“I need your help.”
CHAPTER 14
Raffi
She’s not at the game. Ares’s girl is in the stands, but there’s no sign of the redhead whose name I have come to learn is Tori.
Not sure if it’s short for anything, but it’s one of the questions I’ve added to the list of things I’d like to talk to her about. Didn’t Eloise give her my number?
Eloise shrugs when she catches me staring. She mouths something, but I can’t make it out. I wave it off. No biggie, right?
My gut stirs. It has been unsettled since I saw the child I’m almost entirely sure is mine. Fuck. I don’t know whether to be angry or sad. Did she try to find me? Did she just let me live my life this whole time and not bother telling me? Did she have a hard time during her pregnancy? Was his birth okay? Has she spent this whole time alone and raising our kid?
I need answers. Questions swirl in my brain, not letting up.
Jackson Gilbert comes up behind me. “You okay? You look a bit green.”
“I’m good. Too much cheese.”
His face contorts. “You’re gonna stink all fucking night.”
Probably accurate.
I’d love to say that was my best game ever, but it wasn’t. There’s a heaviness in my bones I can’t shake. Pretty sure I zoned out for chunks of the game, staring into space. Not really great when you’re trying to make an impression on the coaching staff. At least not if you want to make a positive impression.
Tonight, I’m heading to Mom’s after the game. I need to talk to her about things with Tori, how to proceed, what to say, what to do. I don’t really know if she’s going to be ecstatic or lose her shit. Might not even mention it to her at all. Depends how I feel when I get there.
Before I get in the car, I head to the hockey house to dump my gear and grab my overnight bag. The guys are all at the bar post-game, so it’s just me and the low-key odor no one can figure out that lingers in the hockey house.
My bag’s all ready to go, but I feel like a sandwich so while I’m eating slices of turkey straight out of the packet, I pull up tonight’s match report, which is already written and online by the one and only Tabitha.
I don’t always agree with what she says in these things, but it’d at least be nice to fill in some of the blanks from the night.
Tonight, the UCR Raccoons return to home ice at The Trash Can and welcome the Minnesota Snow Pirates.
Resident hot-shot goaltender Ares de la Peña made 41 saves and the Cedar Rapids Raccoons bagged another ‘W’ with a 2-0 win. This reporter had to ask how it felt to have another win under his belt. “You make your own luck,” said de la Peña. “You could have the exact same set of circumstances every night, same team, same players, same everything, but there’s an element of luck in every game. That keeps me humble.”
A snort bursts out of me. “Humble” isn’t exactly a word Iwould use to describe Ares de la Peña. In the silence, I’m convinced someone sniffs. It’s probably Bacon, our team’s pot-belly pig mascot. Usually he stays in Ares’s fancy-ass apartment across town, but every now and then he’ll bring him to a game, and drop him here before heading out.
Raffi Shaw had an assist and Brady Faber scored his first goal in his third game for the Raccoons as a recent transfer to the team from Michigan.
Faber, 18, made it 1-0 with a snap shot from just inside the blue line at 7:54 of the second period.
“The Snow Pirates are such an aggressive team as far as how much pressure they put on you,” Coach Bales said. “We didn’t get out of our zone as quickly as we’d have liked in the first period. But we started to get forward and into their zone a bit more.”
Raccoons Captain, Apollo de la Peña, had nothing but praise for the visiting team. “They’re a solid team, hard to play against. They play fast and tough. They’ve got really good sticks. Unfortunately for Séb, he took shots from some of the best. And there is no goaltender better than Ares.”
Part of me wants to roll my eyes. Sure the guy’s going to say that about his brother. He’s also not wrong. We’re championship-heat hot right now, without a shadow of a doubt, and it’s in large part to Ares between the pipes.
Someone blows their nose, and I know for damn sure pigs can’t do that. Bacon’s smart as hell, and if we teach him to do something, he’s pretty quick on the uptake, however, to my knowledge, no one’s ever taught him to blow his nose.
Plus, pigs don’t have thumbs.
“Hello?” Dropping the slice of turkey on the counter, I lick my fingers. Probably rude to punch someone in the face with turkey-juice fingers, but it’s equally rude to break into someone’s house to blow your nose, so I guess we’re even.
We have a couple baseball bats lying around the house.Not necessarily for protection, some of the guys play in their spare time. But right now, it’s the closest thing on hand to confront The Sniffer. I probably don’t need it, but it’s coming with me, just in case—I’m definitely not our team’s muscle. If there’s trouble, I’ll need a weapon for sure.
The first three bedrooms I check are empty. The light’s on in the main bathroom, shining through the door that’s barely cracked open. Movement, sound, light—safe bet whoever’s home is in there. Just call me Detective.
