Chapter 7
Eli
“Hey!” I cringe at the loud tone of my own greeting, but quickly school my face because it’s a video call.
“Hey,” Lex repeats back at me, and his face relaxes with a small smile.
“How’s your dad?” I ask the first thing that comes to mind.
“Oh, uh.” He shakes his head and the feed shakes a little but then stabilizes. I guess he set his phone on a table. Sure enough, he appears again, further away and looking to the side, that small smile now gone.
“I didn’t go see him after all.”
All the stupid, unnecessary nerves I’d been feeling get replaced with concern.
“Why? Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, everyone’s fine. I just didn’t really feel up to it.”
I scramble for something to say, and wonder briefly if I should push while I see him suck in a deep breath then face the camera again.
“I decided it was better if I spent the day talking through my options with my agent. Considering what that means, you know, leaving the Empire, I really didn’t want to go see Dad after.”
I understand instantly.
Ruko is . . . well, he’s good people.
I mean, when I first met him, I was scared shitless of the guy. Who wouldn’t be wary of the very recent ex-husband of their new stepmother? Especially when he’s six-five and built like a tank?
But Ruko is awesome. He made me forget that initial fear in under an hour, and though it still baffles me how he and Lyla got together and got divorced, I know he’s a very loving father and a great person to have on your side—which obviously Lex does.
Ruko is also . . . very passionate about the Empire—to say the least.
He played for them for more than a decade, he won a lot of trophies and cups and whatever while playing for them, and he had a big part in making them The Empire.
The guy’s proud of his achievements, and why the hell shouldn’t he be?
He’s never been shy about that pride, either, or about his love for his former team, so I understand Lex’s resistance to talking to him about it, even though I know if he told Ruko only half of what he told me about his team, the man would riot.
Still . . . because I understand, I don’t push him in that direction.
“And how did that conversation go?”
The long-suffering sigh is something Lex rarely does, but I recognize it from every single time he’s gone off on a tangent about something, so I set my phone down in the little stand I have for it on my desk and lean back.
“Patrick almost shit a brick when I first told him.” Lex rolls his eyes dramatically.
“He demanded I tell him every single reason, and since he’s, you know, supposed to defend me or whatever, I told him.
All of it. More than I’ve told you actually,” he adds quietly, then shakes his head as if to clear it.
“He also told me I need to write down, and like, document anything that happens from here on out so he has all the information he needs when the time comes to waive the no-trade clause.”
“When is that happening?” I force my voice not to sound too eager.
“There’s no way to know for sure, but I did tell him I want it to happen this season, and the trade deadline is March sixth this year, so . . .”
“Did you talk to him about possible teams?”
“Yeah, I made a fuck-no list.” The cheeky grin isn’t as effective as it usually would be, but I melt at the fact that he tries.
“I’m proud of you,” I tell him seriously, but he scoffs and leans back on his couch, again shaking his head.
“Seriously, Lex. I am. You’ve toughed it out as long as you’ve been able to, even when you didn’t have to.
Even when you know you have so many people on your side that would actually go to war for you if you’d told anyone what was really happening.
And I’m not only talking about your father, your brother, or your uncle Paul.
I mean, if you’d told your mother or your cousins, you know they’d have probably bought the damn team. ”
He keeps shaking his head, but this time the tiny smile is as genuine as it can be.
“That would be a massive pain in the ass,” he mutters. “And probably against the rules of the NHL, something about conflict of interest and favoritism.”
“Yeah, maybe, but you’ve still been going through this alone. And I get that everyone’s overreactive history is probably why. So I am proud of you, and I know you’re going to end up in a way better situation once Patrick sorts everything out.”
“Yeah, he was so fucking offended on my behalf.” Lex scoffs, but his shoulders are lower, his breathing more calm.
“The thing is, he isn’t offended because I’m part of some imaginary hockey royal family or whatever, he was so fucking mad because I’m his client, and because I’m a good player.
He didn’t mention Dad once in the whole time we talked. ”
“From everything I’ve ever heard about Patrick, it sounds like he’s pretty sharp, so he probably already knows it’s bound to be complicated with Ruko, and mentioning him would only make things harder on you.”
“Yeah . . .”
We both take deep breaths, and I love that we’re in sync—or as in sync as we can be when we’re more than three thousand miles apart.
