Chapter 43
I didn’t bother with the parking lot. I drove straight up to the drop-off lane in front of Centre Ice and threw my dad’s truck in park. After slamming the door shut, I ran around the front and almost collided with a small body.
The auburn-haired woman stumbled back. I grabbed her wrist before she could fall, making her release a sharp hiss.
“Lexi, I’m so sorry.” I did a double take. The wrist I just released was covered in deep bruises. “Did I just—” I shook my head. I couldn’t have just done that. “Are you okay? What happened?” My brain spiraled. “Where’s Ali?”
She yanked her jacket down, covering her arm, and zipped her jacket up further to cover her neck. “Ali?”
“Ali, my Ali.” My heart was practically beating out of my chest. “Is she in the rink?”
“I-I don’t know.” She looked rattled.
“Are you—” My phone rang, cutting me off. Seeing Ali’s picture flash across my phone, I lost track of anything else. “Where are you?” I answered.
“I’m at my mom’s?” Ali answered confusedly. “I told you I was grabbing breakfast with her, remember?”
Adrenaline rushed out of my body. I had to hold the hood of the truck to stay standing.
“But listen,” Ali continued, “I think I'm going to the rink, okay? I think I need to face Mark. I need to get this over with once and for all.”
“No.” I closed my eyes. “Please don’t.”
“You can come with me if you want and just stay in the truck for backup. Where are you? I’ll pick you up,” she offered.
I swallowed hard and looked up at the large cinderblock building. “I’m at the rink.”
“What? Why?” she asked, alarmed. “You can’t go near Mark. I don’t want you to—”
“Everything’s okay. Just stay where you are,” I said calmly before hanging up.
Lexi looked over her shoulder at the rink before facing me again. “You should get out of here.”
My eyes went to her sleeve and a supercut of Ali’s bruises played through my mind. “You should report him. I can help you. I’ll go with you. We can go right now. Please, Lexi.”
Lexi scoffed. “You’ve dealt with Spencer, he’ll just make it go away, and then things will get worse for me.” Her warm breath hung in the cold air. “He’s not in a good mood. You have to go before he comes out.”
“Lexi, you and Baker could—”
“Hey!”
My eyes flew up to see Rossi charging out of the rink with a nasty snarl on his face.
“Hey, man, I’m leaving,” I said calmly. “It was a mistake to come here. I was just looking for—”
He didn’t slow his pace. He barreled at me and punched me square in the jaw.
My ears rang for a second. Then my eyes flashed up to Rossi. I detected a split-second of fear there on his face as I moved toward him, but it was gone just as fast as it appeared.
He went to punch me again, but this time I caught his fist and twisted his arm before shoving him away from me.
Lexi backed up to the rink but stayed silent as her eyes bounced between the two of us.
Rossi came back again, and this time I got his nose, making blood spew onto the sidewalk. His hands immediately went to his face. “You motherf—”
Sirens started wailing in the distance, making me pause. Rossi laughed as blood dripped down his face, making him look like a lunatic.
Dread spiraled through my body. I knew how this looked.
How did he always get what he wanted?
Lexi’s mouth dropped open in panic. She quickly shook her head at me, at a loss for words. Rossi stumbled toward her, throwing an arm over her shoulder. Her entire body stiffened, and I hated it. I hated him.
I wanted to jump in my truck and speed away, but I knew that would just make this a thousand times worse.
“I told you to go,” Lexi mouthed at me. Her lower lip trembled as she swatted at the tears dripping from her eyes.
“He started it,” Rossi yelled as cops came barreling toward us. “I have a restraining order against him!” He pointed at me. “He grabbed my girl, so I defended her, and then he attacked me. He’s dangerous. He needs to be kept away from us.”
Lexi stayed silent, her glassy eyes bouncing everywhere except to mine.
The cops spoke in hushed voices for a minute before one came lumbering toward me. Of course it was Spencer.
I made eye-contact with the oldest cop. “Look, I was only here to—”
Spencer grabbed me and shoved my chest against my truck before yanking my arms back to handcuff me. My shoulder cried out in pain, but I wouldn’t give him or Rossi the satisfaction of seeing me hurting.
As Spencer tightened the handcuffs, a boy’s voice yelled, “What are you doing?”
I turned to see Baker dropping his hockey bag on the pavement next to his mom’s feet. His hands went to his sweaty head. His face was still red from the game. “Stop!”
“Go back inside, Baker,” Mark said as he glared at me. “You don’t need to see this.” He turned to the cops. “McQuaid here was a role model of his,” he explained. “Not so much anymore. But you know what they always say, never meet your heroes.” He gave me a dark smirk.
“Why are you arresting him?” Baker yelled, running toward me. “Why?”
“Baker, get back inside,” Mark said harshly.
“Why?” Baker’s voice broke. “You got the wrong guy!” he yelled, looking around at every adult with desperation in his eyes, and my heart broke for him.
Spencer yanked the handcuffs on my wrists and started leading me down to the patrol car.
“You got the wrong guy!” Baker yelled again. He turned to his mom, who went rigid. “Tell them, Mom!”
Mark rolled his eyes. “Okay, that’s enough.”
“Tell them about last night.” Baker used the back of his hand to wipe the tears from his face.
When his mom didn’t say anything, his face completely broke down.
Mark forced a chuckle. “He’s just mad because I benched him. Kids these days don’t know how to handle discipline.”
“Mom!” Baker yelled again, his voice hitting a high-pitch. “Tell them how he hit you last night,” he begged. “Tell them!” Panic flashed in Baker’s eyes as Mark started toward him.
On instinct I tried to go to him, but Spencer yanked me away, making me grunt.
“Mom!” Baker begged.
Mark snarled. “You little—”
“No, don’t touch him,” Lexi cried, running between them. Tears erupted from her eyes.
“Lexi,” Mark demanded, his eyes going wild with anger.
Lexi’s wide eyes were glued to Mark’s when she said, “My son’s telling the truth.”
A second later, the older cop grabbed Mark and shoved him against the lobby windows to handcuff him. “You’re all coming in for questioning,” the cop announced. “Let’s go.”
“But you can’t just—” Spencer started.
The older cop fixed a withering glare on Spencer. “They’re all coming in.”
.