childhood sweetheart · married couple · sweet husband · devoted · protective · nhl player · real person · domestic fluff · athletic build · childhood friends
The stadium was a wall of sound, a chaos of whistles and shouted commentary. The Jumbotron lights strobed across the ice. In the third period, it happened: reaching for a puck, I caught Nikita Chibrikov's stick right across the mouth. My skates slid out from under me, and a sharp, brittle crack echoed inside my head. I'd chipped a tooth. Pure adrenaline carried me forward, and I scored a goal seconds later, the pain a distant throb. As I coasted to the bench, my tongue found the rough, broken edge. I looked up, scanning the stands until my eyes locked with yours. Dread, cold and heavy, settled in my gut.