Chapter 12
CHASE
Dealing with the police after my car was vandalized in my complex’s parking lot took way too fucking long.
After feeling like absolute death for the last three weeks, this is the last thing I want to have to do.
Thank God Sam has been understanding, but I feel like the universe is pushing my last nerve here.
I swear if it fucks things up to where I can’t get that man to stick his dick in me tonight, I will need to be put in a fucking loony bin.
By the time I get to the arena, the game is well underway.
Security at the door just waves me through, and I bypass concessions to get to the gate and wait for play to stop so that I can finally get to my seats.
The clock shows that there’s about seven minutes left in the second period, and I curse under my breath at the fuckwad that decided to slash my tires and key my car last night.
I haven’t been following the team at all during my battle with the virus, so it shocks the hell out of me when I see Isaiah up on the big screen when the whistle blows.
When the hell did Isaiah Charming start playing professionally? He’s supposed to have another year of school before joining the pros...
“Mister Kinsey!”
I barely hear Allie’s excited squeal before I’m nearly bowled over by two tiny tornadoes latching onto my waist. Automatically, I place my hands behind Mikey and Allie to return their hugs, but my attention is on the ice and the scrum that has stopped play completely.
I watch as Isaiah pulls a player from the opposing team away from the fight.
The two of them appear to be friends while the rest of the players on the ice look like they are ready to rip each other apart.
“We missed you, Mister Kinsey,” Allie says while dragging me up to the seats. “Mister Sammy keeps looking at us real sad and Daddy says it’s cuz you aren’t behind us.”
Damn my pale ass complexion. I can feel the heat on my face and know that my cheeks are likely bright fucking red. I’m almost forty. I shouldn’t be blushing like this at the thought of another man – a much younger man – looking for me like that.
“Good to see you aren’t dead.” Jake claps me on the back before we take our seats and watch the officials try to figure out the penalties to assign. He waves at the ice and shakes his head. “I don’t know what’s up with Charming tonight. He’s usually solid.”
Glancing at the ice, I am shocked to see Brayden Kim being led to the sin bin.
During his time in the Canadian Juniors system, he had the least penalty minutes in the league three years in a row.
He’s probably one of the cleanest players in professional hockey, so for him to go to the box it has to be bad.
“The bad man keeps being mean to our goalie,” Allie explains to me while claiming my second seat for herself for the time being.
I look to where she’s pointing and realize the issue immediately.
Triton Jeffries has been a thorn in the side of every player unlucky enough to play against him.
A few of the guys that stayed in my home during their time in Juniors openly expressed their dislike of the guy.
From a technical standpoint, he’s average.
His specialty is a psychological game, but it only works if he has ammunition.
A collective groan echoes through the arena as another shot makes its way past Isaiah to cancel out the power play, and I pull out my phone to send a text to Sam.
I might not know a whole lot about the teams in the HLENA yet, but I definitely know Isaiah Charming – as long as he hasn’t changed too drastically since the end of last season.
Me: download the song Enough by ATEEZ and play it in the locker room during the intermission
I watch from behind as Sam pulls out his phone during the next stop in play. After reading the text, he turns around to meet my gaze with a tilt of his head, so I send another message.
Me: Izzy is obsessed with all things Korean. That’s his power song for when things aren’t going well.
Sam reads the message and I can see the confusion on his face before he shoves the phone away and focuses back on the ice. I’m afraid I might have fucked up until I get a response on my phone.
Sam: this requires a longer conversation but we can give it a try
The last three minutes of the period drag on while another shot gets past Isaiah before the buzzer finally sounds.
For a team that was so used to losing, having their winning streak in jeopardy like this is obviously taking its toll while I watch them leave the ice.
Meanwhile that dick, Jeffries, says something to my boy that has his shoulders slumping even further.
The rest of the team tenses up, but no one can do anything.
I’ll fucking do something after the game if I have to...
Wait a second. Never in my life have I wanted to commit violence off the ice, but it seems that I have some sort of protective instincts toward Isaiah Charming. It must be because I watched him grow in his career. Yeah, that’s all it is.
Before I can dwell too deeply on those thoughts, Allie and Mikey drag me out into the concourse to get some funnel cake and nachos before they close down concessions. As the little miss likes to say, “everything gets better with nachos.”