Chapter 48
There wasn’t a single empty seat in the rink, not one.
Every person in Cedar Bluff showed up for the exhibition game, even though it was no longer fire versus police.
It seemed it didn’t matter to them. Which was great because that meant the charity was going to be raking in the dough from the spectators.
Skating to the wing at center ice, I took a second to look around at our makeshift team. There wasn’t a single crack in our armor, not even in the tiny ten-year-old manning the goal like she was an Olympic athlete chasing gold.
We freaking had this.
I tapped my stick on the ice, bending at the waist and getting ready as Tanner took the face-off against one of his coworkers. They joked with each other, pushing and shoving lightly before the ref even skated out there with the puck.
The crowd ate it up, loving the show. Which was the whole point of an exhibition game.
But even as I tried to fuel my mind off everyone’s excitement, there was an undercurrent of energy on the ice that I couldn’t quite name.
Glancing over my shoulder, I clocked Travis and Thomas skating around on defense, fully prepared to knock someone’s teeth out to protect our little goalie. Glancing across the ice at Tanner at center and Eli on the other side of him, everyone was there. Everyone was accounted for.
Turning to the side, I felt her eyes long before I found her in the crowd.
Goldie.
She was up on the upper deck with Jasper at her side, leaning against the railing and staring down at the ice like something was—wait a second.
I stood up to my full height as her neck contracted; the muscles working hard as she swallowed as if she were worried.
“Dalton,” Eli yelled from his side of the ice. “Go time!”
Tearing my eyes away from Goldie, I forced myself to look back at the ice, trying to shake off that bad feeling. Nothing was wrong. We were all here. All together.
We were fine.
The whistle blew and thinking ceased as we all took off, skating up the ice, chasing the puck and trying to score on the other team.
The energy pulsating through my body still felt off, though, no matter how I tried to shake it.
“You good?” Tanner asked on his way by once, pausing just long enough to let me know I had his attention.
“Yeah,” I nodded, “You?”
“Living the fucking dream!” He smiled, skating backward with that golden-boy grin on his face. God, I loved that man.
I rolled my shoulders, risking a glance back up at Goldie to see if she had relaxed at all, hoping it would relax me to see her as her normal, bubbly, smiling self.
The second I found her again though, that anxiety hit me full force like a brick wall.
She gripped the railing so tight that even from a distance I could see her white knuckles.
I followed her gaze, where she stared across the ice and found her gaze locked on Tanner. He skated in circles around the ref, laughing at something he said before they settled up for another face-off.
The puck dropped and everyone skated after it, but I hung back, watching the ice with a different lens, a critical eye. Tanner stole the puck from a cop buddy of his and started off down the ice in the opposite direction, breaking away to score.
I clocked Chief Tolbert making a move for the puck, but at the last second, he twisted and took Tanner’s legs out from under him.
The move was a cheap shot, one Tanner hadn’t been expecting, and it sent him headfirst into the boards, which he narrowly avoided thanks to his quick reflexes, twisting his body and landing with his back absorbing the impact.
The whistle blew, and the ref aimed a pointed glare at Tolbert’s back as he skated away, “Keep it clean, Chief.”
The man didn’t even turn around to acknowledge the ref, or hell, offer a hand to Tanner as he got up, shaking off the hit.
Tanner, the golden boy he was, laughed it off, cracking his neck and getting back to it, though I clocked the questioning glance he threw in the direction of the man who had hit him.
“Hey,” A voice called from behind me, but I didn’t look away from Tolbert as he grabbed his water bottle, taking a long drink off it before heading back out the face off. Thomas skated up to my side, bumping my shoulder with his.
“Yeah,” I replied, watching the Chief.
“Switch with me.” He said, and I finally looked away to my friend.
“And play D?” I scoffed at the absurd idea. “No way.” I played offense, always.
“Seriously,” he said, watching the face-off spot as players joked and laughed. All except Tolbert. “Switch with me.”
I felt the shift in him as he saw Tolbert take the spot directly across from Tanner. Tanner glanced my way, where I should have been on his wing if Thomas hadn’t been distracting me.
“What do you know?” I asked, cutting to the chase. My instincts never let me down when danger was involved, and my senses were tingling now. Something was wrong. And it had to do with Tanner.
“Enough.” Thomas said pointedly. “If you won’t switch, then watch his six.” He said, nodding to Tanner. The message was sharp, and instantly I knew I should have figured out what was going on before the game started.
