Chapter 51
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
JACKO
Ollie’s snoring sounds like a malfunctioning leaf blower.
I stand over him with a coffee in each hand, one eye twitching from the sheer volume of it, and contemplate whether or not it’s morally wrong to pour hot espresso on his face.
Instead, I kick the edge of the sofa. “Morning, sunshine.”
He snorts awake, flailing like he’s just been ejected from a rollercoaster. “Wha-? Is it Thursday? Am I dead?”
I offer him a mug. “Not yet. But if you keep snoring like that, Maya might smother you with a tea towel.”
Ollie takes the coffee like it’s a sacred gift. “You’re a good man, Jacko. A gentle, sexy coffee-bringing man.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Did you get any sleep, or did Lila run you into the ground?”
He grins around a sip. “She’s a menace. A pink, glittery, almost-four-year-old menace with the negotiating skills of a hostage lawyer.”
That makes me laugh. “That bad?”
He sits up, blanket sliding to the floor. “She hit me with the triple-whammy bedtime stalling technique. First it was, ‘Just one more story.’ Then it was, ‘I’m too thirsty for bed.’ And then, and I quote, ‘I have to teach Bunny his bedtime routine or he’ll grow up wild.’”
I laugh harder. “Wild bunnies. The horror.”
“She made me brush his invisible teeth,” Ollie says solemnly. “Twice.”
I can picture it perfectly. Lila in her pyjamas, wielding her tiny authority like royalty. Ollie playing along with exaggerated drama, giving her all the patience she never got from her own father. My chest squeezes, too full of something soft.
“She okay, though?” I ask. Quiet now. “No nightmares?”
“Nope.” Ollie’s face softens. “Out cold after the third lullaby. Kid’s got pipes, by the way. Sang Part of Your World at me with such conviction I teared up.”
A noise interrupts us, it’s soft footsteps on hardwood.
We both look up as Lila pads into the living room in her unicorn pyjamas, curls a mess and eyes squinting like a sleepy raccoon.
She spots Ollie and beams. “Ollie! You’re still here!”
She barrels into him before either of us can react. He catches her easily, coffee miraculously unspilled, and swings her into his lap like it’s the most natural thing in the world.
“Where else would I be?” he says.
“You have to stay for breakfast,” she declares, snuggling into his chest.
Ollie looks at me over her head. “Well, looks like I’m staying for breakfast.”
I grin. “You want waffles?”
“I want chocolate chip pancakes with faces,” Lila says immediately. “And whipped cream moustaches.”
From behind me, Maya’s sleepy voice drifts in. “What happened to porridge and fruit, Miss Lila?”
Lila giggles. “Special occasion! Ollie had a sleepover!”
Maya appears in the doorway, still in her robe, hair tangled from sleep. She looks beautiful. Softer somehow. Peaceful. My chest tugs.
She catches my eye and smiles. God, I want that every morning.
“Chocolate chip pancakes it is,” I say, already heading for the kitchen.
We make breakfast together. I mix the batter while Lila instructs me on “acceptable chocolate-to-batter ratio.” Maya brews more coffee. Ollie cuts strawberries into hearts, because Lila insists “normal slices are boring.”
We eat around the table, all four of us.
Lila tells Ollie about a dream she had where Bunny became a space captain and fought moon sharks.
Ollie gasps and clutches his heart like it’s the most dramatic story he’s ever heard.
Maya rolls her eyes and mouths thank you at me for the whipped cream moustaches.
It’s chaos. Sticky fingers, syrup spills, laughter echoing off the kitchen tiles.
It’s perfect.
I don’t realise how badly I’ve wanted this until it’s sitting in front of me, chewing pancake with her mouth open and naming planets after fruit.
Eventually, Ollie checks the time and groans. “Training.”
I glance at the clock. “We’ve got twenty.”
Lila frowns. “Don’t go.”
Ollie clutches his chest. “You wound me, tiny queen. But I must return to the ice and embarrass grown men with my superior toe drag.”
