Page 95 of Locke

The room is completely still.Boss stares at me with his mouth hanging open in equal proportion to Arch’s.

Crosby watches me with an expression that is doing several things simultaneously, one of which might be recognition.I imagine he and I will have a lot to talk about, and I might even hit him up for advice since he’s been in the same situation.

Nobody says anything for a moment and Rome pipes up.“Donovan.”

I look at him.

“You couldn’t have just sent a text like a normal person?”

Laughter sweeps through the room—sweeps through me.It’s the most perfect comment I could have gotten.

“Yeah, yeah,” I say with a wave of my hand.“I’ll do that next time I have a major announcement.”

“So, you and Cross,” Arch says, appearing at my elbow.

“That’s what I said.”

“Since when?”

“Since none of your business.”

He grins wider.“That’s fair.”

Boss leans back in his stall.“I just want to say, for the record, that I called it a few weeks ago.”

“You did not call it,” Rome says from the doorway.

“I absolutely called it.Ask anyone.”

“You said, and I quote, ‘There is no way Donovan has feelings.He was built in a lab.’”

Boss snorts indignantly.“I said it in a way that left room for interpretation.You merely failed to interpret it correctly.”

Chapter 30

Livia

TheWildfirewinstheirfourth consecutive game—this time with the LA Demons on Portland ice—and the city loses its mind.

Deservedly.

It’s the kind of win that had all the dramatic elements ending with a third-period comeback from two goals down.Boss buried the winner with forty-seven seconds left on a shot that had no business going in but did.The arena erupted like a cyclone explosion.Arch turned around on the bench and because I was nearest to him picked me up in a brutal hug before unceremoniously dropping me to swarm over the wall to join his teammates.

The entire team is celebrating at Morrison’s, a bar three blocks from the arena, and it has been effectively annexed by the Portland Wildfire for the last two hours.Someone found a back room with a karaoke setup that Arch has been hogging for the past forty minutes.

I am two glasses of wine into the evening and not anywhere close to enjoying myself.Apparently, time does not heal wounds because I’m just as sad now as I was when Locke walked out of my office.

I’m at a table in the back corner with Birdie and Juno, which is the best possible configuration to celebrate a hockey game and not think about anything else.Juno is filming nothing tonight because even Juno Paxton has decided that some nights belong to the people living them and not to the documentary.

I watch all the players and their significant others, and I drink my wine and try not to let my gaze wander over to Locke on the other side of the room.

I’m shocked he’s here tonight.

He’s no longer under any mandate to hang with the team and I figured he’d avoid this scene.

What’s even more shocking is that he seems to be enjoying himself.He’s hanging out with Dutton Black, a veteran third-line defenseman and he’s actually… laughing.

What the fuck?