My Hockey Alpha

Chapter 305

Bonus 5: The Tease

Enzo

Dust and sweat clung to my skin as I wrestled with the new living room furniture.

It was a final touch to the renovations we’d been slogging through for months, transforming our once dull house into a vibrant home. Despite the exhaustion tugging at my muscles, a sense of satisfaction washed over me as I looked around the house. Our house.

Just as I was finishing up on the final bench for our massive dining room table, my phone buzzed in my pocket.

A picture of Nina lit up the screen, her smile making my lips curve in response. “Hey, love,” I answered, using my cleanest elbow to press the speaker button.

“Enzo,” she started, and I could already hear the hesitation in her voice.

“I… uh… had a little run-in with a raccoon. I maybe… sort of… kind of got myself stuck in a ditch.”

The last part of her sentence came out all at once like an avalanche. I could tell immediately that she was embarrassed. And I was a man; it was my job to capitalize on her embarrassment. What good would it be if I didn’t tease my fiancee a little?

laughing. A raccoon?” 1 chortled. “Are you telling me you swerved off of the road because of

scary, alright? And I didn’t wanna hit it!” Nina huffed on the other

and independent woman who pretty much single-handedly saved the entire town of Mountainview from the Crescents, survived on her

leave you alone anymore,” I continued to tease as I stood and wiped the sawdust off of my hands. “Raccoons today, and what’s next? Squirrels

come pick me up,” she said, ignoring my

sighed, trying to smother my laughter as my voice took on a more serious tone.

of relief. “Just artnoyed, both at myself and that damn bastard of a

Just as I was heading out the door, however, a glint caught my eye. I frowned as I approached the little hallway table that sat near the front

tracing the image of her smiling face. I missed her. It wasn’t fair that she wouldn’t be there for my wedding with Nina, for all of the moments that 1 wanted to share with

too. As much as he could be a bastard sometimes after my mom died, I still missed him. I wanted nothing more than to

bright colors and the eclectic furniture. I think that my father would have liked it, too, although he seemed to pick up a fondness for the color gray after my

I didn’t think that he ever actually liked the color gray. I think that it was really just a way for him to punish himself,

the photograph down and made a mental note to pick up a new frame while we were

last, satisfied look around the nearly finished living room,

road, I spotted her. As I pulled up next to Nina’s car

struck me as

truck, but I decided to use it rather

than anything else. They may as well have spat on his grave. But I supposed that it was a good thing that they didn’t know where he was buried. “I