“Definitely. I always need a mage on my side.”
See?
My brother’s the shit.
Even if most of the time he’s giving me shit.
“Maybe,” his dad says when Adrian glances up at us.
A nod.
“Bye, Blake,” Kylie calls.
“Bye, sweetness,” he calls back, Adrian helpfully pointing the phone in her direction so the goodbyes can be exchanged properly.
I know the moment they process what they’re seeing on the screen…and how similar Blake’s life had likely been to Adrian’s.
Then tension in the air loosens.
Blake waves. “Bye, A-man’s parents!”
That actually gets a smile from his dad and a soft “Goodbye” from his mom.
Then the call is ended and my phone is back in my pocket and it’s just Kylie and me.
“How’d it go?” I ask as they walk off, Adrian all but skipping at his parents’ sides.
“How do you think?” A sigh. “And I don’t blame them. But that”—a nod at my pocket, where my phone is stashed—“might have saved it.”
I glance back at the group. “Hopefully.”
“A-man?” she asks.
I shake my head. “All Blake.”
“And you,” she says. “Since I know you’re the one who made the call.”
She touches my cheek, slants her lips over mine, and…
I begin to think that might be true.
Thirty-Seven
Ky
“I don’t know what magic you worked with Adrian’s parents,” Holly says, waylaying me as I’m walking to my car the following week.
Colt is on the ice with the team today, not cleared fully for practice, but he’s at least able to play with his stick again.
Heh.
We’ve been doing plenty of playing with his stick and let me say it’s been fab-u-luss.
“—but they’ve stopped threatening the superintendent with legal action and they donated the lump sum for the staff’s salaries for the year.”
I’m both relieved…
And disgusted.
