Jamie answered wearing nothing but a pair of boxers. His cat, Blackbeard, was draped around his neck and shoulders. He gave me a disgusted look—Jamie did, not Blackbeard, although that cat was always suspicious of me. Still, I guessed my shower hadn’t done enough to hide all of last night’s excesses.
“You look like death warmed over,” Jamie said.
“Not sure how warm I got it.”
“A cold shower might do you some good. Hell, any shower might help.”
“Already had one.”
He looked doubtful, but he stepped back to let me inside. Katie’s cat, Oreo, raced in to wind himself around my legs. Oreo had always liked me a lot better than Blackbeard did. Granted, Oreo liked anyone who would scratch behind his ears.
“You have breakfast yet?”
My stomach gurgled in response.
“Never mind. I don’t want you puking on anything.” He led me into the kitchen, where he was busy putting together something involving eggs in muffin tins. He finished adding all his ingredients and popped it in the toaster oven, Blackbeard supervising everything from his shoulder perch. “Coffee? Think you can handle that?”
I shook my head and took a seat at the breakfast bar. “Water would be better.”
Oreo jumped up onto my lap and purred, so I scratched behind his ears like he always wanted.
Jamie grabbed a glass and filled it from the fridge before sliding it over to me. “How late did you stay at Koz’s last night?”
“Late enough. Got wasted. Then I got the bright idea to go keep Nicky company at the hospital.”
Jamie raised a brow.
“Took a cab. But I didn’t spend too much time with him. He was busy with Jessica in the delivery room.”
“So what’d you do all night? Hang out with the kids?”
“While I was drunk?” I raised a brow. “They were sleeping by the time I arrived. Jonny and Cadence were there.”
Katie came around the corner wearing a towel, her hair wet and dripping. She took one look at me, blushed, winked, readjusted her towel to keep it in place, and left again before Jamie murdered me for seeing his wife in such a state. Like it was my fault! Haha.
My brother pretended he hadn’t noticed. Bunch of horseshit.
“What’s going on with you two?” I asked, hoping to turn the conversation away from me.
Jamie made a face, like he didn’t want to talk about it.
“That doesn’t look good.”
“It’s just… Katie wants to have a baby. We’re trying to get pregnant, but…”
“But no luck so far.” And there very well might not ever be. Twice already, Katie had gone through chemotherapy and radiation to treat different forms of cancer. “You both knew kids might not be possible.”
“We did.” He shrugged. “We do. She still wants them, though.”
“What about adoption?”
“That’s what I suggested, but she wants to keep trying for a while first. I doubt if she’ll give up until they tell us she can’t have kids, you know?”
“And you’re taking that all on yourself, aren’t you?”
He and I were a lot alike in some ways. Too much alike.
“Maybe.” He poured himself a cup of coffee and joined me, giving Oreo a tail tug for good measure. “So…Cadence? How’s that going?”
“Could be better,” I replied. “Could be worse. About to be complicated.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” But I wasn’t ready to tell him or anyone else about the son of a bitch who was trying to fuck with her life.
“Good complicated or bad complicated?”
“Just complicated.”
“Okay.” He took a sip and stared at his cup the same way I was staring at my glass of water. Times like this, it was unnerving how similar we were, even though there were countless differences. This must be another Babcock trait. Now that I thought about it, I recalled a lot of times I’d seen Dad in this same posture. Scary thought.
“For what it’s worth,” Jamie said, “I hope you two are able to uncomplicate things before too much time passes.”
“Why’s that?”
He waited until I looked at him, then he grinned. “I don’t know if it’s all the time you’ve been with her, or if something else has gotten into you, but you’re finally starting to play like I’ve always realized you’re capable of. You’re not beating yourself up constantly. You’re finding your footing. You’re regaining your confidence. So if Cadence Johnson has anything to do with that, I hope it continues for a hell of a long time.”