She makes a face. “That sounds boring.”
“Correct,” Maya mutters. “Deeply boring.”
I grin. “You like watching me, though.”
Lila shrugs. “Only when you fight the mean ones.”
“Great,” Ollie says dryly. “We’re raising a vigilante.”
We clean up together, the house warm and loud with goodbye hugs and last-minute instructions. Lila insists Ollie pinky-promise to return for tea. Maya presses a kiss to my cheek just as I duck to tie my laces.
It stays with me all the way to the rink.
Training is brutal. Jonno’s got his game-face on, which means we’re skating suicides before we’ve even stretched.
“Blame Ollie,” I mutter under my breath. “God knows where he is, he followed me here.”
Dylan groans beside me. “Why are we always being punished for Ollie’s sins?”
“You knew what this team was when you signed up,” Murphy pants.
Jonno blows the whistle. “Again!”
By the time Ollie shows up, five minutes late and still smelling faintly of whipped cream, we’re halfway through a speed drill that makes my quads scream.
“Morning, princess!” Coach shouts. “Decide to join us?”
Ollie skates to the end of the line, wheezing. “Had to say goodbye in my surrogate daughter.”
Dylan’s mouth drops open. “Did you just claim Lila?”
“She claimed me,” Ollie corrects, sticking out his tongue. “I’m irresistible to almost-four-year-olds and stuffed bunny enthusiasts.”
Murphy slaps him with his glove. “Shut up and skate.”
We run drills for ninety minutes straight. Passing accuracy, net-front battles, two-on-ones with zero mercy. It’s fast and mean and exactly what I need.
After the tension of the last few weeks, after the break-in and the fear and Maya’s story still rattling in my bones, it’s good to sweat it out. To move. To hit.
I don’t think. I feel.
Every sharp turn. Every slapshot. Every breath.
It’s only after cool-down that the world creeps back in.
We’re in the locker room, peeling off gear and groaning about early practice, when my phone buzzes.
1 new notification – RaptorsFanForum
At first, I don’t think much of it. I check the fan sites sometimes. Mostly for the memes. Occasionally for gossip about our team’s haircuts.
This one’s under a thread called “Jacko’s new girlfriend?”
My stomach goes cold. I click it open.
There’s a grainy photo, clearly taken from the stands, of Maya and Lila in Raptors merch, holding the GO BEAR sign. Lila’s face is mostly obscured, but Maya’s isn’t.
The message below it is simple. But it hits like a gut punch.
“Cute family. Shame she forgot who they really belong to. I’m coming back. Tell your tough guy to stay out of it if he knows what’s good for him. - J-”
I go still. The noise around me fades.
Murphy’s halfway through a chirp about Dylan’s new shampoo when he notices my face.
“Jacko?”
I don’t answer. I read the message again. And again. Just to make sure I didn’t imagine it. Then I take a screenshot. My hands are shaking.
Dylan frowns. “What’s going on?”
I stand. “I need to talk to Coach.”
“Is it Maya?”
I don’t look up. “Yeah.”
By the time I’m in Coach’s office, the door closed behind me, the rage has gone quiet.
I show him the post. He reads it twice. His jaw tightens. “This from that ex she mentioned?”
“Jamie,” I say. The name feels like ash in my mouth. “I think he’s the one who broke her window and has been tripping the alarm.”
Coach nods slowly. “Okay. We’ll get Daz on it. Get it removed. And I’ll pull the CCTV from the game, in case someone was taking pictures without clearance.”
I nod, but I can barely breathe. “What if he tries something again?”
“We’ll be ready,” Coach says. “You’re not alone in this.”
I swallow hard. “Maya and Lila are back at mine. Until we figure this out.”
“Good call.”
I leave the office with the screenshot still burning a hole in my phone. My jaw aches from how hard I’m clenching it.
He’s coming back.
And this time, he’s making it personal.
But he doesn’t know me. He doesn’t know what I’d do for them.
Maya. Lila.
My family.
Let him try. I’ll be ready.