Page 83 of Pucking Forbidden

“Oh my God, childcare,” Rylee gasps, freezing in the middle of the hallway. She turns a panicked look toward Stacey. “Stace, I’ve got a sitter for Ciara tonight, but she thinks it’s just for a few hours!”

“I’m already texting my nanny,” Stacey tells her, her thumbs flying across her phone’s screen. “She’ll pull a double shift for the weekend if I double her rate. Tell your sitter we’ll pay her to take Ciara over to my place so they can do a joint playdate-weekend thing. I’ll also call Owen’s mom. We’ll make it work. Move, move, move!”

Before Rylee can answer, all of our phones start detonating simultaneously on the kitchen island.

CHAPTER THIRTY: CUPCAKES AND WEDDING GOWNS

HADLEY

I snatch up my phone, my eyes widening at the sight of a new group chat I’ve been added to.

CRAZY FUCKERS

Zander: VEGAS??? TONIGHT???

Owen: Bro really skipped out on a mandatory skate to go get eloped. Absolute legend.

Jayce: Nobody else is skipping skate. We have ice at 0800 tomorrow. Coach already knows Carson is AWOL and he’s fuming. We handle practice, then we fly out.

Jensen: Yeah, yeah, got it. Grace, I love you, but if the living room is covered in glitter when I get back, we’re moving.

Grace: Jensen it’s a disaster zone and you love me anyway. Focus on getting your ass to Nevada.

Zander: Carson WE BETTER NOT MISS THE VOWS MAN. Hold the line!! Carson’s bachelor party starts tomorrow afternoon, I’m booking the tables at Omnia right fucking now.

Sutton: Hey! Don’t think you boys are the only ones celebrating. The girls want to party too. Skyler deserves a real bachelorette night!

Zander: Sutton, deal. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

Sutton: Watch your mouth, Z, or I’ll tell Jayce what you did to his truck in training camp.

Zander: I AM A SILENT PARTNER.

Jayce: Wait, what happened to my truck?

Owen: Ask Wilder

Wilder: ?

Carson: We’ll meet you all when you get there! Skyler and I will be at the hotel.

“Wait!” Rylee suddenly gasps, pausing mid-stride with a pair of heels in her hand. She looks straight at me, her eyes widening in sudden horror. "Oh my God. Hadley! You’re only twenty. Can you even get into the venues in Vegas?”

A slow, wicked grin spreads across my face, the heavy weight that’s been sitting in my chest for two weeks finally lifting to make room for a sudden rush of adrenaline.

“I can’t get in right now,” I say, my voice steady and completely calm through their rising panic. “But by the time our flight touches down in Nevada? It’s going to be past midnight.”

Stacey blinks, her brain doing the math first. Her jaw drops. “November first.”

“Happy birthday to me,” I declare, crossing my arms over Julian's jersey with a smirk. “I turn twenty-one at midnight.”

The room doesn’t just erupt this time; it practically implodes.

“Shut up!” Grace screams, tossing her hair straightener onto the couch and lunging forward to grab my shoulders. “You turn twenty-one tonight?! Hadley, how did you not lead with that?!”

“Oh, this is lethal,” Sutton laughs, a dangerous, delighted spark entering her eyes as she looks me up and down. “A twenty-first birthday. In Sin City. With a roster full of hockey players who have access to private jets and corporate credit cards? Ladies, forget a regular wedding weekend. We need to figure out exactly how we’re going to break her in.”

“I’m buying your first legal shot at thirty thousand feet,” Rylee cheers, completely abandoning her packing to do a mini victory dance on the rug. “We are going to absolutely ruin you this weekend, Hadley.”