“You messaged me first, remember?” She’s a delight to tease. Especially when worry makes way for embarrassment, and her cheeks go as red as they are now.
Her forehead pinches. “Could mean since the beginning or since... that account.”
A slow smile works its way across my face. There’s that spark she’s been missing. That hint of irritation.
I feel her watching me from the room as I move to unlock a door in the hallway, then step inside, out of view. No one needs to see what’s in my small office. There are enough spare cameras here to make my eye twitch. Not to mention, if she gets into my computer, she’ll see the extent of my integration into her life.
I rummage around to find what I’m looking for, then stride back out, locking the door behind me.
Mina watches me carefully, in the same spot, coiled and ready to run at the drop of a hat. She flinches when I chuck the box onto the bed. A muscle tics in my jaw.
“Get rid of that crap you’re using.” I nod at the phone her mother gave her. Mina can have the one I bought recently but hadn’t gotten around to changing my SIM card over.
I stare at her, waiting for her to do more than gawk at what I’ve given her.
When she continues to say nothing, I take it as my cue to leave. We have time to talk later. Once she comes to terms with her new reality. She can’t avoid it.
“I’m late for practice.”
Just as I turn to leave, my phone vibrates with a text.
Jack Norton: Where are you?
My mouth tastes bitter seeing his name on the screen. It worsens when I reply with something other than “Fuck off.”
Leo: Got caught up. Be there soon.
I shake my head and keep walking. This was supposed to be agoodmorning. We were supposed to be making real fucking progress, and she barely spoke. Didn’t evensmile.
Reminding myself that she’s probably still shaken up from yesterday does nothing to ease the tension.
“Wait!”
I stop at the top of the stairs. A seed of hope dares to plant itself. Slowly, I turn to look at her, but like before, the seconds tick on as she opens and closes her mouth.
Come on, Mina. Give me what I want.
She doesn’t.
Like before, I break the silence. As they say, this is the first day of the rest of our lives. We need to walk before we run and catch bees with honey or whatever bullshit.
“I have last night’s game loaded up on the bedroom TV. All you need to do is turn it on,” I tell her. She either watches the games live or the next day. A fact she never shared with me.
That realization must dawn on her because she pales.
I continue, but pause a couple steps down and throw over my shoulder, “Oh, before I forget, I’ve ordered in breakfast. Leave out whatever you don’t finish. I hate what it tastes likewhen it’s been microwaved. Keep my bed warm. I’ll see you this afternoon.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Leo
The main thing that’s stopping me from turning my car around was watching Mina run around the house in search of cameras. She found one, and if her expression told me one thing, it’s that she looked like she was going to be sick.
She’s still carrying out her mission by the time I park and walk through the doors into the locker room at the stadium. The team is probably having a meeting before getting on the ice for practice.
I texted Mitchell on the drive over to pass on to Coach that I had car trouble. He’ll find out that Mina and I are on the same page once we’reactuallyon the same page.
Hopefully I’ve garnered enough goodwill lately to buy me grace for being almost an hour late.
