it too obvious. I guess it’s time for me to go and play with the other boys.” She shoots me a wink and swims away.

I’m left alone, stunned by her admission. I knew as soon as she said it that she was lying. But assuming I know what she thought about and hearing the words from her mouth are two very different things. Her words, whether she intended them to or not, gave me the answer I needed.

She wants me just as much as I want her. That knowledge is a game changer.