“Tell me—” My hands tightened around my stick, but the whistle blew and Thomas shoved me toward Tanner’s wing.
“Just stay tight. Watch him.” He said before skating back to his place in front of the net. “Stay tight, Rhea.”
“Got it.” I snapped, already knowing Tanner wasn’t getting away from me, regardless if we were on the same team. He was my man.
On and off the ice. And something was seriously wrong.
The puck dropped again, and I watched Tolbert make a quick shove, skating after Tanner as he passed the puck to Eli. Tanner turned, skating off toward their net, and Tolbert gave chase, not even paying attention to the puck.
Not on my watch.
I skated like a bat out of hell, catching up in no time flat, and I twisted around anticipating Tanner’s shift, catching Tolbert by surprise as he ran right into my shoulder check. It rocked my teeth together from the impact of it, but it saved Tanner from getting laid out flat on his blind side.
Which further confirmed my suspicions. Tolbert wasn’t here to play hockey.
He was here for Tanner.
To hurt him.
Tolbert got his footing and towered over me, but I matched him, all ten toes, unblinking as he sneered at me.
“Hey! Play the puck, not the player!” The ref yelled, trying to get us back into the game, but I wouldn’t move.
“Got a problem, Chief?” I asked firmly, daring him to make up some excuse for targeting Tanner when the whistle blew, signaling a goal.
“Wouldn’t you love to know,” Tolbert said, checking his shoulder into mine as he skated off to center ice for another face-off.
“What’s going on?” Tanner asked, zeroed in on my exchange with my old fire chief.
“Let me take the face off.” I said in place of an explanation.
Tanner glanced over his shoulder to where Tolbert stood, waiting for an opponent. Waiting for Tanner. “No,” He said firmly, skating backward toward the man. “No chance.”
“Tanner.” I snapped, “Let me take it.”
“No.” Tanner growled softly, “I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m not letting him near you.”
“It’s not me he’s got a hard-on for, Tanner!” I cursed and then all but stomped my foot in frustration when Tanner squared up with the egotistical man for the drop. “Fucking men!” I screamed in frustration, getting more than a few questionable glances my way.
Taking my place at the wing, I looked up at Goldie and could feel her fear through her stare as she gently shook her head, eyes wide, curls wild.
She said something to me, but I couldn’t make it out as the whistle blew and I snapped my eyes back to the ice to where Tolbert took a huge cheap shot at Tanner but missed.
They skated off, breaking off in different directions, and I gave chase to Tanner, following him to our goal where Thomas passed me the puck as I skated by and yelled to me. “We need to stop this game, Rhea.”
“Yeah,” I said, taking my spot behind the net, assessing the ice. “Something’s wrong.”
Just then, a forward from the department team stole through the back of the ice, making a play for the puck, so I shot it wide across the ice while I tried to figure out what to do.
Instead of chasing after the puck to score, the opposing player tried to pass it to a teammate, but Tanner stole it, making a break for the other net.
“No!” I yelled, skating that way. I pumped my arms and legs as hard as I could to get there, but I was stuck in slow motion as Tanner took the puck and turned to shoot, exposing himself to a massive check coming his way. “Tanner!”
Tolbert made his move, not even trying to make it look like he was going for the puck to block. Instead, he just threw himself through the air at Tanner’s side.
At the last second, he shifted, lifting his skate toward Tanner’s head.
Time slowed to nothing as that blade arched through the air directly at Tanner’s neck.
A scream echoed through the air, and I didn’t know if it was mine or someone else’s as I watched Tanner see it coming right at him. His eyes widened, and he pulled up, trying to avoid the knife blade slicing toward his neck, but momentum was pushing him too hard.
Too fast.
He couldn’t stop.
A blur caught my gaze from the side as Thomas threw himself at Tolbert, knocking his leg just to the side as it made impact with Tanner.
All three fell into a pile on the ice, my lungs burned as I finally got to them, throwing myself on top of Tanner, who lay face down on the ice, arms covering his face.
“Tanner!” I screamed, ripping his arms away as blood fell to the ice, soaking in and staining it. “Medic!”
“I’m okay,” Tanner coughed, rolling onto his side, clutching the side of his face with blood dripping between his fingers. “I’m okay.”
“Let me see.” I ripped his hand away and nearly collapsed in relief when I saw the sharp cut across his cheekbone.
And not his neck.