I take the first face-off against Logan. He’s grinning at me in a very un-Logan-like way through the cage on his helmet. Yeah, the guy has lightened up considerably since he allowed himself to fall in love with Chloe but he still doesn’t grin like that. “Hey, Barlowe. You ready to be showed up by a fisherman’s son?”
I howl. “Deck told me to make sure I handed you your ass and who am I to disappoint.”
The puck drops and, shockingly, Logan wins it. I have to chuckle because I know for a fact right then, that’s not the paramedic Hawkins brother on the ice skating away from me right now, chuckling like a drunk hyena. It’s his doppelganger, Finn. Finn was always the better hockey player.
He gets halfway down the ice before Briggs manages to intercept his pass to a teammate and makes his way down the ice back toward me and the opposing team’s net. He takes a shot on net. It’s the equivalent of a baseball pitcher lobbing the ball but their goalie lets out a scream anyway as he wobbles on his skates and hurls himself in the general direction of the puck.
Briggs laughs. “Who the fuck is that?”
“Jake Maverick. He’s the fire captain. A personal friend and a comedian without knowing it,” I say as Jake stops the puck and gets so excited he tries to do a little dance and falls on his ass. The audience is loving it. Briggs is doubled over in laughter so I skate for the puck.
It’s a fun game, until the third period. We’re up four to two. One of the goals we didn’t even have to give them. Finn blew a fast hard snapshot right in the five-hole and Jay looked annoyed but impressed. I punch his shoulder with my glove as he skates by celebrating. “Good job, Finn!”
“Thanks, buddy.” His eyes widen. “But… uh… I think you mean Logan. I’m the slightly less handsome, less charismatic Hawkins twin.”
“Yeah. Of course.” I wink. He grins.
And then someone clips my shoulder. It’s hard and there’s no mistaking it isn’t friendly. “Can we play or what?”
Ronan. God that guy is a dick. I nod. “Of course, Green. Are we keeping you from something?”
I think about Aspen whispering his name — confessing it — in the middle of the night. This is the first time I’ve seen him since I found out. I have worked really hard at focusing on everything but this unhappy fact. I’ve thrown myself into Declan and kept my thoughts on the fact that Aspen and Andie are happy and healthy and much better off without him. But I can’t believe he would leave Aspen hanging like that. Walk away from his own child. I’m not sold on having kids myself, but I know I wouldn’t shirk my responsibility if I accidentally helped create one and the mother chose to keep it. I’d be there financially and any other way I could be.
“Yeah. I’d like to get back to work so the sooner this waste of time ends the better.” I skate along beside him as we all get ready for a face-off at center ice.
“I can see why you think raising money for a charity is a waste of time,” I reply and feel my fingers clench inside my gloves. “You’re not one for helping out others. Even when they’re your own blood.”
I skate away and take my place left of Briggs who is taking the face-off. I’m a defenseman and the only reason I took the first face-off was for media optics and because it’s a charity game so no one cares. Ronan is also a defenseman and when an older guy lines up beside me he pushes him away and takes his place. Great. I try to take a calming breath. I can’t get into this here. Not now.
“What was that, Barlowe?” he asks, his voice harder and colder than the ice under our skates. “You got something you need to say? About me and my family?”
“No. I honestly don’t,” I say calmly because Aspen and Andie aren’t his family. They’re mine.
“You been drinking today? Is the money we raised going to go to help you sober up again?” He’s taunting me. Pushing me to react.
“Sober,” I bark back and the puck drops. I start to skate away but his stick between my blades causes me to bite it. The ref blows the whistle.
I get to my feet and the crowd, which had been boisterous, seems to quiet a bit. “Don’t call it ref. I’m fine. It was my fault. Let’s just keep going.”
The ref looks at me with a hesitant gaze. I skate right up to him. Ronan is right beside me. Fuck, can that guy just get out of here. “It’s for charity. I can take a trip.”
Jake is slowly skating out of net toward us. He must sense the tension. “Don’t pretend to be the hero, Barlowe. You’re one vodka on the rocks from the gutter and you know it. I don’t know what my sister was thinking. I guess we all slum it every now and then.”
I was going to skate away, but as soon as those words leave his mouth, I’m unable to move. Finn skates closer. “Green, go to the bench.” He looks over at Jake. “I have seniority, right?”
“He’s a firefighter, you’re a paramedic. He listens to me,” Jake replies. “Ronan, you’re benched.”
Ronan ignores them both, his eyes filled with hate and locked on me. “What are you going to do about it?”
“Guys, let’s just finish the game, okay?” the ref says. He’s an old-timer who normally coaches pee wee hockey. “I don’t know what’s going on but I didn’t sign up for this and neither did the fans. So play.”
I look up in the stands. I can see Aspen and Andie, just behind our bench. Javi is with them. And Terra and Nova are beside him.
“Skate away, Abbott,” Jake says. “He’s not worth it.”
“At least my sister was smart enough to use birth control,” Ronan says.
I turn and swing. I hit him hard on the jaw and he goes down like a sack of potatoes. The crowd gasps. Of course. This is a fucking charity event and I’ve just clocked a fireman.
