Page 71 of Gave Proof Through the Night

“Something like that.” I peel my gloves off and flex my fingers.

Colt waits half a second for more, doesn’t get it, and shrugs. “Your loss. Brady’s buying, which never happens twice.”

“Tell him thanks anyway.”

He heads for the locker room already texting someone about wing flavors, and I’m cutting through the tunnel when I nearly walk straight into Martín, the facilities attendant here at the Capitol Practice rink.

He’s got a coil of extension cord looped over one shoulder, keys jangling at his hip like always, and something in me just eases at the sight of him. I’ve only been in DC for a few weeks, but I already feel like I know him.

"¡Martín!"

"Precio." He grins, gap-toothed and easy-going.

I ask him about his kids.

"¿Que tal? ¿Y los niños? ¿Cómo están?"

"Bien, gracias a Dios," he says, like the man of few words he is. "Todos bien."

Then he leans in, voice dropping like we're the only two people in the building.

"Todo listo para esta noche." He winks. Everything's set. Tonight.

"¿Y la música?" And the music?

"Sí, sí. Ya tengo." He taps his key ring once, like that settles it, and keeps walking before I can ask anything else. "Buena suerte, jefe."

Buena suerte. Hopefully, I won't need luck.

"Gracias, Martín. En serio."

He just waves it off over his shoulder without turning around.

I pull my phone out and type one more text to Erica.

Me: I’ll see you tonight.

I don’t wait for the reply. I already know she’ll reply with something that makes me laugh on the bus back to the hotel like a man with no dignity left to protect. For once, I don’t mind one bit.

16

ERICA

Chapter playlist:

What's Up? — 4 Non Blondes

Fast Car — Jem

Cold slaps my cheeks out of nowhere, sharp enough that I suck a breath through my teeth, and Jeremiah’s hand tightens around mine like he felt me flinch.

“Almost there,” he murmurs, close enough that his breath stirs the hair by my ear. “Watch the step.”

I lift my foot before I need to. My sneaker lands on something that isn’t concrete anymore, something with give in it, rubber matting maybe? The sound of our footsteps changes too. They don’t just land and stop. They roll out into the dark and keep going, bouncing off something high and far away.

Big. Whatever this is, it’s big.

Where in the world did he take me?