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?

but burst out laughing. A raccoon?” 1 chortled. “Are you telling me you swerved off of the road because of a little

scary, alright? And I didn’t wanna hit it!” Nina huffed on the other end of the line. I could almost

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

I should 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

need you to come pick me up,” she said, ignoring my jabs. “And we still need cake

alright,” I sighed, trying to smother my laughter as my voice took

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

to leave. 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

my mother in a cracked frame, forgotten in the whirlwind of renovations. I picked it up gently, 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

after my mom died, I still missed him. I wanted nothing more than to

we made on this house; my mother likely would have loved the 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

he ever actually liked the color gray. I think that it was really just a way for him to punish himself, a way to convey the feeling in

photograph down and made a mental note to pick up a new frame

around the nearly finished living room,

the road, I spotted her. As I pulled up next to Nina’s car in the ditch, I found her sitting on the hood with a stubborn

me

truck, but I decided to use it rather

didn’t seem to steal much of anything. The act of ransacking my dad’s house was more of a way to show their disrespect 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 think we can safely declare the raccoon the winner,” I continued, my lips curling