The girl had a serious hockey kink.
My skin burnedwith excitement as the air conditioner blasted icy cold air into the space. The rink hummed with people and excitement as we neared the last two hours before puck drop. It was no longer just a hockey game with a good cause attached to it. It was about proving a point and seeing this whole thing through to the end.
We had eight players for our team; two more cops jumped from the official team and joined ours. Including Emmie, who would not be talked out of playing in the net against grown men. Something told me she was going to be the leading cause of a fight on the ice tonight.
And I was willing to put money on it that she would be the first one to toss her gloves and go after someone, causing it.
Thinking back over the last few months, and all the uncertainty and change that happened not only to me but to Cedar Bluff, the moment felt so damn earned. From making a move with Goldie, and getting to know Rhea, to falling for both of them at the same time, and then all the scary things that happened around our town, families and businesses destroyed, to the awful accusations against Rhea and the fallout from that.
But looking back, all of those things led us here.
To the most fulfilled and confident in myself I’d ever been. To the most loved and cared for I’d ever been. To the most loving and protective I’d ever been.
“Hey, since you’re just standing around like a houseplant,” Goldie snapped on her way by with her weird speed-walking move. “Can you move the cotton candy table to the left?”
I rolled my eyes at her over-caffeinated dig and braced against the table, ready to move it. “How far?”
“Until it looks right.” She replied, on her way back by in a huff.
“That is not a measurement I’m qualified to make.” I called after her, but she just waved me off over her head and disappeared around the corner.
“About seventeen inches.” Jasper stopped in front of the table and cocked his head to the side, visualizing something in the thin air. “No, make it eighteen.” Blinking away the mental planning, he looked at me. “Precisely eighteen inches. Do you need a ruler?”
“Nah,” Rhea smirked on her way by with an armful of cups. “Just measure his dick twice.”
Jasper gasped, clutching his invisible pearls as he stared at me. “Mr. Officer! I’m impressed. And happy to help you hold it still to measure with.”
Rhea’s cackle echoed down the hallway as she walked away, and I glared at Goldie’s best friend. “Not a chance.” I scooted the table with my hip and stood up tall, looking at the man. “Good?”
“Perfect.” His shoulders slumped with a disappointed look. “Of course you are.” He said before turning and walking away again.
“Rough crowd.” Thomas said as he carried the cotton candy bowl over to the table and set it down in the center.
I chuckled, shaking my head. Glancing around, I gave in to the urge to find out more about whatever was cooking between my friend and Goldie’s annoying French poodle-like bestie. “You’d know that better than most, I’d assume.”
I tried to keep it light and watched him closely as he glanced at me before tracking down the route Jasper took when he left a moment ago. “Yeah, guess I do.”
That was all the confirmation I needed. More than he owed me, honestly. I wasn’t about to make a production out of it. There would be no handshake, no speech about him being “safe” with me like he should ever feel anything short of that with anyone he called a friend. I wasn’t going to speak on the fact that some people we worked with might not like it, because he knew that. And we both knew it was wrong. The only thing I was going to do was treat him the way I had my entire life. There was nothing wrong with Thomas. He was just right, no matter who he dated.
So instead, I waved him over to the other table I had to set up next, and he grabbed one end while I picked up the other. “If you ever need ammo to use against him to make him squirm, let meknow. I’ve got enough stockpiled to make him cry uncle in pretty much any situation; thanks to all the stories Goldie tells after a long day trapped in the bakery with his antics.” I said with a grin, and Thomas held my stare, unmoving for a moment before his shoulders relaxed a little and a small smirk pulled at his lips.
“I’m sure I’ll take you up on that one. He’s too ornery for his own good sometimes.” He said, grabbing the tablecloth to lay out over the surface.
“That’s putting it lightly.” I joked. “But that guy has a heart of pure gold, and I can’t fault anyone for anything when I know they have my girl’s back without fail.”
Before he could reply, Goldie rushed by again and snapped her fingers at me. “Come with me. Now.”
Thomas smirked and crossed his arms, “Have fun with that one.”
I laughed and went to track down Goldie, who had already disappeared around the corner and down a hallway toward the locker rooms before I caught up to her. When I did, Rhea stood there, back against the wall with Goldie standing in front of her, toe tapping the floor, arms crossed in frustration.
“Uh oh,” I leaned my shoulder on the wall next to Rhea and nodded to our fearless, bossy babe. “What’d you do to rile her up?”
“Me?” Rhea scoffed, “She called me here after dealing with you.”
Goldie spun on us, hands on her hips, curls bobbing like angry little snakes on her head. “If you two do not go somewhere, preferably far away from me, and work out this nervous energy building inside of you both, I’m going to commit a crime in broad daylight.”
I huffed, brushing an imaginary piece of lint off my shoulder. “I’m not nervous.”
