Chapter 12
GRAYSON
We left the ice, and after we’d showered and changed, we gathered at the side of the rink. It was time to face the shit we were in.
Ava was quiet as she read the words on my phone.
I might have missed once,
But I won’t anymore.
“We need to get to the bottom of this. I can’t do it, Gray. I can’t keep living like this, not knowing who or what is watching us, or what they’re planning to do.”
My eyes met Micah’s over the top of her head, and he nodded, stepping up to Ava and wrapping his arms around her.
She melted into him with a sigh as he stroked his fingers through her hair.
I wanted to be the one to soothe her, but honestly, Micah was better at comfort than I was, and I needed to speak to Cruz.
“Martinez. Over here.” I jerked my head toward a section of seating out of earshot of Ava and Micah.
“Try ordering me around again, Cross, and you’ll regret it,” he growled, stomping over to me.
I noticed him pause with a wince, rubbing his ass, and I bit back the words that wanted to come out.
Cruz Martinez wouldn’t appreciate sympathy from me.
He’d probably think it was pity, and then we’d go back to sniping at each other, and, honestly, there was no fucking time for that shit.
Ignoring his comment, I leaned back against the plexiglass, folding my arms across my chest. “Can you get in touch with your contact? The one you got the intel on Olivia from? I want to know if there’s anything else about those symbols out there.
I’m guessing they have an in with law enforcement, and there might be other pictures on file.
I need to know if we can link it to anything before we go back and investigate that crypt.
” I rubbed my hand over my jaw, exhaling harshly.
“Fuck. It might be too much to ask. I don’t want to put you in a situation—”
He held up his hand. “Stop. You don’t need to worry about me. I’m a big boy, and I can handle myself.” He leered at me, his hand going to the bulge in his jeans. “Unless you’re offering to handle me.”
“Fuck off. You couldn’t handle me handling you,” I shot back. Fucking hell, this conversation was getting off track. “Forget that. Can you do it, and will it get you into trouble?”
There was a long pause while he thought about it, pacing up and down, raking his hand through his hair.
I glanced over at Ava and Micah, a smile tugging at my lips when I saw Micah sprawled on one of the seats in the front row with Ava perched on his thighs.
They looked good together. Hot and so fucking sweet.
Beneath that sweetness, though, they both had a spine of steel.
It was a combination that made my dick hard and my heart skip a beat all at the same time.
“—Cross! Grayson!”
My head snapped around to find Cruz glaring at me. “What?”
“You asked me a question, and then you spaced out. I don’t like having my time wasted,” he gritted out.
I breathed out through my nose, trying to stay calm. He was only lashing out because of the stress of the situation we were in. Probably. Part of it was down to the fact we rubbed each other up the wrong way, even though we’d been on more cordial terms lately.
“Sorry,” I muttered, and his eyes widened with obvious shock. The asshole clearly hadn’t been expecting me to apologize. “I was thinking. What’s the verdict?”
Cruz opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by Micah.
“Gray. Cruz. We’re gonna go back to Ava’s sorority house.
Ava had an idea—we should talk to some of the people who were at the Halloween party.
Someone might have seen something. I don’t know if anything will happen, but people don’t always want to talk to the cops, so maybe we’ll find something out. ”
Ava joined us, shifting her bag on her shoulder as she bit down on her lip. “It’s a long shot, but it might help.”
I gave her a reassuring smile, leaning in to press a kiss to her head before squeezing Micah’s shoulder. “Yeah. It’s worth a try. Most people were drinking and not exactly aware of their surroundings, but who knows? Maybe someone noticed something out of the ordinary.”
“Are you two gonna be okay without us? I don’t want any bloodshed,” Micah teased, and Cruz snorted.
“As satisfying as it would be to make the golden boy hockey hero bleed, I think we can control ourselves.”
My gaze slid from Micah to Cruz. “You’ve clearly never seen me in a hockey fight.”
“You’ve never seen me in a real fight,” he countered. “Slamming each other up against the boards and flailing around while you’re wearing pads and helmets to protect your delicate skin isn’t fighting.”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever you say.” Turning back to Ava and Micah, who looked as if they couldn’t decide whether to be amused or exasperated by us, I nodded reassuringly. “It’s fine. We’ll be fine. See what you can find out, and we’ll meet up again later to go through everything, okay?”
When they were gone, I repeated my question to Cruz. “Do you think you can get any information?”
“I’ll see what I can do. It’s not…easy. The people I know…you don’t want to mess around with them. I don’t like owing favors—”
It was my turn to cut him off. “Don’t do it. It’s not worth it. We’ll find the information another way.”
“I said, I’ll see what I can do. We’re in this situation, and we need to take every advantage we can get.”
We glared at each other. I straightened up, coming to stand in front of him. Keeping my arms folded over my chest, I stared him down. “Not at the cost of your safety.”
“I told you I can handle myself,” he spat.
“And I’m telling you, you don’t have to. We’re all in this together, okay? That means we look out for each other.”
“You don’t know anything about my world, Cross.”
I lowered my arms, stepping even closer. My chest brushed against his every time I took a breath.
“Then why don’t you show me?” I said.