Especially when Coach smacked his back to go.

Going over the boards, he hauled ass across the ice to catch the puck from Karson after he skated around the net. Carrying the puck up the ice, he watched as his forwards got into position, and when he sent the puck up to Phillip, he waited at the blue line for a shot as the boys kept shooting at the goalie. He wasn’t letting anything in though. Glancing up at the clock, Jordie saw they only had two minutes before the game was over, and they were down by one.

Erik sent the puck back to Karson, and he sailed it over to Jordie without even looking at him, which he expected. Taking it, he shot, hard, but it went wide, coming around to Karson. Instead of shooting it though, he sent it back and Jordie shot again, and this time it went right over the goalie’s leg pad. Throwing his arms up, he pumped them in the air as Karson rushed to him, hugging him tightly.

“That’s fucking right!” Karson yelled as the other guys came up, hugging him too.

“Let’s win this!” Erik yelled, and everyone agreed as they skated toward the bench to smack hands with the rest of the team. As Jordie sat down, reaching for his Gatorade, he squirted it in his mouth, the adrenaline of scoring rushing through his body. He knew Kacey had to have seen it, but she was up in the boxes and it was hard to see up there sometimes. He still looked though, and as he expected, she was hopping up and down. He wanted to holler at her to sit down, but she looked so happy, her arms wrapped around Karl, whose face was bright too.

They were his family.

Squirting more in his mouth, he willed his eyes not to cut across the ice, but they did, and to his surprise, his mom was sitting there. On her phone as Phil stood, still clapping along with the rest of the fans. Looking away, he swallowed hard and shook his head. His eyes stung and he wanted to scream, but not now. If he knew one thing, it was that there was no crying in hockey unless you were lifting the Cup over your head. Even then it was kinda pussy-like, not that anyone cared.

As he threw his Gatorade back in its place, Karson’s hand came down hard on Jordie’s shoulder as he said, “Fuck her.”

Exactly.

“Yeah,” Jordie agreed, nodding his head, and he was ready to win this game. His feelings, his worries, and his hurt were all a thing of the past, because Stacey Thomas was nothing to him anymore. This moment proved it. There she was, on her phone, no cares at all for him. But then he glanced up at the box his real family sat in and saw they were all still standing, Kacey screaming her ass off. It was crazy how quickly things could change. Ten seconds ago, he’d wanted his mother’s approval; now, he just wanted her to disappear. Because he had his approval. It was in the form of a beautiful, tough girl with brown eyes, who loved him with all the fierceness in the world—along with her family who had taken him in.

Stacey Thomas may have his last name, but she would never have his heart again.

Not when Kacey King owned it.

Swallowing hard, he knew he was right, he knew he was making the right choice. As he looked up, he was ready to do what he did best: win. But the minutes weren’t his friends and they ran fast, thankfully with no score from the Canucks, which meant they were going into overtime.

Jordie was at his best in overtime. The feeling of losing it all if you didn’t score first gave him such a rush. He loved the all-or-nothing feel of it, and he kind of associated his recovery with the feeling that overtime gave him. He either won or he lost, there was no in-between.

And damn it, Jordie Thomas always wanted to win.

But even though they lost the game after a sick wrister from one of the twins on the other team, Jordie knew he wouldn’t lose in his quest for sobriety.

No matter what, he was going to win.

Kacey was almost bouncing on her heels in the parking garage as she waited for Jordie to come out. She was so proud of him, but she knew that even though he had scored, he’d be bummed they lost. It was a sick-ass shot though from one of the twins that caught Tate off guard. Still, it was a great game and he should be proud of himself. It was his first goal on home ice of the season and he was rocking it.

Even with his mom at the game.

Kacey had watched her the whole time. She only came to her seat every once in a while, but when she was there, she was looking at her phone the whole time. Kacey wanted to march down and kick her in the face, but her dad wouldn’t let her. Said she wasn’t worth it. She knew this, but she was pretty sure she’d feel better if she had. Turning to her father, she smiled as he leaned against Jordie’s truck, playing on his phone.

“Daddy, you don’t have to wait with me. It’s way past your bedtime.”

He laughed sarcastically before waving her off. “I’m not leaving you alone in a parking lot. I’ll catch a ride home with Karson, since your ma took Lacey and Mena home.”

“Okay,” she sang, leaning against the truck. “Thanks for waiting.”

He smiled over at her, tucking his phone in his pocket as he reached out, wrapping his arm around her neck and bringing her in tight. “How ya doing?”

“Good,” she answered, looking up at him, smiling. She loved her daddy.

“How’s my grandbaby?”

“Growing, I pray,” she said hopefully and he nodded.

“She’ll be good,” he promised and Kacey smiled, but then her smile dropped when she realized that he didn’t know about the miscarriage. No one did.

Clearing her throat, she asked, “Daddy, if I told you something, would you promise not to get mad and not to tell Ma?”