All at once, Katie came back in with clothes on, the timer on the toaster oven dinged, and Oreo nipped my finger because I had stopped petting him. I sucked in a sharp breath, even though it hadn’t hurt, and thanked the powers that be for saving me the need to respond right away. Because there was no fucking way I could come up with a reasonable response. Not yet.
“Morning,” Katie said, beaming at me. She planted a smack on my cheek and stole Jamie’s mug of coffee since he was busy dealing with taking breakfast out of the oven. “Didn’t expect you up so early.”
“Neither did I,” I admitted.
“Any idea what’s up with Harry?” Jamie asked me as he slid the omelet muffin things onto plates for himself and Katie.
I raised a brow. “Harry? He had big plans. Didn’t come to Koz’s party. Why?”
“What kind of big plans?”
“No clue. Better than strippers. That’s all he said.”
Katie snorted and took a sip.
“Hmm…” Jamie fixed himself another cup of coffee, since Katie didn’t seem inclined to return the one she’d stolen.
“What’s up?” I asked, curiosity stoking my appetite enough that I reached for one of the forks in Jamie’s hand and cut myself a bite.
“Not sure. I had my phone off all night. Woke up to some weird voice mails from him.”
“Weird how?”
He shook his head. “Never mind. I’m sure it’s nothing.”
If it was nothing, my brother never would have mentioned it. And I had never bothered to listen to all the voice mails on my phone. I’d assumed they were Koz bitching me out about leaving as early as I had, but I’d never confirmed my assumptions. They could have been Harry. I dug my phone out of my pocket and looked at the missed call log. Eight of them, all from the same unfamiliar number. “What did he say in the messages? And how many?”
“Only that he needed someone sober and awake to help him out. Wouldn’t say what it was about. I called his phone this morning, but he didn’t answer.”
I held my phone out to him. “Was it from this number?”
He nodded and raised a brow. “He called you, too, huh?”
“Apparently so.”
“I hope he got the help he needed.”
So did I. And now, I felt like a shitty friend.
Katie’s phone buzzed with a text message. She took a moment to read it, then glanced up at the two of us with surprise making her eyes wide. “He got help. Dad just bailed him out of jail.”
HARRY AND ONE of the team’s coaches were on their way out of the courthouse across the street from the police station Cam and I were heading into. Cam slowed and called out to them.
“So Webs got you all sorted out?”
Harry nodded and ducked his head. With the way Webs was glaring at him, I didn’t blame him. They went on their way, and we went on ours.
Three hours later, Cam and I left the police station with an emergency protective order against Guy, the promise that they’d serve him notice, and a court date in two weeks to have it finalized.
“Doesn’t this seem like a bit much to you?” I asked Cam as we climbed back into his truck to head home.
My brother gave me one of his patented you’ve-got-to-be-shitting-me looks and backed out of his parking spot.
We’d listed Cam, Sara, and the kids on the order, as well as the address for the house, the rink, and even the Moda Center, since
they were all places I tended to spend a lot of time. When the officer had asked about a significant other, I’d hesitated for a moment. Cam had cut in and given Levi’s name.
It had been eating me alive ever since.
“Why did you tell them Levi is my significant other?”
“That son of a bitch threatened him, too, didn’t he?”
I supposed that was a fair point, but that didn’t make Levi my significant other. He might want to be, but that didn’t mean he was. After that, I bit my tongue the rest of the way home.
When we got there, Cam gave Sara a copy of the protective order and put another on the fridge. “Be sure you’ve always got that with you,” he said. Then he picked up Connor and stalked off to the backyard with Buster yapping and chasing after them.
Once they were gone, it was only the two of us. Sara went into the kitchen to clean up from Connor’s snack, so I followed to help her out.
“Cassidy’s sleeping?” I asked.
“Mm hmm.” She shoved a couple of plastic bowls into the dishwasher rack with more force than necessary.
