True Love and Other Disasters

Chapter 19

We Are the Champions” blasted from the huge arena speakers, clashing with the sounds of fourteen thousand fans cheering and stomping their feet inside the Key. The cacophony of noise faded into the background as Ty stepped onto the ice. He glanced up at the owner’s box and the rows of Duffys seated in it as if they had that right. Anger tightened Ty’s stomach and lowered his brows as he looked up at the man who’d had him and Faith followed. At the man who’d hired someone to take sleazy photos and ruin their lives. Or at least try.

Landon might scare Faith, but Ty wasn’t so easily frightened. He’d come up against men bigger and badder than Landon Duffy, and he hadn’t lost a fight yet. He wasn’t about to lose this one either. It was the most important fight of his life, and he’d thought long and hard about all his options. Short of having Landon killed, there was only one solution. Just one.

He had to win the Stanley Cup. And he had to do it without going into overtime. Pittsburgh had won the last three games in overtime.

Ty skated twice past the face-off circle and then moved inside. For the seventh time in two weeks, he faced off against Sidney Crosby. “Sid the Kid” was twenty-two and had the facial hair of a thirteen-year-old. But the Kid’s age and lack of anything resembling a beard had nothing to do with ability. He hit hard and skated fast and was already a top-five player in the NHL.

“Ready to lose, Cindy?” Ty asked.

“I’m going to kick your ass, old man.”

Ty laughed. “I’ve got more hair on my nuts than you have on your whole face, Kid.” He got into position and waited for the first puck of the night to drop. Faith was out there in the arena somewhere, but he wasn’t going to think about that. If he wanted everything to work out the way he’d planned, he had to focus on the game. One play at a time.

The puck dropped. Game on. Both teams had come to win. Both were determined to win the ultimate prize, and Ty knew this game wasn’t going to be easy.

In the first period, Daniel scored on a Chinooks power play, but Sid the Kid tied things up in the last few seconds of the first frame, confirming what Ty feared. A hard physical game followed by grueling overtime.

In the second period, the Chinooks forwards cycled the puck along the boards, and in the first few seconds of the second period, Ty saw an opening in the ice and ripped the puck at the Penguins goal. It was deflected wide. Daniel followed the puck, shot it to Blake, who slammed it in the five-hole. As the horns blew and “Rock and Roll Part 2” blasted from the sound system, the players crowded around Blake and pounded on his back.

Ty skated to the bench and squirted water into his mouth. The refs talked at center ice as the goal was replayed on the jumbo tran.

Faith was somewhere out there. Ty swallowed and thought about the hell she’d put him through. The truth about Landon and the photos had almost been a relief compared to what he’d been left to presume on his own. His imagination had ranged from a mysterious illness to her boredom with him to her involvement with another man. There wasn’t another woman on the planet who’d ever made him feel things like Faith. Who made him feel as if his life was better with her in it. Who made him look for her in a room filled with people. Who made him feel like smiling just because she smiled.

There wasn’t another woman on the planet who’d ever twisted him in knots like Faith. For two days, he hadn’t called her. He told himself to forget about her. That he was better off without the distraction of a woman. Then, before he knew it, he was in her lobby threatening her with a bomb and a building evacuation.

Maybe his father was right about him. Maybe he was more like his mother than the old man. Not the mental illness part, although the last week had made him a little crazy. Maybe his mother had felt about Pavel what he felt about Faith. A bone-deep longing that there was just no getting past.

Brookes skated to the face-off circle and Ty wiped sweat from his face. His intent gaze watched the puck drop and Crosby shoot it down ice. “Faster, boys,” he yelled to his teammates.

The Stanley Cup was in the building, waiting to be carried out and presented to the winning team. Ty had worked hard his entire life to get to this point. He’d gotten this close a time or two, but never had he had so much riding on the outcome. More than just having his name immortalized. Tonight was about more than just doing something his old man had never been able to do.

After a minute and a half, Ty jumped over the boards and changed on the fly. Logan shot him the puck and he dumped it in. There was only a minute and a half left in the second period and Ty skated across the ice and bodychecked a Penguin into the boards. He was shoved from behind and punched in the back, and he turned and aimed for a black helmet. His punch landed and the Penguins enforcer fell to the ice. The whistle blew and the punching stopped. Except for Sam, who continued to participate in some extracurricular activity in the corner with a Pittsburgh defender. All four players were given three-minute penalties and sat out the last few minutes of the second period in the sin bin.

