An Unrivaled Off-Season

By Ashlyn Kane and Morgan James

Any other year, hockey player Grady Armstrong would be licking his wounds after a disappointing playoffs exit. Somehow, this year, he’s in the stands as his rival-turned-boyfriend Max Lockhart competes for the Stanley Cup… and there’s nowhere he’d rather be. Well, except maybe lifting the Cup himself. So along with preparing his body for next season, Grady prepares to ask Max to stay in his life permanently.
 
Max figures it can’t be easy for Grady to watch Max cash in on his dreams, but if he’s struggling, he hides it well—which is great, because they don’t get much time together during the season, and it would suck if Grady spent the summer sulking. 
 
But while Grady may still be a competitive bastard, he doesn’t sulk. He nurses Max through hangovers. He comes home with him for the summer. He loses fishing bets. He earns so many boyfriend points Max should really level him up. The question is, how?
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
• Release date: Apr 2, 2024
• ISBN: 9781644056424

Ashlyn Kane

Ashlyn Kane likes to think she can do it all, but her follow-through often proves her undoing. Her house is as full of half-finished projects as her writing folder. With the help of her ADHD meds, she gets by. An early reader and talker, Ashlyn has always had a flare for language and storytelling. As an eight-year-old, she attended her first writers’ workshop. As a teenager, she won an amateur poetry competition. As an adult, she received a starred review in Publishers Weekly for her novel Fake Dating the Prince. There were quite a few years in the middle there, but who’s counting? Her hobbies include DIY home decor, container gardening (no pulling weeds), music, and spending time with her enormous chocolate lapdog. She is the fortunate wife of a wonderful man, the daughter of two sets of great parents, and the proud older sister/sister-in-law of the world’s biggest nerds. Sign up for her newsletter at www.ashlynkane.ca/newsletter Website: www.ashlynkane.ca

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An Unrivaled Off-Season

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An Unrivaled Off-Season

By Ashlyn Kane and Morgan James

Hockey Ever After: Book 3.5

Any other year, hockey player Grady Armstrong would be licking his wounds after a disappointing playoffs exit. Somehow, this year, he’s in the stands as his rival-turned-boyfriend Max Lockhart competes for the Stanley Cup… and there’s nowhere he’d rather be. Well, except maybe lifting the Cup himself. So along with preparing his body for next season, Grady prepares to ask Max to stay in his life permanently.

Max figures it can’t be easy for Grady to watch Max cash in on his dreams, but if he’s struggling, he hides it well—which is great, because they don’t get much time together during the season, and it would suck if Grady spent the summer sulking.

But while Grady may still be a competitive bastard, he doesn’t sulk. He nurses Max through hangovers. He comes home with him for the summer. He loses fishing bets. He earns so many boyfriend points Max should really level him up. The question is, how?

WHEN THE puck went in the Monsters’ net with two minutes left on the clock, Grady jumped to his feet with the rest of the Piranhas’ arena.

It should’ve been strange to cheer for the Fish. Grady played for their rival team, and Grady had historically taken team rivalries very seriously. But Max, Grady’s boyfriend, played for the Piranhas, and cheering for him had become second nature.

Grady didn’t see what happened. The swarm of players in front of the net screened the shot from the Monsters’ goalie as much as it had from the audience. It didn’t surprise him when the call over the speakers announced the goal would be reviewed for interference.

Grady stayed on his feet, holding his breath as his eyes flicked back and forth between the back of Max’s jersey and the Jumbotron while he waited for the decision. The roar of the other fans sang in his ears, and he nervously clenched and unclenched his fists. If the goal stood, the Fish—and Max—were only two minutes from winning the Stanley Cup.

A 1–0 game. Talk about a nail-biter.

Next to Grady, Linda, Max’s mom, was shifting back and forth on her feet, watching the scoreboard with focused intensity. On her other side, Big Max was playing it a little cooler, but Grady could feel the tension oozing from him.

Come on, Grady thought, appealing to the NHL goal-review gods in Toronto. Come on. Call on the ice stands. Good goal.

He wanted this for Max as badly as he wanted it for himself.

In front of the net, the Monsters players had taken exception to the presence of anyone in a home jersey, and the linesmen had their work cut out for them breaking things up. Max was in the thick of it, jawing at his former teammates, skating backward as he did, daring them to follow him. The little shit.

Finally a replay showed on the Jumbotron and the ref’s voice came over the PA system. After video review, the call on the ice stands—

The crowd erupted. Anything else the ref said was swallowed by the roar.

Yes! Grady whooped, Max’s mom high-fived him, and Grady turned to his other side and swept Jess into a hug.

She laughed and let him swing her around. Who are you and what have you done with my grumpy-ass brother?

It took the linesmen another few minutes to clear up the incipient bloodbath. Even the Piranhas’ goalie looked like he wanted to get involved. He skated toward center ice with his helmet off, until one of the zebras headed him off and sent him home.

