Snorting with laughter, she rolled her eyes, but before she could type something, he wrote her once more.

Vaughn: Kidding, not really, but am I in trouble?

Brie: No, but did you ask Rodney if you could date me?

Vaughn: LOL, he told on me!

Brie: He did.

Brie: So you did?

Vaughn: Yeah, had to make sure he was okay with it.

Brie: When?

Vaughn: At NateWay. I took the pizza up to the main house, and then I asked him.

Her heart swelled as her eyes clouded with tears.

Brie: Wow.

Vaughn: Yeah, I’m sort of amazing.

Brie: Sorta.

Brie: Thank you.

Vaughn: Of course. Call you when I land?

Brie: Please.

When he sent her a kissy face emoji, she laid her phone down and exhaled hard.

She wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep it in that she loved him.

And she wasn’t sure what it would mean when she let the truth out.

Vaughn usually didn’t mind long road trips, and the one the Assassins were on that week wasn’t even that long. It was only ten days, but it felt like an eternity as he came to the end of it.

He missed Tricksie.

He was worried about Rodney.

He missed his bed.

But, above all, he missed Brie. So fucking much.

FaceTiming with that woman was not enough. He wanted to feel her lips, touch her body, and hold her. God, he missed holding her. He was ready to be home. They had thought she might be able to join them back out on the road, but the hospital still hadn’t released Rodney. He had had a few more seizures, and then they discovered that his glucose was dangerously high. After being cussed out by his girlfriend because she felt they should have known that from the beginning, the doctors finally had Rodney’s body working right, and he would be going home the following day.

Vaughn was thankful he would be home soon because he needed to comfort Dawn. She blamed herself for his glucose since she had been the one feeding Rodney cake left and right. Plus, Vaughn wanted to help Brie, be there for her because he was sure she wouldn’t be able to handle leaving Rodney at his house after everything, even if it was all he wanted. Rodney was tired of being with people; he wanted to be in his own home, by himself, and Vaughn couldn’t blame the guy. Brie hovered like crazy over him.

Vaughn loved how much she cared for everyone.

And he couldn’t wait to see her. But first, he had to get through this practice.

Why they were having practice when they had just gotten home was beyond him. Apparently, Coach didn’t want to have one tomorrow, give the boys time to rest before their home game tomorrow night, but Vaughn wished it were the other way around. He wanted to go to the hospital, see Brie, and then go fall face first in his bed. Yawning loudly on the other side of the ice, he watched as the third line went, running the play Coach had called out. Vaughn wasn’t the only one ready to fall out, but they all pushed hard, working on their three-on-three because they hadn’t won an overtime yet. They were sucking at them, and it was driving everyone crazy.

Vaughn, most of all.

They couldn’t fucking close, and that had to change. If they couldn’t win in sixty minutes, they needed to with the extra five. They needed the wins if they wanted the Cup, and that was everyone’s main goal. They were number two in the league. They were doing well, but the damn overtimes were getting them. It was really pissing Vaughn off and he wanted to shake some of his teammates, but they won as a team and they lost as a team. They were doing their best, and so was he.

As the practice came to an end, Vaughn was the first to the circle for the end of practice talk, but Coach didn’t come to the circle. Instead, he stood behind the bench and looked out at his team that was scattered across the ice. When Vaughn noticed Elli standing there, his heart dropped a bit. What the hell was going on?

“Boss lady has something to say before we end practice.”

She was holding something, and Vaughn scooted closer to Jensen to see as she beamed out at them. “First, I want to say how proud I am of this team and how much I love every single one of you. You are all my family, and I care for you and your own families. I feel it in my bones. This is our year. The cup is coming home to Nashville, and I can’t wait.” Everyone tapped their sticks to the ice, cheering loudly and filling the empty arena. With a grin on her face, she held her hands up. “But before all that, we need to do a little something that I, for one, am I very excited about.” Clearing her throat, she looked up at them and said, “Benji, will you come here, please?”

Benji looked a little out of place as he glanced around, confused. “Me?”

“You.”

He skated toward her, but out of the corner of Vaughn’s eye, he saw Jayden covertly helping his sister Lucy to the middle of the ice. Leaning into Jensen, he asked, “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know,” Jensen said as he looked back to Benji as Elli handed a large poster-sized package to him.

“I am very honored and blessed to be the one to present this to you.”

Benji smiled as he laid his gloves down and then his stick before taking it from Elli. “What is it?”

“Just open it,” Elli said, looking as if she was going to cry.

“Am I being fired?” Benji asked, tearing the paper as everyone chuckled and Vaughn smiled, but Elli didn’t answer. When Benji had it unwrapped, he saw it was a picture of him with Lucy, his wife, and their daughter, Angie, behind them. Even from where Vaughn was standing, he could see that Angie was holding a sign that said, “You’re going to be a daddy, AGAIN!”

Vaughn also caught the moment that Benji saw it. His lips pressed together as he placed his hand to his heart. “Is this real?”

Elli was full out crying as she nodded, pointing to the middle of the ice. Benji turned, and Lucy was there, a huge grin on her face as the tears started down her cheeks. “You’re pregnant?”

“I am.”

Benji was across the ice before Vaughn could even suck in his next breath. As Benji took Lucy in his arms, picking her up off the ground, his mouth crashed to hers as their tears mingled together. When the tapping started on the ice, Benji pulled back, laughing as he shook his head, and she wiped his tears. “Don’t judge me for crying, you assholes, I’m-I’m-I can’t. I can’t believe this,” he called out, and everyone just started cheering, sticks tapping to the ice louder as Lucy and Benji embraced once more.