Page 244 of Power Play

Scouts were coming.

This wasn’t one organization sending some regional guy with a clipboard. People who mattered were going to be inside that arena, and everybody in Flint knew it.

I wanted my people there. I wanted the guys from KFU and everybody else who could make the drive. I wanted Charm in the stands where nobody had to guess what she was to me.

I wanted to walk into that game knowing she had chosen me before I stepped onto the ice and tried to make the biggest case of my career for why somebody at the next level should choose me too.

I had been waiting to tell her. Waiting for this break. Waiting for one fucking stretch of time when our relationship wasn’t happening between bus schedules and everybody else’s emergencies.

My phone lit up on the coffee table, and I grabbed it.

Charm: Easton just showed up at the ABC apartment.

Another message followed almost immediately.

Charm: I think they’re finally making up.

I stared at the screen until the third message came through.

Charm: Can you come get me?

Every bit of irritation aimed at the universe disappeared.

Rain hammered against the windows hard enough to blur the parking lot below, but I was already standing.

Ryan: On my way.

By the time I pulled up outside the ABC apartment, rain had turned the street into black glass beneath my headlights. Charm ran from beneath the tiny overhang with her purse over her head, wearing jeans, boots, and one of my hoodies beneath a jacket that wasn’t doing shit to keep her dry.

I unlocked the door. She climbed in quickly and slammed it behind her.

“Holy shit.”

I looked at her soaked hair. “You own an umbrella.”

“It’s upstairs, and I wasn’t staying to watch them hash it out.”

“Helpful.”

“I stayed for some of it to make sure we didn’t need police intervention. Once Easton showed genuine remorse and Aura stopped looking like she wanted to remove his organs, Bliss and I decided we wanted out.”

The tension inside me remained too thick for laughter.

“I didn’t realize Michigan was attempting to drown me when I asked you to come.”

“You texted while it was already raining.”

Charm looked toward me. “I was distracted.”

“By other people’s relationships?”

“He showed up with his heart on his sleeve and wanted to talk.”

I pulled away from the curb. “Sounds healthy.”

“I think they’re making up.”

“Good. Maybe they can start ruining their own nights again.”