She was mad at me. And she had a right to be mad, in all honesty. I’d made her promise to keep a secret from my brother, and it had turned out to be a much bigger, more harmful secret than I’d anticipated. He’d barely said a word to either one of us today. I’d had to fill Sara in on what had gone down at the hospital this morning, before we’d left for the police station.
I took a rag from the sink to wipe down the table. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I should never have asked you to—”
“You had every right to ask me for a favor. Don’t go there, Cadence. You and Chloe and Corinne—you’re always telling me I’m one of your sisters now, right? And that’s something sisters do. They help each other out.”
“But it wasn’t fair of me.”
“Bullshit.” She slammed one of Cassidy’s sippy cups into the rack. “You asked. It was on me whether I should keep your secret or tell him. If he’s pissed at me for keeping your confidence, that’s between the two of us. It’s not anything for you to worry about. Cam and I are going to have to sort this out on our own. Once he’ll listen.”
Only that meant I was between the two of them. Almost literally. They weren’t speaking, and it was all because of my stupidity. How could I possibly do anything but worry?
I finished helping her clean up, but then I had to prepare myself for practice. Anthony and I had an afternoon session scheduled. Maybe it would help me take my mind off everything else that had gone on in the last twenty-four hours. That was my hope.
As I should have expected, my hope was in vain. Now that I’d gotten a restraining order against Guy, I needed to explain the whole shebang to both Anthony and Ellen. That had taken up a good half of our ice time. We spent the other half eating ice cream at Ben and Jerry’s, because I was an exhausted, emotional wreck, and I was supposed to give Sophie her first figure skating lesson after she got out of school.
Anthony took another bite of Cherry Garcia. “So if he shows up at the rink again, I’m allowed to call the cops and have his ass arrested, right?”
I laughed for the first time in way too long. “Yeah. Something like that, at least.”
“You don’t think he’ll try that, though, do you?” Ellen asked. “I mean, not once they’ve served him with the papers.”
I didn’t want to think so, but Guy had proven time and again that he’d do the unexpected. “Let’s hope not,” I said. “It’ll be much easier if he simply respects the court order and stays away. Maybe he’ll go back home.”
“Doubt it. I don’t think he’s that type.” Anthony stole a bite of my Chunky Monkey.
I swatted his hand away. “If Jesse finds out you’re having ice cream without him…”
“He’ll what?” He raised a brow. “Buy more. That’s what he’ll do. I promise.”
“And do you really need any more after this?”
“You can never have too much ice cream on a crappy day. That’s Jesse’s motto.”
Ellen winked at me. “It’s a good one.”
I chuckled and took another bite before Anthony stole too much out of my bowl. Seemed like a good enough motto to live by for the moment.
After we finished, I promised them both I’d be very careful and take care of myself, that I’d report anything Guy did as soon as possible, and that I’d buy some pepper spray to carry around with me. This morning, Cam had already made me promise I’d let him teach me some kickboxing type of stuff for self-defense, but I figured pepper spray would be another tool in my arsenal. With the way they were all acting, the police officers I’d spoken to this morning included, I was starting to realize exactly how dangerous this could become.
It all added up to leaving me feeling like I was too stupid to live. Maybe I had been, but I couldn’t afford to be any longer. I had to stop thinking Guy was harmless. I had to stop believing he would never do anything to hurt me, or anyone else. The absolute opposite was the truth, and there was no room for me to believe my own lies.
I headed back to the rink. Even though I was early, Sophie and Bergy were there ahead of me.
So was Levi. He was kneeling down on the floor in front of Sophie to help her lace up her skates, and he flashed a grin in my direction as soon as I came through the doors.
I waved at them, but Bergy headed me off before I joined them.
“Your brother filled me in on everything that’s going on,” he said, getting straight to the point. “I’ve already talked to the security guys here, and they’ve assured me they won’t let the bastard in. I thought I’d stay for Sophie’s lesson, though. Just in case.”