“Quit taking stupid penalties,” Ty said as he took a seat within the Plexiglas enclosure, “and we just might win this thing.”

“You’re in here,” Sam reminded him as he spit between his own skates.

“The ref made a bad call.”

“Yeah. With me too.”

The Chinooks sent out their penalty killers, but neither team was able to convert on the 3-on-3.

In the third frame, the Penguins evened the score and it remained tied as the clock ran down. Ty was exhausted. His legs were rubbery from long shifts and he was sucking up pond water when he breathed. God, the last thing he wanted was to go into another overtime.

On the change he took his seat on the bench and dried his face. He thought of Faith and her giving up her team to save his ass. Yesterday he’d been mad as hell about it. Today, he had to admit that he was a little in awe. Giving up a hockey team and millions of dollars was a whole hell of a lot of love.

He glanced up at the clock and the remaining two minutes before he hit the ice.

Pittsburgh dumped the puck, and the Chinooks battled in front of their own net. With only half a second left, Blake cleared the puck and Ty headed up ice. Blake passed to Vlad and Vlad shot the puck across ice to Ty. As the clock counted the seconds, Ty ripped a slap shot at Pittsburgh’s goal. The puck streaked past the goalie’s glove and slammed into the back of the net. The buzzer sounded and the arena went wild. The Seattle bench emptied and the players piled onto the ice and onto each other. Horns blared inside the arena, and Ty’s ears rang and his heart pounded. He sucked in a breath as he fell to his knees beneath a pile of hockey players and tried not to cry like a girl.

Faith walked through the tunnel wearing her Chinooks jersey, a white flowing skirt, and the pink skates Ty had given her. She moved to the side as the Pittsburgh Penguins filed past her on their way to the guest locker room. It had taken her fifteen minutes to get through the crowd and past security. The Chinooks had already popped the first bottle of champagne and were spraying it all over each other by the time she stopped at the tunnel opening. The team had replaced their helmets with championship caps and her gaze sought and found the captain. Ty held up a jeroboam-size bottle, took a huge mouthful, then shook it up and sprayed it on Sam and Blake. The sight of his laughter lifted her heart and stung the backs of her eyes. She had no idea what he had planned, other than she stand in the tunnel after the game. She’d spoken to him last night and that morning, but he hadn’t told her, and both times the conversation deteriorated into what she was wearing and the color of her panties.

Tears spilled from her lashes as she watched the red carpet rolled out on the ice. The three-foot Stanley Cup, polished and engraved with the names of heroes and warriors, was carried down the carpet by Hockey Hall of Fame executives Philip Pritchard and Craig Campbell, who were wearing blue blazers and white gloves. She was so proud of her team and Ty.

The executives presented the cup to Ty, and he hoisted hockey’s most prized possession over his head as his teammates shot champagne into his eyes. He laughed as he lowered the thirty-five-pound cup and pressed his lips to the cool silver before he raised it once again.

The fans went crazy as Ty took off, skating around the rink with the cup above his head. For a few scary seconds, she wondered if he’d forgotten that she was waiting for him in the tunnel just like he said, but as he passed, his gaze met hers and his smile grew even bigger. He winked at her, then handed the cup off to Daniel. A microphone was shoved into Ty’s face and he wiped champagne from his eyes.

“How does it feel to win tonight?” a reporter from ESPN asked.

“Wonderful,” he said and adjusted the cap on his head. “We’ve all worked hard for this and we deserve it. This team had to work through some adversity. It made us all stronger, and I know that we all wish Bressler was here to enjoy this moment.”

“What gave you the edge tonight?”

“Pittsburgh is a great team. They didn’t give up or give us anything. I just think we’re in our own house and there was no way we were going to lose in front of this crowd.”

Sam approached Faith from behind, carrying another big bottle of champagne and with an unlit cigar in the corner of his mouth. “Can you believe we won, Mrs. Duffy? This is fucking incredible.” He reached for the cigar and tried and failed to appear apologetic. “Sorry about the F bomb. I got carried away.”

She laughed. “Understandable.”

He inclined his head toward the arena and the cup being passed from one player to the next. Each player held it up and kissed the coveted prize as he was sprayed with champagne. “Coming out?”

