He doesn’t turn around, but he does stop walking.
“We’reallgoing to Seattle,” I add. “The three of us.”
Now, he does turn back. “We are?”
“Yeah. I have some business to see to, and we’ll have some fun too.”
His eyes drop to where I’m still holding his aunt.
“Are you two—” He swallows hard. “Uh.”
“Yeah,” I reply, just as Willow rests her forehead on my shoulder with a little moan. “It’s new, but yeah. Is that okay with you?”
“Sure.” He frowns.
“What would you like to say?”
“Nothing.”
I kiss Willow on the top of her head and then gently push her away. “I’ll be right back.”
I cross to where Aiden is and then gesture for him to join me in the living room. When we’re alone, I cross my arms over my chest and face him, man-to-man.
“What’s on your mind, kiddo?”
Aiden runs his hand through his hair and scowls at the floor. “I like you, Ry, but if you hurt her—” He shuffles his feet, and my respect for the kid has just intensified by about a thousand percent.
“Now you know how I felt that day that you punched the wall.”
He swallows hard. “I’ll punch more than the wall if you hurt her.” He firms his chin and looks me in the eyes. “Even though you’re bigger than me, and you can kick my ass, I’ll get some swings in first.”
“Fair enough. So do you want to go to Seattle or not?”
He lets out a breath. “Yeah, I wanna go.”
“Good.”
Chapter Sixteen
Ryker
“This doesn’t look like it does on TV,” Aiden says with a frown as he looks out onto the ice.
“That’s because this isn’t where we play games.” I pat him on the shoulder and pull Willow into my side as I show them around the Blizzard Iceplex. “This place is for practices. It’s where our headquarters is, where we talk to the media. It’s also open to the public, so leagues play here, and people can rent it out for parties. They can even come watch us practice a few times a week.”
“That’s pretty cool,” Aiden says with a shrug, trying so hard to not look impressed, but his green eyes are wide as he takes everything in. “There’s a restaurant in here.”
I nod, seeing this place through the eyes of someone who’s never been here before. “And a merch shop, in case you want to pick anything up.”
I’ll be buying them a shit ton of stuff.
Particularly for Willow, because seeing her in my team gear turns me on at the drop of a fucking hat.
Checking the time, I sigh.
“Go,” Willow says, rubbing her little hand up and down my chest. “We’ll wander around and probably buy out the merch shop. We’re fine.”
“I don’t want to leave you alone.”
