15. Zane
15
ZANE
“I hope that thing isn’t glued to your hand.” Coach Popov juts his chin towards my phone. “I need you ready to play this Friday, Whitaker.”
I tuck my phone back under the bench where I stashed it before practice started. Every time there’s been a break all day, I’ve made a beeline for it. Usually, I keep my phone in my locker, but “usually,” my girlfriend isn’t a flight risk with a psychopathic brother on her tail.
Considering the circumstances, it’s a miracle I’m here at all.
I nod. “I’ll be ready.”
It’s the closest we’ve gotten to talking about how I stormed out of the locker room before the last game. Coach could’ve torn up my contract if he wanted. I wouldn’t have even blamed him. So, as much as I’d rather be at home, I’m grateful to still have a job.
As soon as Popov walks off, I lunge for my phone again. I can’t count how many times I’ve checked the security cameras or texted Evan.
Where is she?
What’s she doing now?
What’s her plan for today?
She’s still in the condo , Evan texts for the fourth time in an hour. I don’t need to read between the lines to catch his impatience, but I don’t care, either. I’m paying him enough that I’d be justified in asking for second-by-second updates if I wanted them. Every fifteen minutes is nothing.
I’m about to ask him for another status report when someone slams into the boards in front of me and I jolt.
“When is your girlfriend gonna come back to root for us?” Davis asks. “I think she was my good luck charm.”
“If she was anyone’s good luck charm, she’d be mine,” I warn.
Davis gives me a shit-eating grin. “Bring her around and we’ll test that theory. See who she’s more impressed by.”
“Or I kick your ass into a hospital bed and you sit out another game,” I snarl.
He’s being a goofy idiot. He’s being Davis. But my confession from the other night in bed is chafing a little, I guess.
I love her. I fucking love Mira. It’s a first for me—the feeling and the confession alike. Possessiveness comes with the territory, it seems.
“Whoa,” he laughs, raising his hands in surrender. “No jokes about Mira. Got it. I actually came over to see if you needed anything.”
I frown at him, not sure what he means. Jace and Reeves and Daniel know what’s going on with Mira and her brother, but it’s not something we’re publicizing. Davis is a friend, but he’s a friend with a big mouth. He shouldn’t know anything is going on until Mira is ready for the world to know.
As if reading my mind, he lowers his voice and leans in. “I don’t know what the fuck is up with you, but it’s clear things are… tense for you right now. If you all need a place to stay or to get away for a bit, my house is always open.”
“Wow.” I almost don’t know what to say. “Thanks, man. That’s—Thanks, but I don’t want to put you out.”
“You wouldn’t put me out. Actually, I’ve been playing around with the idea of putting it on the market. I spend all of my time at my condo these days.”
“At your fuck shack?”
“ Sex pad ,” he corrects. “It’s a luxury penthouse, not a wooden hut, thank you very much. But… yeah. I’m there most of the time and I hardly make it out to the house. Plus, everyone in that neighborhood is married with kids. I need to be around the young, vibrant people of the world.”
It’s not a terrible idea. Davis’s neighborhood is nice. Safe, too. A gated community would ease some of my worries about all the people who walk past my building every day. Security is good, but we’re in the thick of it. Mira barely even goes outside.
“I’d cut you a deal,” he says. “Not that you need a deal. But if you were interested, we could make it happen.”
“I’ll have to think about it, but that sounds cool.”
He arches a brow. “How cool? Cool enough that I shouldn’t bother cleaning the place up for listing photos or…?”
I snort. “And here I thought you were doing me a favor. You just don’t want to deal with listing it.”
“Correct. Or going over offers or talking to strangers or reading through long, drawn-out contracts. Think it over,” he says, already skating towards the other end of the ice where Cole is calling for him. “That fuckin’ swingset you built last time is still there. You already acted like you owned the place. Might as well make it a reality.”
Davis skates off before I can even pretend to be sorry. Aiden had a blast on that swing the week we stayed there. I don’t regret it.
“Did I hear something about a swingset?” Jace asks. He and Reeves step over the bench on either side of me and drop down. “Rachelle has been hounding me about getting one for Gallagher.”
Reeves shakes his head. “Don’t give into the pressure. He’s never going to use it. I built one for Jalen for Christmas and he doesn’t touch it. The wasps love it, though. I had to get rid of three different nests underneath the slide over the summer.”
“If I buy Davis’s house, Gallagher can come over and share mine,” I offer.
They both snap their attention to me. “You’re moving?”
