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By the time she reached me, she made a silly face.
My lips tipped up in a smile. “What’s that for?”
She giggled. “You looked too serious. But then again, you always do.”
I tipped my head and ducked a little lower. “How did you know?”
She shook her head at me. “Always rationalizing. Always thinking. It must be hell in your head.”
I swiped at my beard. “You have no idea.”
Setting her hand on my arm, her expression sobered. “It’ll be okay, Pierce. Things will be difficult for a while, but you’ll figure it out. Just loosen up a bit. Try not to hold things so close to the vest. You have people, you know. Reach out. Don’t be an island.”
Shooting me a little smirk, she stepped aside and gave Milo a big hug. He was still in his gear, but all of us made it work to give Molly whatever she wanted. There was this magic about her I wanted to understand. To figure out. It drove me crazy to see how insightful she was when she was only fourteen. It defied all logic. But then again, she always did.
The second period started with a punch to the jaw. Returning the punch to his ribs, we both ended up on the ground, helmets skittering across the ice. So, we both went to the penalty box. Whatever. It was just two minutes for both of us. Things were still equal on the field, so I didn’t sweat it.
By the time the two minutes were up, neither team had scored during the four-on-four. Fine by me.
When I came out of the box, Coach signaled for me to stay on the ice. So, I did. Then I saw why. Anatoly, the only defenseman bigger than me, came out to join me. I’d wanted to play on the same line as him my whole career with the Cavaliers so we could go out together and pulverize the other team. I felt my lips twitch almost into a smile as our eyes met. Hell, yeah. We were going to have some fun.
With ninety seconds on the ice, we had time to wreak some havoc. So long as we kept it clean, we wouldn’t draw a penalty. It was time to give this team a lesson and send a message out to all the others. We were back. We were putting some heat on it. And we were not a team to underestimate.
Together, Anatoly and I crushed the other team’s forwards into the boards, smashed them into the glass, fought to regain the puck, and dominated the ice. Every time we regained the puck, we passed it to one of our forwards. While our guys made shots, the other team’s goalie was formidable. Most of them were blocked until we crowded him, cleared the zone of the other defensemen, and Ilya scored a goal.
Now with it 2-0, our time was up and we had to get to the bench. Anatoly bumped his fist against mine as we huffed and puffed on the sideline. Working with him had been awesome. Then I realized, it wasn’t just Molly who was making sure we had fun. I looked up at Coach and saw him give me a chin tip. He was using Molly’s style for us to play tonight. Putting us together in different pairings than usual just to keep us from getting stuck in a losing frame of mind. To get us to stop thinking and just use muscle memory, training, and skill to do what we do best. And have fun.
As the night went on, the other team got one goal through, but we also scored another one. The crowd went wild when we won our first game with Coach Buchoskya. Looking up into the crowd, there she was. There was my girl. With Phoebe’s face in the crowd beaming, I smiled too and felt like the man who had everything.
* * *
After the game, all the guys and their girls went to Gilly’s Bar. The moment we entered, Phoebe lit up at the industrial grunge feel of the place and the pounding classic rock music.
When we were seated, Phoebe leaned in so I could hear her. “Helluva game there, Chief. Did Molly have the right words in the locker room or something?”
I chuckled and took a swig of beer. “Yeah, something like that.” Her cleavage tonight was stunning. “New dress?”
She tilted her head at me. “No, but new to you. Why?”
I growled low next to her ear. “Because I want to rip it the fuck off you with my teeth.”
She instantly flushed red and I loved it. She wasn’t embarrassed. She was turned on. It made me want to rush her out of there.
But when Joy, Kendalia, and Maddy came over and sat next to her in a little group, I decided to throw my arm around the back of her chair, lean back, and play with her hair instead. She could have her girl time and I could grunt and nod with the guys. We could both have our fun and still be together. It wasn’t the same as being home fucking her senseless, but it was nice too. Comfortable. Like it was something we’d done forever. I wanted more time and more opportunities like this. Being a couple together where I could touch her and she was still able to interact with the women.
When she looked over at me with a bright smile, I knew this was right. This together. Us. Here and now. Maybe she didn’t realize it before, but we were meant to be together. Now I just had to convince her this was a long-term proposition. She hesitated because I would be gone a lot. Honestly, it seemed like the separation would kill me but barely bother her. She was always so busy with her work.
On the drive home later, I squeezed her thigh but started talking about something else to distract myself. “So, how’s the story coming?”
“Well, ah,” she started, but my fingers distracted her enough to make her stumble over her words. “I’ve traced a few leads, but it’s just this whole big jumble. A puzzle I can’t figure out. So many pieces. And some of them may even be to another puzzle. Like how most of them wore crop tops when they fell.”
I nodded. “What does that mean?”
She slapped my hand as my thumb tickled her inner thigh. “Nothing! It’s one of a bunch of commonalities that tells me a helluva lot of fucking nothing! They’re all the rage right now. Everyone’s baring their midriff. Even us fluffy girls.”
I glared at her.
She lifted a shoulder. “It’s so ridiculous! I should be able to find more to connect them, but there’s just nothing. All I can find is the absence of something. The coroner’s reports showed some commonalities too. There was no cause of death other than the fall.”
