And to make sure that Quinn didn’t lose another person he loved. Augustrefusedto let him go through that pain again.
Breathe in.
Andout.
Chapter 35
Quinn
“I’m not trying to pressure you into strongarming August.”
Quinn rubbed his face and groaned. He didn’t want to have this conversation right now, when he was trying to enjoy the game to show support for August, but Bea was determined.
“Indigo said something about her son that freaked me out,” Bea continued, taking his hand to squeeze it. “She said his mood dipped two weeks before you told me about what happened between him and Perry, and when she pulled him off the Timbits team, he went back to normal.”
Quinn was happy he hadn’t eaten anything because he would have thrown it up. The thought of any child going through what August had made him physically ill. Just listening to his stories during the therapy sessions had required taking several doses of Gravol so the queasiness would go away.
Afterward, Quinn had called a meeting and asked the parents if their kids had been in Perry’s office alone with him, but none of them had, except Indigo’s son, Atticus. When Atticus was questioned about it, he said that nothing bad happened, but Perry would praise him and tell him that he was talented, and that if he listened, he would make it to the NHL. Those praises came with treats and other gifts, but they all accumulated into one thing.
Grooming.
Luckily, they had made it in time to stop Atticus from being abused, which Quinn was thankful for every waking moment. Perry hadn’t faced any consequences yet, but Quinn was working on it.
Indigo had gone to the police to press charges, but without evidence, the grooming was brushed off as a coach trying to encourage one of his players.
That’s where August would need to come in.
Quinn’s lawyer made it very clear that without the tapes or pictures, August’s accusations would be tricky to prove. He was a famous hockey player, and the case would be high profile, but they had to think of his career before deciding how to move forward.
All the attention drawn by legal battles could mess up his game, and the last thing a hockey player needed was extra pressure. August had shown interest in providing statements and working with investigators, but he was still in a weird mind space right now, and Quinn wanted him to take more time before they went after Perry.
Quinn didn’t know why, but he had a gut feeling that Perry still had the evidence they needed to convict him. He was planning to talk to August about his theory, but he needed to be careful.
Diana, his therapist, warned him that overwhelming August was a bad idea when he was in such a fragile mental state. And since parents were pulling their children from the Timbits team, she believed that Perry was too smart to engage inappropriately with kids for a short time. She told him that if Perry had been doing it for ten years, then he knew how to avoid getting caught, which meant that he knew when to back off.
Quinn trusted her judgment, and his hands were tied because he needed to protect August, and that meant giving him time to recover from the barrage of nightmares that haunted his sleep every night. Quinn missed his nieces and Eren, but he couldn’t bear the thought of going home when he knew August would be in distress without him.
“Bea, the fucker is going to jail,” Quinn said, trying to answer her fears in a way that would soothe her frazzled nerves. “He had his hands on Emira and Alara during some of their sessions, and if you don’t think Eren is ready to bypass the law to put that monster in the ground, you’re wrong.”
Bea was tearing up, and he didn’t blame her. While Perry hadn’t touched Tate, Bea had still been on the ice with her son and smiled when he praised her boy. She was having a normal reaction that any parent would have. She wanted justice, but if they wanted to put Perry away for good, then they had to gather evidence and testimonies.
“You focus on being there for Indigo and Atticus and let me handle the hard part,” Quinn finished, giving her what he hoped was a calming smile. “August is willing to cooperate, but he can’t do it right now. And I love him too much to push—”
Quinn was cut off by screaming loud enough to rattle the teeth in his skull. The stands erupted around him with people surging to their feet, their voices clamouring into a pitch that made him dizzy.
For a moment, Quinn thought there must be a fire or some unseen disaster unfolding inside the building, but no one was running in panic.
They stood rooted in place, their bodies rigid like a wall of living steel, faces twisted in abstract horror as they looked toward the rink where the players were still skating.
Bea jumped to her feet as every guy sitting on the player’s bench leapt over the wall, shouting something at Quinn that he couldn’t hear.
The jumbotron wasn’t showing anything that explained the reaction of the crowd, but then Bea yanked him to his feet and shoved him against the glass, her mouth forming the words.
“Eren’s hurt.”
Quinn’s world stopped and flipped on its axis.
His heart pounded in his throat as he watched the players and coaches spill onto the ice while the refs pushed everyone away from the two figures lying motionless amid the chaos. He couldn’t comprehend why he was seeing so much red—he couldn’t comprehend anything right now.
