Chapter 13 #2
It’s a close game, Luca shoving Black out of the way as he races for the puck and is slammed into the plexiglass by Tucker.
I curse under my breath.
Luca shakes it off and gets back out there like nothing just happened. It amazes me how he can focus again, and he does, so quickly.
The other team gets close to our goal and Brooks deflects the puck, knocking it toward Liam on the right. Liam manages to touch the puck with his stick, and within half a second, he gets checked into the boards and bounces off them, the puck skittering across the ice with him.
I imagine he’s cursing and pissed, but Liam is back chasing right after the puck and shooting it toward Luca, who knocks it right past their goalie.
Their teamwork is impeccable and so much more graceful than the Predators.
It should be no surprise they win, but I imagine it still feels really good to the team.
After the game, we head toward the locker room, waiting outside for them to finish getting showered and dressed.
Zeke won’t sit still, and while I know he’s probably overtired, I let him run around the hallway, making sure that he doesn’t get too far from my reach.
There’s been no sign of that strange man with the snake tattoo. Thankfully, he hasn’t seemed to follow us to Great Falls.
Liam and Brooks step out of the locker room first, carrying their duffel bags.
“Liam!” Zeke shrieks with giggles and runs right for Liam.
Liam drops his bag and bends down, arms open, giving Zeke a huge hug. “Hey, buddy, I like your jersey. Did you wear that just for me?”
“No!” Zeke giggles and tugs on the hem of the oversized jersey, pulling back slightly. “For Daddy.”
Playfully, Liam pouts and hangs his head. “You didn’t wear it for me?”
Zeke tackles Liam with a giant hug.
Liam swoops the little guy off the ground and lifts him into the air. “Are you going to play hockey like your old man?” he asks.
Zeke wiggles to be put down and Liam hands him off to me as the locker room door swings open.
“Daddy!” Zeke shouts and points at Luca as he steps out of the locker room with Ashton.
“You guys did great today!” I say, congratulating them on their win.
Liam picks up his bag, and he and Brooks move out of the way as Luca offers to take Zeke from me. “It helped to have our favorite people in the stands,” Luca says.
“Is that me?” Zeke asks, a huge smile on his face.
“You and your mother,” Luca says, giving me a wink. Luca turns his attention entirely on me. “How do you feel about going out with us and celebrating before we drive home?”
“We have Zeke,” I say, glancing at my little dragon and ruffling his hair. “It has to be someplace that he’s allowed inside.”
“No, we’ll make him stand outside in the cold,” Luca jokes and rolls his eyes. He nudges me. “You should know me better than that.”
He drops a kiss on my cheek.
I’ve missed going out with the guys and having fun. I don’t know how that’s going to happen with a three-year-old in the mix.
“What do you say, Harper?” Liam asks. “Join us for a night of karaoke and non-alcoholic drinks?”
I snort. Even if they wanted to drink, most of them are underage.
“What about your coach? Don’t you have to head back to campus tonight?” I ask.
“We convinced him it would be a good opportunity to celebrate and do some team-building,” Ashton says. There’s a smirk on his face.
Clearly, Coach fell for it.
I don’t see these guys doing any team-building exercises tonight.
Just having fun on the town.
“I’m in if you’re in,” I say, staring at Luca.
“Let’s go!”
We make our way to the small-town restaurant that features karaoke on Friday nights. Since it’s a restaurant, it’s open to all ages, and we manage to snag a table and put in an order for some appetizers to share.
“Who’s singing first?” Liam asks as he pulls up an extra chair and straddles it, sitting backward. He rests his arms on the back of the chair, his chin resting on his hands.
“Go for it,” I say, gesturing for him to take the lead.
“You don’t want to hear me sing.” Liam grins. “You’ll be paying me to get off the stage.”
There’s already someone up at the microphone singing a rendition of a familiar ‘90s song that I recognize but don’t quite know all the lyrics.
“Does anyone want to do a duet?” Nova asks.
“I’ll sing with you,” Kensley offers. “What songs do they have?”
“There’s an app you can use to browse the karaoke catalog.” Liam gives us the information and Nova grabs her phone, typing it in and downloading the app.
After a few minutes of everyone deciding what to sing, Liam, Nova, Kensley, Brooks, and a few others start making their way up to put their name and song choice down.
“You’re not going to go up there?” Luca asks, watching me with a smile.
“Have you heard me sing? No one wants to hear that.” I shake my head adamantly. “I’m here to support everyone else. What about you?”
“I’d rather go hang out with Dante than sing in front of my friends.”
Liam is the first back from putting his name down on the sheet. “Will you take a picture of me up there with my phone?”
“Yeah, of course.”