“Okay, so I’m going to send you Tuck’s information so you have him to talk to when and if you want to. Don’t use it until I have a chance to tell him I gave you his phone number, though.”
“I don’t know if I’ll ever use it, angel,” he says gently, like he’s letting me down and doesn’t want his words to be too harsh.
“I know that. I just want you to have options.”
“Didn’t he start working for the Demons in the summer?”
“Yeah, right after he graduated from Columbia. And I know you don’t know Jim personally, but believe me when I tell you he’d hardly give Tuck a place of power just because.
He for sure thinks Tuck is the only person who can possibly take over for him but he won’t just give up control for shits and giggles.
He’s not that type, which is probably the only thing I respect about him. ”
“I still think it would be a conflict of interest, and I can’t afford to risk it.”
I mull that over for a second then shake my head sharply.
“Tuck isn’t the type to let business get in the way of two people talking. But I get it if you never contact him.”
Lex only hums to that, then a teasing smirk grows slowly on his lips, and I have no idea what’s coming.
“About those posts . . .”
I curse my body when heat blooms rapidly on my cheeks.
“I cleared it with Vinny,” I mumble.
He bursts out laughing, that big, bright boom that always makes me feel like I’m under the sun on a perfect summer day.
“I liked them, angel, and I’m not the only one. I’ve seen plenty of replies where people say how happy they are to hear from you. They think you have dirt on us.”
“I do have dirt on you,” I point out.
“Yeah, you do.” His smile turns soft, and his eyes crinkle with a tenderness that’s as familiar as my own name.
“Thank you for doing that. I don’t know if I told you that, but thank you for trying to make this work.
I don’t think I deserve this much trouble, but I’m really lucky to have you, angel. ”
“Stop it,” I grumble. “You’re worth a lot more trouble, in fact . . .”
I pick up my phone and go check out these replies he’s talking about.
I snort when I see Vinny’s.
@eagle21
You get away with too much to be a younger sibling. It goes to show how little you had to fight over the remote growing up.
“Vinny’s reply has almost more likes than mine!” I cry out, and craft the perfect response while Lex laughs.
“He has more followers than you since you haven’t been on social media for almost five years!”
“It’s still unacceptable,” I grumble.
@eliellsworth @eagle21
See? Fun police.
I keep it simple and to the point.
I can tell Lex went looking for it when I see his face closer to the camera, and when he snorts softly and his eyes focus back, I can almost feel the warmth of his stare.
“I love how your brain works, angel.”
I melt.
In my experience, the property is pretty typical in the fancy neighborhoods of Jersey, but I know damn well this is far from your run-of-the-mill mansion.
For one, I can see the three guards that are scanning the SUV as soon as Austin drives it halfway through the gate and stops—just like Eian’s instructions said.
And just like he warned, I make sure to stay flat on the back seat so no one can see me.
Sure, we’ve got barely legal tinted windows, but it’s still a precaution I don’t mind taking.
I really don’t want anyone but Seamus, Eian, and Colby to know who I really am, or well, my guess is Colby and Eian haven’t really figured out I’m Angelwings66, or they probably would’ve said something, right?
I’ll have to make sure Seamus doesn’t snitch.
I hear Austin talk quietly with the guards through the half-open window, and smile at the memory of our brief conversation barely twelve hours ago.
The one question he asked before agreeing to bring me here and to stay with me, echoes in my head.
“Does this have anything to do with your secret meetings with your Dad that you always leave us home for?”
Of course I denied it.
And thankfully, I am very good at lying, because after staring at me for ten seconds he conceded with a nod, then asked me when we were marching to our deaths.
So dramatic.
I laughed in his face and climbed out of the car.
The car moves again and brings me back to the present. I hear the window close, so I know it’s safe to speak.
“All good?”
“Yeah,” he says, but the shake of his voice betrays how rattled he is.
“I promise it’s all going to be okay.”
“Of course it is.” I’m not going to deny him the chance to boast with false confidence. “They said to go around the house and keep going until this little road stops, aaaand there’s a creepy little house there. I don’t like creepy little houses, Eli.”
Okay, so false confidence has left the building.
“Is anyone around?”
“Uh, yeah.”
I can’t pinpoint what his tone means now.
“What is it?”
“Well, you know, just New York’s most ruthless killer staring daggers at me.”