“You must be June,” she said through a computer, reminding me of Stephen Hawking. “Don’t be afraid. I sound like a robot, but I don’t have any cool lasers on this thing.”
“June,” Cole said with a broad smile, “I want you to meet Alice. My sister.”
I bent down to hug Alice warmly. “I would love to say that I’ve heard a lot about you, but Cole kept it a secret.”
Alice used very subtle finger movements on a keyboard to respond. “He hides me away because he’s ashamed of me. Please help. Save me.”
I gasped.
Behind me, Cole groaned. “You’re not funny, Alice.”
“Ha ha ha,” she laughed. “I’m very funny.”
“You had me going for a second,” I said.
“Alice likes to torture me,” Cole said, bending down to kiss her cheek. “Even though I’m the nicest older brother in the world.”
I pulled a chair over to sit next to Alice. “Rhett said you didn’t have a sister.”
“Because I don’t tell him every single aspect of my life.”
“I know a lot about you,” Alice said. “The sexy new physical trainer, who distracts Cole every day at work.”
“Hey,” Cole snapped. “You don’t have to repeat everything I’ve told you.”
“I don’t have to, but I like pissing you off.”
I burst out laughing, which made Alice smile. She had some control of her facial features, it seemed.
“ALS,” she said. “If you’re wondering what I have.”
“That sucks. I’m sorry.”
“It does suck,” she said. “But I’m lucky to have Cole to take care of me.”
I smiled over at him.
“You’re probably wondering why I keep her a secret,” Cole said.
“Because you’re embarrassed of me,” Alice said.
He glared at her. “Stop it.”
“But it’s fun! See, I’m laughing. Ha. Ha. Ha.”
I put my hand on her knee and said, “I absolutely love you. As the captain of the Reapers, Cole needs more people knocking him down a peg.”
“The team should hire me,” she said. “Throw a mascot costume over me and push me across the ice!”
Cole sat next to me and held up his phone. “Let me show you something.”
“Your Instagram messages?”
“Start scrolling,” he said.
I flinched when I read the first message. It was a death threat.
The second was a paragraph-long tirade calling Cole a dozen different names because he allowed a goal in the third period last game, which caused the person to lose their parlay bet.