“Thanks.” He scrolls through his social media feed and studies his phone for way too long. I catch a glimpse, and I’m pretty sure he’s looking at photos of the girl he had over a couple of months ago.
I can’t quite remember her name, but she was cute.
Liam never brought her to the house again. He also hasn’t mentioned her and, well, it’s none of my business. I assume it just didn’t work out between them.
A few minutes later, Liam is called up to the stage, and he shoves his phone at me. The screen flickers for a second and goes dark.
Shit.
Liam grabs the microphone and smiles at everyone. “Just remember, I play hockey better than I sing.”
The group chuckles at his remark as the music begins.
Liam doesn’t have a terrible voice. It’s not the perfect song choice that he went with, a little too high a key, but he makes it work. The more comfortable he gets out there, he sounds even better.
Perhaps it was his nerves making him sound a little rough in the beginning.
Shit.
I still haven’t gotten a photo of him yet.
He has way too many apps on his phone and I swipe up, finding dozens of apps open. I open the camera one and hit the button.
Turns out, I’m video recording the whole thing.
Oops.
I glance down, realizing it shows as live and quickly end the video.
Sorry, Liam. Please don’t hate me.
Hopefully, no one saw the live feed. I click on the camera and snap a couple of photos, trying to make up for the blunder.
No one ever has to know.
Liam finishes and comes back to the table, a huge grin on his face.
“You did amazing!” I hand him back his phone.
“Yeah? Thanks.” He smiles sheepishly and glances through the karaoke app for another tune.
“Are you going to get up there?” Liam asks, glancing at me. “Come on. If I can do it, you can.”
“I’ll sing if Luca sings with me.” I smirk at Luca; he groans and hangs his head.
“Don’t make me get on stage.”
“Do you have stage fright?” I ask, curious why he’s so adamant about not singing.
Our waitress brings the appetizers, and Zeke grows restless, reaching for one of the fried pickles.
“You have to let it cool off. The inside is going to be hot.” I put a couple aside for him and then when he grows fussy, I cut them in half, letting it cool a little quicker before sliding the plate in front of him.
“I don’t have stage fright. I’d just rather play babysitter to my son all night. Someone has to watch him. We both can’t be on stage at the same time.” Luca has an excuse for everything.
It’s not like it’s just the three of us at the restaurant doing karaoke. Our roommates and friends are here. I’m sure they’d take a turn for a few minutes keeping an eye on Zeke.
“Oh, I reached out to my father this evening on the way to the game.”
That catches me by surprise. Luca rarely talks to his father unless he absolutely has to contact him. “You did?”
“I thought I’d mention the man with the snake tattoo. Turns out, he’s the son of Massimo DeLuca.”
“Who is that?” I ask.
Luca sighs and runs a hand through his hair. He grabs a pretzel bite and dips it into the honey mustard sauce, taking a bite.
I’m waiting for him to answer.
He seems to be avoiding finishing our conversation.
“Luca?”
“He’s a problem,” Luca says, glancing up at me.
Frustration singes through my veins. “I thought we weren’t keeping secrets anymore?” How can he tell me this guy is a problem and then not say anything else.
“We’re not. I’m telling you, he’s a problem.”
Why is Luca always so fricking cryptic when it comes to his father’s business dealings? “How big of a problem are we talking, Luca? Like something that will get buried under the rug and go away, or is this guy going to be a threat until he’s taken care of—”
He lowers his voice. “The second option.”
Fuck.
“Why us?” I ask, wanting more answers than he’s provided. “Why is he after my son?”
Luca scoots closer, his breath against my ear. “This is not a conversation we should be having out in public.”
I laugh under my breath. “Well, if you’d had it with me at home this evening, we wouldn’t be doing this now, would we?”
He rolls his lips together and exhales loudly through his nose. “Like I said, I texted Dante on the way to the game.” He’s growing irritated with me. He grabs another bite of pretzel and stuffs it into his mouth.
My shoulders deflate.
That’s right.
He didn’t know earlier.
I can’t blame him for not telling me something that he didn’t know.
“We’ll figure it out.” I reach for his hand, giving it a squeeze before glancing down at my phone. Maybe I can convince Nova or Kensley to go up there and sing with them?
“Liam Moretti!” a female voice shouts across the restaurant as she storms inside, and I can’t help but glance up at the brunette.
She’s the same girl Liam invited over months ago.
Except this time, she’s definitely not looking happy to see him.
Liam shifts uncomfortably in his chair. I would be, too, if someone were staring at me like they wanted my death served right up.
“What are you doing here?” Liam asks, and I can’t help but watch the exchange. It’s far more interesting than picking out a song.
“If you didn’t want me to find you, maybe don’t post a live with you doing karaoke,” she snaps back.
Liam turns and glares at me. “Harper? What the hell?”