25. Robin
ROBIN
Ipulled up to the Roller-o-Rama with for Secret Santa, but sadly, my heart was still Grinch-sized. It’d been over a month. I thought I would be over him by now. I should be over him by now. But I wasn’t. Not even close.
Still, I put on my Santa hat and grabbed my skate bag and my present.
I opened the door and pulled my coat around me.
A cold wind whipped around me as I made my way in.
I yanked the door open and was enveloped by warmth and the smell of Mel’s Chili.
I stomped the snow from my boots before turning the corner to the Reaper’s Christmas Party.
“There she is!” Sonia hollered as she made her way over and pulled me into a big hug.
“I see you’ve been hitting Belle’s eggnog already.”
“I wouldn’t touch that shit.” Sonia said, brandishing a flask out of her vest pocket.
“Hey! Everyone loves me eggnog,” Belle protested.
“You keep telling yourself that,” Sonia said as they walked further in.
“Let the mandated merriment begin,” I groaned. I just couldn’t seem to summon up any holiday cheer this year.
Around me the team all laughed and joked. Some were skating, some were eating, I was just sitting here wondering why I couldn’t force myself to have fun in this room full of amazing women.
Belle brought me over a basket of chili cheese fries and a drink. I eyed the drink suspiciously.
“Oh stop, it’s not my eggnog.”
I took a sip only to spit out because of the surprising burn of what seemed like straight up vodka.
Belle took it back and sniffed it before turning to Sonia with a glare. “Really?”
She merely grinned and flipped us both off before heading out onto the floor in her skates. Belle got up and put a little more mixer in and brought it back.
“Sorry, I should have known better than to trust Sonia to mix a drink.”
“Rookie mistake,” I said with a smile that almost felt foreign. “Where’s Raphael tonight?”
The smile that flitted across her face made me burn with jealousy for a split second. Belle was one of my best friends; I was happy she found Raph. He treats her like a princess and Belle deserves it. But sitting here with a fucking broken heart I can’t put back together is pissing me off.
“This isn’t really his thing. I mean, can you see that man eating cheese fries and drinking whatever swill this is that Sonia brought?”
“No, but I would like to,” I said with a chuckle.
“You and me both. He comes to our bouts and every now and then Trixie’s, but that's about it. Plus, I need time with my team,” she said, nudging my shoulder.
“How are you doing?” she asks me quietly.
After a long lamenting sigh I said, “I’m here.”
“No place better to be.”
Then, thank god, Mel stood on a chair next to the rink and announced it was time for the Reaper gift exchange. Good, because when this is over, I can get out of here.
Yet, as I move over, I see Ariel’s bright red curly hair behind the snack counter. I make a note to go check on her when we’re done. I’ve checked on the transfer lately and it seems fine, but part of me has been worried since everything blew up with Micah if he told his family.
So as soon as the gift exchange was over, I thanked Zella for my Zombie stickers that would look bad ass on my helmet and a whole box of cosmic brownies from her uncle’s bakery. I headed over to Ariel.
“Hey Squirt, How’s it going?”
“Robin! Good! I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever! I’ve seen Micah a couple times, but you haven’t been with him.” Then her mouth fell open like it just occurred to her why that might be. “Oh my god, did you guys break up?”
“Yeah, we did. But it’s fi—”
She came running from behind the counter and wrapped her arms around me. I stilled, unsure of why do to. I wasn’t exactly the hugging type, but it didn’t seem much to matter to her. I caught Mel’s eye and she just gave me an amused smirk.
“What happened?” she asked, her eyes full of concern.
“It’s nothing,” I said, shrugging her off. “Where have you seen him?”
“He’s been helping out around lantern house.
He gave me a ride home one night when our van had a flat.
Then came back the next day and fixed the flat and has been around fixing things.
It’s been super helpful. He even brought a Christmas tree earlier this week.
But I can totally hate him if we hate him now. Just let me know and I will—”
“No.” I stopped her by putting a hand on her arm. “We don’t hate him. It just didn’t work out.”
“Good, because he’s been super nice. And things have got a little dramatic around Lantern House earlier today.”
“Was he there?”
“No, he hasn’t been around in a few days. But this morning there was a cop that came over to talk to Maggie.”
Panic spiked at the thought, but I tried to remain calm. “Oh really? Do you know what that was about?”
“I’m not entirely sure, I was only listening from the kitchen, but it was something about a mistaken money donation. I don’t know.”
Fuck!
“Do they think Maggie did something wrong?”
Ariel shrugged and I needed her to not be so fucking nonchalant about this. “I don’t think so. She said she thought it was a donation. The cops seemed to just be getting information and they left.”
“Has anything else weird been happening?”
Her brow creased as she tilted her head. “Not that I can think of. Why?”
“No reason, but I do have to go. I’ll see you later squirt.”
Before she would even comment I turned to leave. Fuck. This was not good. What was going on? Did they trace it back to me? Surely not, I mean no cop came to my door.
The cold barely registered as I got in my car and made my way home.
My mind was reeling. I had covered my tracks.
They shouldn’t be able to trace it back to me, but if they are investigating that’s not good.
Plus, if Micah had told them then they would know it was me and they would have come to get me not to talk to Maggie.
And Micah would be volunteering at Lantern House.
Why was Micah volunteering at Lantern House?
My mind was racing. I looked up just in time to see the light was red, but I was going way too fast to slow down. Fuck. I needed to calm down.
Then I saw it, the dreaded red flashing lights.
Great. This was all I fucking needed right now.
I pulled over into a CarZone parking lot and got my license and registration ready and waited. After a few minutes the officer got out of his car and came to my window. I rolled down my window and put on the nicest smile I could muster.
“Do you know why I pulled you over?”
“I guessing it’s because I ran that red light?”
“Honesty. A surprising approach.”
I just shrugged. “I mean, we both know it.”
“I’m going to run these,” he said as he got my paperwork from me and walked back to his car.
Great, a ticket. Merry fucking Christmas.
When he returned he handed me my license and registration back and just told me to slow down.
“What, you're not giving me a ticket? Why is it because I’m white?”
The cop just furrowed his brow. “No. It’s because your record is clean and it’s four days before Christmas. But if you want a ticket, I can write you one.”
“No thank you. Sorry. It’s been a weird night.”
He nodded unamused. “Go home and drive safely.”
“Yes, sir.”
I rolled up my window. I needed to get a hold on myself. I made it home paying a little more attention to the road, but when I was in, I went into my office and pulled up the account transfer. It had been cancelled. Fuck.
What do I do now?