She can’t know that. No one can. But the way she’s trying to calm my nerves means a lot so I give her a nod.
“He’s been through a lot.” Dad tosses a few pieces of Eloise’s popcorn into his mouth. “You both have. It’s perfectly understandable that you’re anxious.” He takes my other hand in his.
Edith nods. “It is. I know after our accident, Pollo freaked the fuck out before he got back on the ice. And he wasn’t even injured on-ice.”
Eloise’s eyes widen like this is news to her.
Savannah leans across Athena to steal some of Eloise’s popcorn. “No one had any idea Apollo was nervous to get back on the ice.”
Edith shrugs. “It’s only natural. If you’ve been hurt, and you’ve fought through a tough recovery, going back to do something physically demanding is scary. What if you get hurt again? What if you have to stop doing the thing you love again? Or worse, what if you have to stop doing the thing you loveforever. I get it.”
The air whooshes out of my lungs on a heavy breath. She really does get it. Edith spent just over a year in Australia busting her ass to recover from the car accident she and Apollo survived together. Apollo’s injuries were more surface-level, and he was back on the ice in no time.
Edith, on the other hand, required at least two rounds of surgery, and traveled to the other side of the world, and she’s still not healed correctly.
When she came back, we all thought she’d be okay. And she is, for the most part, but she doesn’t get to dance, and from what I understand, dancing and Edith were synonymous until that car crash.
Dad’s sad eyes hold mine, telling me that Tate’s lucky that he gets to go back to doing what he loves doing, but every piece of my body is ratcheted tight with tension. I’m not sureTate can take another push-back at this point. He needs forward progress, and that means having a good game, without incident.
Something smacks on the plexiglass behind me, making me jump off the ledge I’ve been leaning on. Spinning around to face the offending stray puck, my eyes land on my guy.
Suited up, ready for battle, and a raging fire blazing in his eyes. He jerks his chin at me.
“Was there something you needed, Satan?”
There’s a gasp from behind me.
“Don’t fuck with me, She Devil.” His words probably shouldn’t sound so fucking hot, but they’ve got my panties melting. “What the hell are you doing?”
“What?” I shrug.
One of my friends behind me snorts. Or maybe it’s Dad, I can’t quite tell.
“I don’t know what you mean, Tate.”
“Your shirt.” He points his stick at my shirt.
“You like it?” Slowly, painfully so, I do a twirl, giving him another look at the name and number on the back of my new Raccoon’s jersey.
“Are you trying to make us lose?” His penetrating gaze bores into the crest across my chest like it owes him money.
One single eyebrow arches as I smirk back at him. “I thought you’d appreciate it.”
He stays silent as his eyes flicker to Dad, then rake over me again, hungry, confused, and those flickering flames in his eyes raging stronger. He should be warming up, not standing staring at the green and white Raccoon on my tits, especially not in front of my fucking dad.
“Isn’t this what you’ve wanted since the day we met?”
He nods.
“Then I guess you’d better go win, then.” I blow him a kiss. “Can’t have me wearing your name on my shoulders be what causes the team to lose now, can we?”
His nostrils flare, that muscle in his cheek working overtime as he grits his teeth. Hockey players might be superstitious as fuck, but if he’s going to ice for the first time since he got injured, he needed to know I was on his side. Figured the easiest way to do that would be to wear his name on my body for him, and everyone else in the arena to see.
“I’m not done with you, Pitstop.” He points the blade of his stick at me.
I make a “blah, blah, blah,” motion with my hand, moving my fingers and thumb open and closed. “Go win your first game back, hot shot. Then come talk to me about my shirt.” My wink at him makes him lick his lips like he’s already thinking about what he’s going to do to me when the game ends.
So naturally, it’s where my mind goes too.
