Melting Hearts (Loving the Soun - Kat Obie Page 0,66

was finally feeling better and released from the hospital. It helped knowing that she wouldn't have to worry about Jared ever again. The police had finally found his body. Apparently, he’d decided to kill himself sometime after the attack.

She couldn't bear to look at her face in the mirror. She had been told there would be no lasting scarring, but the bruising and swelling was bad. She didn’t know how Petey could bear to look at her, yet he was always watching her.

He was practically smothering her. The only time he left her alone was when he was at the rink. He even tried to bring her to his practices the first few days, but thankfully, his coach put a stop to that idea. Closed practice meant closed to everyone. She needed a few hours to herself without feeling like a caged animal anyway.

Petey was doing it out of love. He wanted her to be happy and healthy and protected. He would settle down as time went on.

She baked a sticky toffee loaf cake while he was at practice. It would be a nice treat for the two of them. She pulled out the loaf cake when she heard the beep of the new door alarm that meant Petey was home.

He said, "Damn, that smells good." He came in and hugged her as she flipped the cake upside down to release it onto the cooling rack. She leaned up to kiss the scruff on his chin, and he reached for the loaf.

She smacked his hand. "Don't you dare. I just pulled it out of the oven. You are going to burn yourself."

"Fine," he said with his hand up to indicate that he wouldn't steal any of the bread. He kissed her one more time. "Are you up for a small hike?"

"Sure."

They hadn't gone for a hike in ages. They used to hike all the time in British Columbia but hadn’t had the time in Cleveland yet, despite it being one of her favorite pastimes. It didn’t matter if it was still pretty chilly. That’s what layers were for.

They went for the small hike. At first, she thought he might have been up to something since he never asked her to go on a hike, but instead, it seemed like he just wanted to spend time with her. It was times like this that made her wonder if he would actually propose to her for real in a setting that was more true to them without any family pressure.

29

Petey

It was overtime in game five of the Stanley Cup playoffs against Anaheim. If they won, the series would be complete and he’d have his second cup. If they lost, there would be an opportunity to close it in the next game. He seriously wanted to close it out now, though.

Maddy was out of the hospital and would be going to Vancouver after tonight. He wished she was coming with them to Anaheim instead, but her mom wanted her to come home. Quite frankly, he wanted to win the game for her.

She'd brought so much joy to his season by living with him. Seeing her attacked made him feel so damn small since he couldn't do much to protect her. More than a couple of times, he’d looked up to the family box where all the WAGs and kids sat. He loved knowing she was there, and he smiled up at her as he headed to get set for the latest face off after Anaheim iced the puck.

He felt a bump from behind.

Over his shoulder, Scotty said, "Get behind me." Then he looked towards Hunter and pointed to the side. "You get over there."

Petey nodded. It wasn't their usual set up, but he knew better than to question Scotty. Every once in a while, he would swap their pairing because he was feeling something. Petey got set for the puck drop.

The ref dropped the puck. Scotty won the face off and flipped the puck his way. Petey went for the slapper. It had the perfect angle and snuck by the goalie.

So seldom did they get the goal right off the face off, but when it worked, it was always awesome. But it was a whole different level when it happened in overtime for the Stanley Cup. He got head taps all around.

When Scotty came up to Petey, he put both hands on Petey’s helmet and placed his forehead against it. "Way to get MVP tonight."

That hadn't even crossed his mind yet, but Scotty