The Long Game (Game Changers #6)(124)

“And,” Ilya added, “no more hiding.”

“No more hiding. Everyone I met in management was so great. Oh! Harris was there too. It was nice to finally meet him. I guess he’s getting promoted to Senior Director of...something. Communications?”

“Good. He deserves it.”

“The owners actually booked us a table at some fancy restaurant downtown tonight.”

“With them?”

“No. Just the two of us. They said it was a welcome-to-the-team thing, but also...” Shane’s cheeks flushed. “They said it was an early wedding present. Can you believe it?”

“Yes.” Ilya had known the owners—three siblings from an old money Ottawa family—for years, and they’d always been decent to him.

“I was stunned. I barely remembered to thank them.”

“Maybe I should have gone with you after all.” They’d decided that Shane would go alone to sign the contract, just so the press about it wasn’t all about them.

It probably would be anyway.

“So, dinner tonight?”

Ilya smiled. “A date. Yes. Can you wear that jersey?”

Shane laughed. “No.”

“Can I take you to bed now, then? And you wear only that jersey?”

Shane leaned in and kissed him. “Is this a hazing thing?”

“Yes. I do it to everyone.”

“Shut up.”

“Troy was incredible.”

Shane shoved him with both hands. “You’re the worst. Come ravage me.”

Ilya grinned and chased him up the stairs.

Ilya ran a hand over his cheek as he examined himself in the mirror. It felt weird, being so clean-shaven, but he’d thought it would look sloppy to leave stubble on his face. He wanted to look perfect.

It was his wedding day, after all.

“Sheesh,” said a voice behind him. Ilya turned and saw David standing in the door of Ilya’s bedroom. “I was going to offer to help you with your tie or something, but you clearly don’t need my assistance.”

Ilya smiled at him, then pulled his own cuff links out. He held out the round gold and mother of pearl studs to Shane’s father. “You can help me put these in.”

David chuckled as he stepped forward and took the cuff links. “I appreciate you trying to make me feel useful.”

“Shane doesn’t need help?”

“Yuna’s got him,” David said, which they both understood meant Shane had all the help he needed.

Ilya held out his left wrist and David held it carefully in one hand. A surge of jumbled emotions rose in Ilya as he watched him carefully thread the cuff link through the crisp white material of Ilya’s dress shirt. There was no way Ilya’s father would have been there, even if he had still been alive—and Ilya wouldn’t have wanted him to be—but having David here, helping him get ready, was nice. More than nice.

“We could only have one child,” David said quietly. “We thought about adopting, but we decided in the end to just focus on making Shane the best person we could. I think we did an okay job of it.”

Ilya smiled at the understatement.

“We couldn’t be prouder of the man he’s become,” David continued. “I don’t have any Stanley Cup rings, but I have Shane.”

Ilya swallowed. “I’ll take care of him.”

David smiled up at him. “I know.” He finished the first cuff, then took Ilya’s right hand and got to work on that cuff link. “What I’m trying to say, and Yuna’s always been the better speaker, is I’ve always felt so lucky to have a son as wonderful as Shane that I never expected to be blessed with a second one.”

David’s hands, and Ilya’s shirt cuff, turned blurry. Ilya blinked rapidly, refusing to cry before the wedding even started. David glanced up from his work, and Ilya could see the tears in his eyes too.

“It’s not fair that you don’t have your family here on your wedding day,” David said, “and I’m not trying to overstep, but—”

That was all Ilya let him get out before he engulfed David in a tight hug. “My family is here,” he said simply, and with surprising steadiness.

It seemed impossible that anything in Ilya’s life was real; that he was about to marry Shane Hollander. In front of people. That they would be teammates next season. That Ilya was about to officially become a part of Shane’s family, and that he and Shane might start their own someday. It was too staggering to think about, so instead he hugged Shane’s father and tried not to cry.

After a long moment, they released each other, and David took a step back. He sniffed once, then said, “Well. You look good.”

Ilya wiped hastily at his eyes. “Usually, yes.”

David shuffled a bit awkwardly, probably unused to wearing his emotions so plainly, and glanced out the window. “Anya’s keeping the Pike kids busy in the yard.”

“Good. And thank you. For helping me with my shirt. And for...” Ilya couldn’t possibly put into words how grateful he was for Yuna and David’s support, and the easy love they had for their son, and seemingly also for him. For raising Shane to be the man that he was, and for believing Ilya was good enough for him. He finished by saying, “Everything.”