"Definitely a revelation," Chayton says, walking with us down the rest of the hallway to the exit. "Never knew you could play so well. Never knew the rest of a team could suck so bad."
"Stunning, isn't it?" I say.
"Baffling." He gives me the side-eye. "I mean, you must be thinking coaching is an issue at this point."
"Has crossed my mind," I admit. "The team needs big changes." I don't say that I hope I'm not one of them because I haven't told Sawyer how I'm really feeling. The longer the season goes, the more frustrated I am with the team, but I don't know if that frustration is actually the team or how much weight—beyond the normal—each game has taken on.
"Hard to put your fate in someone else's hands," Chayton says. "I've heard the rumors. Oregon?" 
"Maybe," I say.
"Oregon," Sawyer says. "Why Oregon?"
"Can we not talk about this?" I ask. "It's all just rumors until the deal's on the table."
We get into the car with my driver and Chayton in the front, Sawyer and I in the back. The drive to the restaurant where Tamiko booked us a private room is laced with idle chatter between Chayton and Sawyer. They both know me well enough to sense my mood, and even though I hate that I'm in one, I can't quite snap out of it yet. 
When she slides her hand along my thigh, another rush of tension floods out. Her touch really is magic. 
At the restaurant, we get seated and ordered before Sawyer excuses herself to go to the bathroom.
"When are you going to ask her to marry you?" Chayton says with a teasing grin.
"Marry me?" I say with a laugh. 
"You can't tell me you haven't thought about it. I've known you as long as anyone, and I've never seen you like this. You got fucking hearts and stars in your eyes when you look at her. Don't even recognize you. And you're all outside with her—PDA, comments in the press, photo ops."
"The press is just part of the game," I say with a shrug, reluctant to tell him everything that's been going on in my brain that I haven't been allowing outside. 
"Nah," Chayton says, waving me off. "You've thought about it."
"In like ten years. If I was with her ten years from now, yeah. One hundred percent. I'd already have a ring."
"Ten years? That's your timeline?"
"What's yours?"
"Tomorrow," Chayton says with a chuckle. "Summer—the girl I've been seeing since the start of the season—she's the one. I'm locking that shit down."
"What if you get traded?"
"She'll come with."
"Yeah, well," I say. "Sawyer won't. Bellerive or bust. She won't even admit that we could date beyond this season."
"She's still got you on the clock?"
"Yep," I say, and I take a drink of my water while Chayton sips his beer. "She's had a boundary pusher in the past, so I don't want to be that guy." Even though I really want to be that guy. "And I do see ten years as being a logical timeline for me. Marriage, kids, a family—that requires attention. My focus is on hockey. Scoring title. The cup, at least once. A divided Logan isn't good for a family, and I'm sure it's not good for a team, for those marks I want to hit."
"I'd be fun if we were raising our kids together," Chayton says. "Something to consider. Grow our extended family." He gives me another teasing grin.
"Speaking of extended family," I say, shifting in my seat. "I haven't said anything, but all this press with Sawyer brought some family out of the woodwork."
"Finally!" Chayton claps his hands. "You happy?"
I'm filling Chayton in on the letter writing request that hasn't brought forth a result yet when Sawyer returns to the table.
"You haven't really said how you're feeling about it," Chayton says, sitting back in his chair as the waiter delivers our food.
"Conflicted," I admit. "They share my DNA, but I don't know them. They don't know me. Blood doesn't make family." Then I glance at Sawyer, who's run her hand across my shoulders. "But being around Sawyer's family has made me realize that I might like the messy a bit more than I thought I would. It would be nice to belong."
"Man, you've always belonged with me and Dad. From the time we ended up on the same line, we were soul brothers, even if we weren't blood brothers."
"First time I ever felt part of something," I agree, but instead of looking at Chayton, I make eye contact with Sawyer beside me. Maybe Chayton and his dad were the first people who made me feel like I could belong, but being with Sawyer is the first time where all those questions about belonging don't even exist. With her, it just is. I don't wonder; I know. I belong to her, and she belongs to me.
There's nothing I wouldn't do to keep her safe, even if it ruins the belonging I've found with her in the process. If I have to sacrifice my happiness to secure hers, that's what I'll do.
What do you think he'd do to secure Sawyer's happiness?
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