They didn’t call any penalties.

Play resumed.

Grady didn’t think anything of it—too busy trying to calm the butterflies in his stomach—until twenty seconds later, when the goal announcement finally came over the PA. Piranhas goal credited to number 96, Max Lockhart, unassisted.

Max’s mom screamed. Grady couldn’t blame her; he was screaming too. That was his man—his obnoxious, charming pain-in-the-ass. Of course it was. Of course he’d found the puck in that clusterfuck and tipped it home.

Oh God, was he going to cry?

The arena volume rose again, but this time Grady could make out the words—the chant of the Piranhas fanbase. BEWARE THE FISH! BEWARE THE FISH!

Oh, fuck it. Why not? Beware the Fish! Grady chanted.

Jess looked at him in horror.

Then she shrugged and joined in.

The adrenaline didn’t let up. Facing elimination, the Monsters pulled the goalie and got three good scoring chances, but then the Piranhas regrouped and boxed them out.

The clock ticked down as the players swarmed in front of the Piranhas’ net. Grady thought he might throw up.

With a half second left, the Piranhas broke the puck free and one of them worked it toward center ice. The wild shot hit the boards beside the net just as the buzzer went.

It was over.

Holy shit.

They did it, Grady said blankly. The past ten minutes barely felt real. On the ice, Max and his teammates had thrown off their gloves and helmets and were shouting and embracing each other, laughing and crying, clapping each other on the back, messing with each other’s hair. Max and Baller attempted to put the goalie on their shoulders, but it ended with the three of them in a heap on the ice.

The handshake line was hard to watch. Grady remembered being on the wrong end of it a few weeks ago, kicked out of the playoffs early after blowing a 3–1 series lead.

Then they brought the Cup out, and—

We’re going to go down to the ice. Linda touched Grady’s elbow. Do you want to come?

He did. He wanted to congratulate Max in person, share his joy. But he couldn’t do it without making the stupid narrative about himself, somehow, so he shook his head. I’ll catch up with him after. You go ahead.

I’ll give him your love, Linda promised, because she was cheeky like that—her son had to get it from somewhere—and then she and Big Max made their way down to the VIP staging area.

When they’d gone, Jess leaned into Grady. You’re really okay?

I’m great. And he meant it. Max deserved this, and Grady could never be selfish enough to ruin it for him with anything less than his full enthusiasm.

Of course, he reserved the right to backtrack on that if Max threepeated or something, but for now….

You should go down to the room to wait for him, Jess suggested. Because otherwise you’re going to try to jump him in front of his teammates and they don’t deserve that.

Yeah, she was totally right. Good idea.

Year-Ago Grady would have said, No, not a good idea. Year-Ago Grady was a miserable asshole, though, so Today Grady wasn’t listening to anything he had to say.

Today Grady wanted to do something even crazier than cheer on his boyfriend-slash-rival to winning the Stanley Cup.

The security lady fist-bumped him as he went by. He flashed his badge and she rolled her eyes at him because the entire staff knew who he was. They would’ve known him even if he was only Max’s boyfriend and not an NHL player himself. Grady had spent a lot of time down here in the past few weeks.

In the VIP area, staff were already setting up cameras, beer, and champagne, as well as a giant root beer float because one of Max’s teammates was in recovery. Grady tried to stay out of the way. Max’s win didn’t sting at all, but he wasn’t ready to celebrate the rest of the team just yet.

Maybe Baller; Baller was okay.

It was close to half an hour before the team made their way off the ice. Grady slouched next to the wall behind a vertical bulkhead so he wouldn’t be in any of the videos. When he caught a glimpse of the 96 on a sleeve, he darted his hand out.

Max tumbled into him in surprise, gloveless and helmetless, his grin showing off the missing tooth he’d lost in the last round. Well, hey, stranger. Is that a banana in your pocket—

Shut up, Grady said fondly, and kissed him.

Max reeked of hard-won victory, but Grady had spent his whole life with that smell. He curled his hands into the damp fabric of Max’s jersey and held tight as Max leaned into him.

Mmmf, Max said a moment later, when Grady ran his thumb over the sensitive skin on his hip.

It’s not a banana, Grady mumbled against his lips.

Max shook with laughter. Grady shoved a hand under his breezers.

Hey, he said after another handful of kisses, does this place have a hookup basement, or—

Max blinked. His pupils were dilated and his cheeks flushed. He glanced at the open door to the locker room; the celebration had already spilled out into the hallway. Think they’ll miss me if I’m a few minutes late?

Absolutely not, Grady lied, and let Max pull him into a room full of excess A/V equipment.

It seemed like it should’ve been locked, but Grady wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Instead he concentrated on getting Max’s gear shoved down far enough to touch

Reviews for An Unrivaled Off-Season

[Jodi Aherns · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed getting to see after the cup win and watching Grady and Max propose. Max doing it on ice was perfect!