I shrug. “Davis just offered, but it’s not a bad idea. Suburbia could be good to us. Maybe I could finally get some sleep.”
There’s only so many times I can wake up in the middle of the night and fuck Mira to calm myself down before I’ve got to get my shit together. And fucking her isn’t a solution when I’m here and she’s at home… without me… vulnerable… …
Just like that, my heart rate is triple digits again.
“You installed that new security system,” Jace points out. “And you have a bodyguard on her right now, right?”
I’m about to nod when Reeves adds, “Plus, Jemma is heading over there now.”
“What?”
“Jemma is heading over there.” He frowns. “At least, I think… Yeah, Wednesdays are her day. Tomorrow is Taylor’s.”
“Rachelle is taking Friday,” Jace chimes in.
I shake my head. “What are you two talking about?”
“The schedule.” Reeves circles a hand in the air like he’s bored with trying to catch me up. “The women wanted to make sure Mira wasn’t alone too much. Taylor’s theory is that Mira is her own worst enemy and too much alone time will have her so deep in her head we’ll never get her out.”
“A distraction schedule.” Jace shrugs. “At least, that’s what Rachelle called it. For the foreseeable future, Mira will have two sets of eyes on her at all times.”
Mira will probably hate that.
But I have to admit, it makes me feel better.
Mira said I’d already found a family with my friends, but this only proves that they are her family, too. They want to take care of her almost as much as I do.
Is this what it feels like to have a heart?
“Not all of us can afford to buy our position on the team.” Carson’s voice drifts across the ice towards me. It’s like someone is running aluminum through a grater with how it sets my nerves on edge. “If anyone else bailed before a game, they’d be a free agent before puck drop.”
A few of the rookies laugh, but most of them have the decency to glance nervously towards where I’m sitting. It’s no secret who Carson is talking about.
“He isn’t worth it,” Jace warns under his breath.
“If I lost my focus every time I got some good pussy, I’d never show up to a game again,” Carson chortles. “I guess I’m just used to it.”
Last week, I probably would have flung myself over the boards and beat Carson into the ice. Not just for talking about me, but for bringing Mira into it.
Now… “I don’t give a shit what he has to say.”
Jace claps me on the back. “Good. You have enough to worry about. You won’t become captain by killing Carson.”
I don’t give a shit about that anymore, either.
Becoming captain meant everything to me when I thought I had things at home handled. Now, all of my focus has to be on keeping my family safe. The only thing I want at the end of this season is for Aiden and Mira to be happy and healthy.
Anything else will be a bonus.
Coach blows a whistle for the five-minute warning. I stand up and start to stretch out.
“Oh!” Reeves snaps his fingers. “Jemma wanted me to ask about a sleepover for the boys tonight or tomorrow. Aiden was at our house so much there for a couple weeks that Jalen is missing him. He felt like he had a brother.”
“Sorry again about?—”
“I wasn’t complaining,” he clarifies. “We miss having Aiden around.”
I give him a tight smile. “Maybe soon. For right now, I want to keep him home with me. Let him get used to our new schedule.”
I also don’t want yet another thing to worry about. Mira seems to think her brother will go after Aiden if he can’t get to her. I don’t want to believe it, but I’m also not willing to risk being caught off guard and something happening to Aiden.
Per usual, Jace seems to be able to read my mind. “Do you know any more about where Mira’s brother might be?”
“I’ve kept the P.I. on retainer. He’s working on hunting him down. In the meantime, I left an anonymous tip with the police about Dante. I don’t want to lead them to Mira until she’s ready, but if there’s even half a chance that they’ll be able to stop Dante before he can get to her, it’s worth the chance.”
“Do you think she’ll ever be ready to talk to the police?” Reeves grimaces. “I mean, she killed her dad.” I toss him a warning look and he flinches back. “None of us think she’s guilty of anything, to be clear—but that doesn’t mean shit to the law. She could go to prison.”
“She isn’t going to go to prison,” I grit out. “She isn’t going fucking anywhere.”
Coach blows another whistle and we all hop over the boards to get back to practice. I’m already itching to text Evan again, but knowing Jemma is on her way to Mira is comforting.
Jace turns, skating backwards towards the center of the ice. “It sounds like you’re doing everything you can for her. Now, I need you to get out on this ice and do something for yourself.”
“Play hockey?” I guess.
“Sort of. I was thinking more along the lines of making Carson regret ever picking up a hockey stick.”
I grin wickedly. “Ask and you shall receive, oh captain, my captain.”