“He also asked… Josh is planning to propose on the trip. And I’m glad. He’s great for Cassidy, and Tommy adores him, but…everythingjustchanged with my mom moving out and Tommy and Cassidy moving in. Now I have to figure out what to do with the house and with—I woke up early and decided to go for a run, and I realized…” She looks down at the carpet. “I have this token?—”
“The Detroit Zoo coin?”
“I can’t believe you remember that.” Claire swallows. “Actually, I can,” she adds softly.
“What about your coin?” I ask.
“I-I can’t find it. I know it’s stupid?—”
I cut her off again. “When did you last have it?”
“At the stadium before the game yesterday. It must have fallen out of my bag at some point. I searched my entire room this morning. It might be on the bus. Or…” She swallows hard. “Left at the stadium.” She nods toward her phone, sitting on the coffee table. “I tried calling every number I could find online, but no one’s answering this early. I’ll try again later. If I can reach someone, maybe they’ll search for me. Mail it.”
Her voice holds no confidence.
I stand. “Or we can go look ourselves.”
“The bus leaves at eight for?—”
I’m already on my phone, ordering a car.
“Otto.” She reaches for my wrist, halting my movements. “We can’t?—”
I hold her gaze. “Car will be here in three minutes. I will go alone if you want to stay here.”
I mean it. I know what the coin means to Claire. She carries it during every game and not as some superstition. It represents happy memories with her dad, a way to keep him as a part of her career, even when she’s shut him out in every other way.
I stride toward the doors, looking around for the silver SUV that’s supposed to be arriving soon. Claire hurries after me. She spends the three minutes waiting for the car and the first ten minutes of the car ride attempting to talk me into returning to the hotel and forgetting what she diminishes to a “lump of metal.”
I’ll search the entire city of Phoenix for that lump of metal, if necessary.
Fifteen minutes later, the driver drops us off at the main entrance of the stadium. It’s a flash of color amid a whole lot of beige and gray, surrounded on all sides by asphalt parking and sprawling desert. It’s also gated.
I head left, attempting to find the side entrance the team used yesterday. Reaching it requires circling half the stadium in rising heat.
One of Claire’s arguments against this trip was correct—we might miss our plane. I texted Eliza in the car, letting her know Claire had forgotten something important at the stadium and I was accompanying her to look for it. She responded, saying she’d try to contact the Phoenix coach and see about having someone here assist. But I have no idea if that was successful. It’s a commercial flight. They wouldn’t delay the departure for the entire Siege team, let alone two people.
I’m preoccupied by a more pressing problem when we reach the side entrance—it’s gated too. But this opening is smaller, meaning the gate is lower. There are no spikes across the top either.
Claire sighs. “Otto, I really appreciate this. But we should go.”
“I will give you a boost, Boston.”
Her wide eyes wheel between me and the gate. “Otto…”
I raise an arm, comparing my height to the gate. “It is eight feet, at most.”
“Which ishigh.”
“I will catch you.”
“How?”
I wave a hand, gesturing her toward me. “Come here.”
When she does, I spin her to face the stadium, then rest my hands on her hips. Claire inhales sharply when I touch her, and I have to remind my cock that this is a rescue mission with a ticking clock.
“Reach for the top when I lift you,” I instruct. “Pull yourself up and try to sit on the top. Wait for me there.”
