Alexei (Chicago Blaze 5)

“I’ve wanted to do that for a really long time,” he says.

“Oh,” I say, too dazed to say anything more eloquent.

Alexei smirks as my phone buzzes, announcing my Uber arrival. He walks me to the car and opens the door, kissing me one last time before I get in.

“Thank you for dinner,” I say.

“Thank you for seeing me. Text me when you get home.”

I get into the car and he closes the door. The whole evening felt like a dream, and I can’t stop smiling.

“Hey, was that Alexei Petrov?” my Uber driver asks, looking at me in the rearview mirror. “The guy who plays for the Blaze?”

“Yes, it was.”

He scoffs. “I hear that guy’s practically a priest since he went to rehab. Just like his brother now. Nothing! No booze, no women, no fun, if you ask me.” He laughs, but stops suddenly. “Sorry, I guess you’re a woman.”

“I guess so.”

My tone tells him to stop talking, because I’m not letting anything ruin my good mood tonight.22Alexei

Three months later“You coming or what, douchebag?” Victor asks me, glaring as I wrap up my phone call with Graysen. “I’m fuckin’ starving.”

“You’re always fuckin’ starving, man. Give me five minutes.”

“I’m gonna give you my foot in your ass if you don’t get down to the lobby in the next one minute.” He closes the door to my hotel room, and I can hear him grumbling as he walks away.

That guy and food—it’s ridiculous. We’re on our first preseason road trip of the new hockey season, and he’s already bitching about how hungry he is.

“Hey babe, I have to go,” I tell Graysen over the phone. “Vic wants to leave for lunch and I think the rest of the guys are all waiting for me.”

“Okay, have fun. I’ll be watching the game tonight on my computer. Good luck.”

“Thanks. I’ll call you after. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

We just officially started our relationship, after the longest nine months of my life. Not being with Graysen has hands down been harder for me than not drinking. I can finally say she’s mine, and it feels damn good.

I’m ready to start a new chapter in my life and a new season with the Blaze after the worst offseason I’ve ever experienced. Anton and Mia’s daughter Ella contracted a respiratory infection right before we were supposed to go to Kauai, so none of us went. That infection morphed into more and little Ella ended up in the ICU.

Anton and Mia wouldn’t leave her side, even when Martin, Laura and I offered to relieve them so they could sleep or shower at home. I was able to help my adoptive parents take care of Irina, who we all call Ree, though. It was the first time I’ve ever felt like I was someone Anton could rely on.

Ella was hospitalized for more than a month, and right before she was released, Martin had a mild heart attack. Fortunately, he was at the hospital to see Ella when it happened and was able to be treated quickly.

I took my family for granted once, when all I cared about was the next party or the next buzz, but I never will again. Graysen came to sit with me at the hospital as often as she could around her work schedule, and my family loves her. She already feels like one of us.

I grab a baseball hat and my phone and head down to the lobby, where two oversized vans are waiting to take our entire team and staff out for lunch.

We’re in St. Louis, and even though there aren’t a lot of great restaurants surrounding our hotel, there’s a collective groan when my van pulls up at a Chinese buffet called Wok This Way.

“The fuck, dude?” Dante mutters. “The brass must’ve cut our travel budget.”

“We just don’t have a lot of time before you guys have to be at the rink,” the van driver says.

“Let’s go,” Vic says, herding everyone out of the van. “I’m not too good for chicken fried rice, you snobby bitches.”

They’re not busy, so we’re able to get a side room all to ourselves. Everyone heads for the buffet immediately, cleaning out the trays of food and leaving the staff scrambling to refill them.

I sit next to Anton, who’s grinning at photos of his daughters on his phone in between bites of his food. The guy went from grouchy bastard to goofy daddy about five seconds after those girls came into the world.

“Look at Ree. See how she’s waving at me here,” he says, holding up the phone so I can lean in for a better look.

“That’s cute.”

Easy glances at me from across the table and asks, “Did your new stick get delivered in time?”

“Yeah, I got it a couple days ago. It’s fuckin’ sick, dude.”

One of our assistant coaches stands up to talk about a retired longtime Blaze player who passed away during the offseason. Matt’s very long-winded, and most of the guys go through another two plates of food while he talks, not caring if anyone’s listening.