She looked over Sam’s shoulder to Ty, who was still speaking with reporters. “Not yet.” As Sam moved from the tunnel, she looked out at the arena and the fans still filling the seats. Then she raised her gaze to the empty skybox and swallowed past the sudden constriction in her throat. She doubted Landon had just gone home.

She was right. “What are you doing here, Layla?” he asked from just behind her.

She glanced over her shoulder. “What does it look like, Sprout? I’m watching my team pass around the cup.”

“It’s not your team.”

She looked into his cold blue eyes and felt the tension ease from her chest. He’d done his worst to her and she’d survived. At the end of the day, she might not have the Chinooks, but she still had the only man she’d ever truly loved. “You’re tiresome.” She sighed. “You and your whole entitled family.”

“Holy shit!” Blake said as he and Vlad stepped into the tunnel for more champagne and cigars. “I can’t believe he just did that.” He looked at Faith.

“What?”

He pointed to Ty and the knot of reporters around him. “Saint just said he’s retiring. This was his last game.”

Faith’s mouth fell open and her brows rose up her forehead. When he said he’d take care of everything and get her team back, she never thought for one second that he’d give up his career. “He better not,” she said.

“It doesn’t change anything,” Landon spoke. “If you try and back out again, I’ll send the photos to every paper in town.”

Ty separated himself from the reporters and walked up the red carpet toward her.

“I won’t let you retire,” she said as he approached.

“What?” He laughed and stuck a championship cap on her head. “I can’t hear you.” His smile flatlined as he looked at Landon. “Did you tell him you’re not selling after all?”

She shook her head.

“She’ll sell,” Landon assured Ty. “She signed a letter of intent.”

“Yes, and she signed one of those before. You’re a businessman, Mr. Duffy; you know these deals fall apart all the time. If you want a hockey team, I hear that the Wild might be up for sale. Of course, that’s just a rumor. Like Faith selling you the Chinooks.”

Landon’s jaw tightened. “I’ll ruin you both.”

“You can try.” He took Faith’s hand and pulled her from the tunnel and onto the red carpet. “What an asshole,” he said through a laugh.

Faith’s ankles wobbled and her heart pounded in her chest as she followed beside him. “I can’t believe you’re laughing. When you said to trust you, you didn’t say anything about retiring. Now you get over there and tell all those reporters that you were joking.”

He slid his hand to the small of her back and put his mouth next to her ear. Instead of doing as she demanded, he said, “I love you, Faith.”

He smelled like sweat and champagne, and the warmth of his breath and the heat of his words crept inside her heart. Her footsteps faltered from shock and trying to balance on her skates. She looked up into his blue eyes. “I love you, too.”

He smiled. “I know.”

“I love you too much to have you retire for me.”

He raised his gaze from hers as Marty lumbered around in full goalie pads, holding the cup over his head. “I’ve played hockey for most of my life to just get to this one moment. Now that I’m here, I’ve discovered it’s not enough. I want more.” He looked back into her face. “I want you in my life.”

She wanted that too. More than she’d ever wanted anything. More than money and security and big shiny diamonds. “There has to be another way.”

He shook his head. “No, this feels right. I want my career to go out on a high note. Not after a few more years of chasing tonight’s glory. Trying to capture it again, only to go out on a low. I don’t want to be one of those guys. I don’t want to be my dad. It’s time.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yep.” They moved to the end of the carpet and he said, “Which means I’ll need a job.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, and since I have no skills other than playing hockey. I’m pretty much unemployable.”

“I saw a Help Wanted sign at a Gas-N-Go.”

He laughed. “I thought maybe you could use another pro scout.” They stopped at mid-ice and he bent her back over his arm and looked down into her face. The crowd went wild.

“What are you doing?” She gasped.

“Making sure those photos are old news. His mouth came down on hers and he tongue-kissed her on national television. In front of all the Chinooks and fourteen thousand cheering fans, the kiss lingered until she was dizzy and he was sure everyone got the point.

Everyone but Sam. “My turn.”

Ty shook his head as he brought Faith back up. “Don’t even think about it.”

Alexander Dumont hoisted the cup up over his head and let out a Tarzan yell as Logan shook a fresh bottle of Moët. Within the sweet mist of golden champagne, Ty lowered his mouth next to her ear. “There is only one thing that will make this night even better.”

“What?”

“You and me. A hot shower and really inappropriate behavior.”