Mav didn’t get the reference, but he still hummed in agreement. “It is nerve-wracking, but our boy is amazing. He’s got this.”
Yeah, he did. I just wished I did too.
The next period went a little better. The Phantoms ended up losing after a wild puck slid in past Matty’s defenses. I was devastated, but Matty seemed to lock right back in, blockingevery other shot. His team had a few runs on the goal, but they never managed to score, and the final was 1-0. It sucked, but as Luca reminded me, it was only the first game of the season and the opposing team were the state champions last year. They had five seniors on their starting lineup, including the goalie, so Luca anticipated that next year would be a struggle for them. That didn’t matter much to us, though, since Matty would’ve moved on by then.
I was contemplating if Matty would want to switch teams when he strolled out of the locker room with his best friend, both of them smiling.
“Hey.” He beamed when he saw us.
I immediately went over, my arms open for a hug. Matty rolled his eyes but indulged me. “You did fucking awesome. The NHL should draft you now.”
Matty scoffed, but Harley chimed in, “See, bro, told you. It’s not your fault we couldn’t score.”
Harley was a defenseman. That was all I knew about his position.
“Yeah, I know. Coach said I broke the record for most blocked goals.”
“That’s amazing, Matty,” Wes praised. “I’m sorry we couldn’t be there in person.”
Matty grinned at the camera and waved, Harley peeking in behind him to say hi. “That’s okay. You still made the effort. That’s all that matters. My parents—Lewis and Michelle, I mean—they never came to my games.”
Whenever he talked about those assholes, it pissed me off. Michelle had moved to the other side of the country to live with her family. She had pulled Matty’s sister, who was actually his aunt, but he never called her that, out of her boarding school and had enrolled her in one in California. Michelle was currently getting a divorce from Lewis Covington and was busy suing himfor emotional damage or some bullshit. She hadn’t reached out to Matty at all, willingly signing over her parental rights and walking away. Marshall was still in jail for tax evasion and fraud, but he’d be out soon. Personally, I wanted to deal with the asshole myself. I was convinced he’d known more about Matty’s captivity than he’d let on, but we couldn’t prove it.
Matty rarely talked about them, and when he did it was always a little awkward. I wasn’t sure if it was because he didn’t like to or if it felt weird since we were his guardians now. Either way, this time was no different, and he quickly changed the subject.
“I’m starving. Can we get pizza?”
I grinned. I was always down for pizza.
“Sure,” Maverick replied, ruffling his hair. We all said goodbye to Wes, Luca, and Diego and then headed out to Skye’s Jeep that had become the family car somewhat. Harley came with us—his dad had been at the game but had to leave for duty right at the end, and we had promised him we’d drop him off after dinner.
We ordered several pies, mozzarella sticks, and wings, oh, and garlic knots, then brought it home so Diego could join. Being with him was still one of my favorite things in the world, so it was no hardship. He’d told us it wasn’t necessary, but it always felt wrong when he wasn’t with us. He had been improving on leaving the estate, but it was a work in progress and probably always would be.
While we ate, there was a lot of joking around and bantering. No one talked about the hockey game or work. I mostly peeped Harley and Matty, trying to figure out whatever was going on there. It was impossible not to notice how close they sat to each other and how Harley hung onto every word Matty said. I hadn’t picked up on anything more than friends before this, but now I had questions. Ones I would absolutely be asking Matty the firstchance I got. Maverick and Wes would probably tell me to give him privacy, but I was a nosy bitch and could be invasive as fuck. Lord knew I was with Diego.
After dinner was cleaned up, Maverick and Matty left to drive Harley home, and I made my way to my room to prepare for my job. It was an easy one. A woman had divorced her shitty husband so he’d refused to give her back her family heirlooms. She’d tried to go the legal way, but the husband never turned them over, claiming he didn’t have them and that the woman was lying.
So, she’d turned to less-than-legal methods to get them back, and I was happy to oblige. I didn’t have many burglary jobs these days and I missed it.
I hopped into the shower in the en suite Diego and I shared. I rarely used it anymore, but I kept all my work gear in this room, so it was the easiest.
I cleaned up quickly, then wrapped one of the purple, fluffy towels around my waist before padding barefoot into my room.
I wasn’t totally surprised to see Skye there, lying across the bed Diego and I shared when we slept in here. He often came to help me get ready when I went on these types of jobs. A lot of the time, he went with me, but this was a solo effort.
“Hey, sunshine.”
“Hey.” I flopped down on the mattress next to him, my wet head resting against his stomach. He was still in the clothes he had worn to Matty’s game: his signature ripped jeans, on the baggier side but still fitted around his ass, and a T-shirt with one of those old-timey covered wagons on it with the saying,Get in, losers, we’re going to die of dysentery.
I hadn’t gotten the reference, which had Skye, Mav, and Diego all dramatically offended, talking about kids these days. Apparently, there was some old-ass computer game calledOregon Trail, which had been a Millennial staple back in the day.
Skye ran his fingers through my hair, not caring that I was soaking his shirt.
“Ready for tonight?” he asked after a minute or so.
“Yup. Easy peasy. Honestly, it might be a little boring.”
Without warning, Skye rolled us over so that I was on my back and he was on top of me, pinning me down. There was a glint in his eyes that had me shivering with anticipation. What was he planning?