I blinked and nodded, but it was quickly becoming apparent that the rest of the world was far more in touch with the danger of my present situation than I was. “You’re…you’re not rethinking this, then? You aren’t worried—”
“I’m worried about you,” he cut in, giving me a pointed look. “Jonny’s been part of the Storm long enough that you should understand we’re not only a team. We’re a family. And that means his family is part of our family. And it means that 501’s girlfriend is part of our family. We take care of our own. You should start getting used to that, especially since you’re living here now.”
What came out of my mouth then was the silliest, most superficial thing I could possibly say: “I’m not Levi’s girlfriend.”
Bergy cocked a grin in my direction, and he chuckled. “All right. Whatever you say. You’re still part of the family because of your brother, so you’re stuck with us. Everyone in the Storm organization is on your side. Whether you like it or not. Besides, Sophie has decided to adopt you.”
“Adopt me?” At first, I thought he was being facetious, and I laughed.
“That’s what she told me. She said she’s 501’s best girlfriend, but you can be his other best girlfriend. And then she asked me to adopt you.”
That was enough to wipe all the negativity of the last twenty-four hours straight out of me. This little girl might as well be a magician, the way she warmed me through from head to toe. No wonder Levi doted on her.
I took a seat next to Sophie on the bench to lace up my skates. Levi sat on her other side and drew his skates out of his gym bag. Only they weren’t hockey skates. They were figure skates. I’d thought he was only here to support Sophie, or maybe because he was as worried for my safety as Bergy was after all I’d told him last night. I hadn’t expected that I’d truly be teaching both of them today. Hadn’t that only been to play along with Sophie’s idea? Wasn’t it something meant to mollify her for the time being, and then cooler heads would prevail? There was no reason he couldn’t come out there in his hockey skates. It wasn’t like he would be doing spirals or jumps.
Levi caught my eye and winked. “Sophie told Bergy we both needed figure skates. Now we’ve got them. You ready for this?”
Not even close, but today was turning into a day I wouldn’t soon forget.
TWO HOURS LATER,
Sophie and Bergy were on their way out of the rink—Sophie beaming like I’d just given her a puppy—and Levi was waiting by the door to walk me out.
“My ankles feel all wobbly in those things,” he said.
“Maybe you need to work on your ankle strength,” I said, winking. “Do your trainers have any workouts designed specifically for that?”
“I’m sure I can find something.”
He took my gym bag from me and carried it, along with his own, over his shoulder. We headed outside, prepared to be blinded by the late afternoon sun, but instead we were greeted by gloomy gray clouds.
Levi stared up at the sky as we crossed the parking lot. “Might have some snow tonight.”
“I’m still not used to living where there isn’t snow all winter long.”
“Yeah.” He grinned at me. “It’s nice to not have to shovel the car out every morning, though.”
I laughed and pressed the button on my key fob to unlock my car. When I looked up, though, I nearly fell over. Stopped cold. Guy was halfway across the lot, standing out in the middle of the aisle with his arms crossed. His all-too-familiar silver Honda Civic was parked a few feet behind him. After a moment, he waved and blew a kiss in my direction.
Levi stopped beside me, his hand settling on my waist. “What do you want to bet that’s exactly how many feet he has to stay away from the building?” he murmured in my ear.
I was too stunned and too scared to move. All I could do was stare. Was this all to intimidate me? It was working. I had never felt so much fear in my life. My blood was ice, and I couldn’t swallow.
But Levi nudged me toward his car. “Lock your doors again,” he said once my feet were moving. “I’m driving you home. Jonny and I can come back later to pick up your car.”
I pressed the button and watched the brake lights flash. Then Levi held the car door open for me and I sat. I wasn’t sure if I could breathe again until he parked in Cam’s driveway and helped me go inside.
Cam and Sara were both on the floor in the living room playing with the kids. Everyone was smiling, so that was a definite improvement. Maybe Cam had gotten over it and forgiven Sara, finally.
Losing an Edge Page 13
