He didn’t answer at first. Just lay there, shaking, like he was waiting for the world to end. Then he slid out, rolled off carefully, and pulled me into his arms.
I went without thinking. Curled up against his chest, letting him hide his face in my hair.
“Did I hurt you?” His voice was raw, desperate.
“No,” I said simply, and it was the truth. But the moment we got home I was going to give Ricky the five thousand, maybe even ask Doryu for help to get them out of Denver.
Because I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t betray Cole like everyone else in his life had done. He came back from the bathroom after cleaning us both up, and I lifted my arm for him to snuggle into, and he climbed in like some damn heat-seeking missile. I kissed his forehead, tasted sweat and salt and the iron I was getting used to.
But this time it tasted a lot likehope.
Chapter sixteen
Line Change - Substituting players during live play.
Cole
I’d hoped to sit with Keegan, but Coach had snagged him to talk about his line position, so I’d made my way down the plane, and the only empty seat was next to Taranis. I had no idea if he knew what I was, and obviously we couldn’t talk freely. I was relieved to turn my phone off, as Dad had been blowing it up since he’d gotten back to my apartment yesterday and I’d gone. I fobbed him off with an excuse about today’s trip, but I really wanted to block him.
Unfortunately, Ignatius said that was probably the fastest way to have him follow me, so I was just making excuses and pretending to be obedient.
I sat down next to Taranis and instantly felt like I was a kid again, thrown into a new school and told to make friends with the weirdest, quietest guy there. Only, this time, I was the weird one. The guy who melted a hole in the ice and was waiting for someone to point and call me a freak.
But maybe not? Keegan had sounded definite.
Taranis didn’t say much at first. He had headphones around his neck and a book open on his lap, but he wasn’t reading it. Just turning the pages every so often, like he was keeping his hands busy.
I didn’t know what to do with myself. I’d never flown with the team and not sat with Maxim or Ash. But Maxim had a bad back and was up in first class, and Ash had snagged a seat next to some girl from PR. The sponsors hadn’t sprung for first class for all of us, and for big guys, the seats were cramped. Taranis had the arm rest up and was taking two out of three seats.
I cleared my throat. “Did you get enough sleep after the game?” Then I groaned internally. I sounded like some grandma.
He looked up, startled, then relaxed a little. “Aye. I don’t need much. Four hours and I’m good.” His accent was more Canadian than Scottish, but sometimes a word would slip out and it would sound like he’d stepped straight off the moors.
I nodded, not trusting myself to say anything clever. Taranis was a legend, but he wasn’t loud about it. He just showed up every game, stopped hundred-mile-an-hour pucks, and then went home like it was nothing.
He must have noticed me fidgeting, because he smiled just a little. “You did good, kid. Vegas has got some monsters.”
My ears burned. “I got lucky on that last play.”
He shrugged. “Luck’s part of the game.”
I wished I could believe that. I wanted to ask him how he kept it together when everything inside felt like it was coming apart. But I didn’t. I just watched him flip another page and tried to act normal.
“When did you leave Scotland?”
“I was five. Ma and Dad decided they wanted a bigger life.”
“Wish I’d been able to,” I admitted. “Boarding school crap,” I added for some unknown reason, although the papers had been full of speculation about how friendly I was with William or Harry. Much to my dad’s disgust, I’d never met either of them.
He gave me a look, like he got it. “Not easy, that.”
I almost laughed. “No. Not easy.”
He hesitated, then leaned in, dropping his voice. “You got family here?”
I thought about Phoenix, about the way he curled up in my bed and made the nightmares stop. I thought about Ignatius and Keegan and how suddenly I wasn’t the only dragon in the room. For a second, I almost said yes. But then I remembered my father’s voice, cold and furious, and it caught in my throat.
“Not really,” I managed. “Mostly just the team.”
