35. Chapter 34
Carter
S pence and I were working out with Scuba and Coop now that the season had ended. I had to hand it to Coop. He’d really started to come out of his shell since getting sober, and he had become a real addition to our team.
Although today, he’d been grating me with his ability to easily lift everything and make me look like a weakling. I used to have my name up on the leaderboard for squats, but now my personal best is his warm-up weight.
As we worked our way to the leg press after the jump squats and skater lunges on the jump box, Scuba looked at the three of us. “I got to do the weekly vibe check. Everyone good with their girls?”
Not surprising at all since Spence was in love and loved having a chance to talk about it, he was the first to speak up. “Nat’s the best. But you all know that.”
I moved to the leg press, and Scuba had to keep pushing. “That’s not an answer on whether you two are perfectly happy."
“Who the fuck is perfectly happy planning a wedding?” Suzuki groaned. I heard Natalie wasn’t pleased by the lack of RSVPs, but I thought things were going pretty smoothly on that front. Maybe I should check in on my sister a little bit more often.
Finishing up my reps, I stood up just in time to see Scuba peacocking over the fact that he had fun planning his wedding.
I still couldn’t believe he wanted to do a wedding right as we were ramping up our Stanley Cup playoffs preparations.
But he pulled it off, won round one of the playoffs, and got married during the first week of games.
Poor Coop, he always seemed to get a bit sheepish whenever Scuba’s wedding was mentioned since he got so wickedly drunk. Although, much to my surprise, he actually joked, “Probably because he said yes to everything and Annie didn’t rein him in too much.”
We all knew Scuba loved his girl as much as Spence loved my sister.
Scuba also loved to have the finer things in life and to have things go his way.
He couldn’t exactly be super picky about a wedding when they only had weeks to plan it.
Although there was one other person in Scuba’s life who was more important.
Suzuki pointed at him. “The only person who has him more wrapped around his finger is Eric.”
“Not… ugh," Scuba said as he shook his head vigorously. “Annie is the boss. She tells me no more than I like when it comes to Eric. Apparently, it’s a bad idea to spoil your son. Cartsy, don’t think you can get off without sharing your love life."
I gave Scuba the stink eye as a hush came over Spencer and Coop.
They knew I didn’t talk about Siobhan out in the open since the first two attacks.
While all things have been quiet, I didn’t want to jinx things by talking about it too much.
Scuba held up his hands. “I’m not asking for details. Just vibes.”
He just wasn’t going to let up, and I didn’t like how much he was pushing. But I could give him just a little bit of information. “It’s fine.”
Thankfully, Spence knew I really didn’t want to talk about Siobhan until we knew who the hell was trying to create havoc in our lives, or at least, we had a more likely culprit than Siobhan’s ex.
I knew he wasn’t in the country right now, but I didn’t get how he seemed to know when there were and weren’t attacks on her and her house.
He cut Scuba off by trying to find out how things were. “What about you, Wild boy? Things still solid with what’s her name?”
That created a lighter room almost immediately, and as Coop pushed the weight up with his legs, he said simply, “Still with Emmy. Things are fine.”
“When are you boys going to learn that fine is the exact opposite of what you’re saying? I let Cartsy slide,” Scuba said, but he paused as Suzuki raised an eyebrow, and Scuba gave up. “Fine, Suzuki stopped me from digging into the issue, but seriously, boys. Give me something.”
Scuba was so needy. As if he would just die if he didn’t get some gossip. I really wasn’t going to make my dating life more of a spectacle than what had hit the tabloids already. Not until we figured out who the fuck is fucking with Siobhan.
In the background, I heard my phone go off. Nobody called me unless something was going on. With all of Scuba’s prodding about my dating life, I was on edge.
It wouldn’t be a bad thing to check in on Shiv to make sure everything was good.
Much to my surprise, Stephen Hall was calling. “What’s going on? Why aren’t you working out with us?”
“Shit… I should have called Suzuki and had you talk to him instead."
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I didn’t think it was going to be a big deal. Just some light chirping like we always do with each other. It wasn’t that big of a deal if he wasn’t working out this early into the off-season.
However, the fact that he mentioned he should have talked to Spence got me worried.
Spence was my best friend, and we could calm each other down in an instant.
If he wanted to use my connection with Spence, that meant it had to be about Siobhan.
Hallsy was her next-door neighbor, and the whole team basically knew about our relationship.
I stepped out of the weight room, which caught the guys’ eyes. “It’s fine. Just tell me what’s going on. Is Siobhan okay?”
“Yes. There was a minor fire at her house. But don’t worry. I put it out," Hallsy replied.
My anxiety was running so damn high, but I tried to be calm and collected. I needed the facts first.
“What happened? Is everyone okay? Where’s Siobhan?”
I would have asked about Stephanie, too, but she was at school and was going to be picked up by her grandma tonight since it was her dad’s turn to spend the weekend with her.
I paced up and down the hall. Once I got past the rowers and into the area where we kicked the soccer balls around, I turned back toward the gym.
“She’s fine. She’s talking to the police now, but she wasn’t there when it happened.”
I let out the breath I didn’t realize I was holding. Okay, that was good.
Spence poked his head into the hallway and caught my eye. He rushed up close enough to overhear my phone call. He was always there to back me up. He didn’t need to know why I was freaked out. He would just be there.
“Good. But you said there was a fire…"
Spence put a hand on my shoulder. His hand grounded me and settled me down.
“Yeah. I was out washing my car, and then I noticed smoke coming from a package on her porch, so I grabbed the hose and just put it out.”
I took a few breaths to slow down my racing heart. Spence was already gone. I didn’t know where he went off to.
“Thanks, man. I owe you big time," I said.
That was the understatement of the year, but I didn’t know what else to say.
“Don’t worry about it. Just don’t give me shit about not working out until next month.”
Spence was back in view. He held his keys up and did a head nod toward the door. I was grateful for my buddy. I needed someone to drive because if I did, I would be getting a speeding ticket for sure.
We hopped into his SUV, and I confessed all my fears to him.