Chapter 31
Maverick
We follow the Robinson family through the stadium and over to the seats Jax and Cody got us. They said they weren’t getting us a box seat because the best seats are in the middle of the action. I'm not sure if I agree with that, but I'm not going to argue.
“Wow, you can see everything from here,” Danny whispers as he stares out at the ice.
“There’s Jax and Cody!” Bree shrieks as the guys take the ice. She presses her little hands and face against the glass and watches them intently.
As soon as they see her, they skate over to us and mirror Bree’s position with their hands and face against the glass.
“Hey, pretty girl.” Jax grins, making Bree’s smile widen impossibly larger.
I’ll have to keep an eye on my daughter. She seems to love older men and I don’t like it one bit.
“Hi!” She waves at them and doesn’t take her eyes off of them when they skate away.
A few minutes later, someone from the Python’s staff comes over with a few jerseys in hand. They chat with Wes and Addi for a few minutes before handing over the jerseys and walking away.
“Well, this one says ‘love you, pretty girl’, so I'm assuming that’s for Danny.” Wes holds out the tiny jersey to Danny and he chuckles.
“Hey! I'm the pretty girl!” Bree stands on her seat and plants her hands on her hips as she glares at Wes.
“Oh, that’s right. The prettiest girl ever.” He grins as he hands over her jersey with Jax’s signature on it. She runs her fingers over where he wrote ‘love you, pretty girl’, and I let out a groan.
“Oh, stop it.” Sydney giggles. “What are you going to do when she gets old enough to date?”
“I won't survive it, sweetheart.” I shake my head as I drape my arm around my wife’s shoulders and pull her close.
Not surprising anyone, Bree chose to wear Jax’s jersey while Danny puts on Cody’s. They each got both jerseys, but everyone knows Bree is Jax’s biggest fan and Danny’s just happy to have a jersey. I think he’s wearing Cody’s so it’s fair and Cody doesn’t get upset.
The entire game, Bree and Danny have their faces against the glass. They’re watching so intently and never take their eyes off of the guys.
When Jax gets slammed into the wall, Sophia launches to her feet and begins screaming like a crazy person. My eyes widen in surprise, but when I glance over at Peck, he’s calm and relaxed, leaning back in his seat. He catches me watching and smirks.
“She’s like this at every game. You learn to love it. By the end of the night, she’ll have no voice left.” He reaches for Sophia’s hand and tugs her onto his lap. She lasts a whole two minutes before she’s on her feet again and screaming even more.
“This is why we can’t have nice things like box seats,” Wes grumbles from next to me.
“Is she too loud for the box seats?” I arch a brow.
“Probably.” Wes chuckles and shakes his head. “Jax and Cody love this though. They never make a comment, but you can tell they’re disappointed when Soph isn’t here to scream her head off at the refs. They like knowing their biggest fan is in the crowd.”
When the game ends, Jax comes over to the glass and tells us to wait there. It takes some time for the stadium to clear, but once it does, he motions for us to follow Sophia. She leads us down a hallway and shows us how to get on the ice.
“C’mon, pretty girl. I want you to skate with me.” Jax holds his hand out for Bree.
“I don’t have skates!”
“Then I guess it’s a good thing I bought you some, huh?” He smirks.
Jax lifts Bree into his arms and skates over to his team’s benches. He places her on the seat and tugs a box out from under it. Once he helps her put on her skates, he helps her onto the ice.
He tries to hold her hand, but she bats him away and takes off.
“Holy crap. If Jax didn’t already love that little girl, he definitely would now!” Addi chuckles as Jax skates after Bree. She giggles when he reaches for her and misses.
“C’mon, Danny. We got you some skates too.” Cody helps him lace up and takes him on the ice.
He can skate, but not nearly as well as Bree can. Him and Cody just have fun skating around. After a while, Cody grabs two hockey sticks and a puck. He starts showing Danny how to pass and how to slap the puck towards the net.
“Does she skate a lot?” Wes turns towards us and I shrug. I have no idea and that doesn’t sit well with me. I should know this.
“She used to. She took skating lessons when she was younger. I thought she’d want to do figure skating, but she leaned towards ballet… Now I'm rethinking that though.” Sydney watches in amazement as Bree keeps up with Jax.
He scoops her off her feet and into his arms as he continues skating around the rink. After a few minutes, he puts her back on her feet and takes her hand, showing her how to skate backwards. It takes her a few tries, but she quickly figures out how to do it.
By the time they get off the ice, the kids are exhausted and looking forward to bed. As soon as Bree has her skates off, she stumbles over to me and puts her arms up.
“Daddy, I'm tired. Will you hold me?”
“Always.” I lift her into my arms and she snuggles her face into the crook of my neck. Within a few minutes, she’s sound asleep.
“That’s the best thing about being a dad.” Wes pats me on the back. “No matter who captures their attention, they always return to daddy.”
“Yeah, but I'm not really her dad,” I say softly.
“It doesn’t matter. I'm not really Charlie’s dad, yet my little girl still comes to me every time she needs a hug. Man, just last week when they were over, she curled up on the couch with me and fell asleep with her head on my shoulder. It was the best.”