Page 13

IN STITCHES

Anna

The Brooklyn group spills into the family area with that energy of people who've just watched their team pull off an overtime win. After explaining to Lucy why hitting someone is sometimes part of his job, he scoops her up and carries Lucy on his shoulders, her auburn curls bouncing as she narrates the entire game back to him in a breathless stream of words. Hildy walks beside them, one hand resting lightly on her stomach, her face glowing with happiness and exhaustion. Nalani, Noelle, Sofie, and Claudia drift toward the seating area, already long past rehashing the final goal.

I stand back and watch them all, content that my unannounced trip here showed me what I needed to see. That this is all very real for not just Lenzin and Aleks but all of them. My eyes catch my Jersey, and yes, it is slightly ridiculous, but the two of them always looked for it, for my support, my pride in them when no one else was in the stands, my love in the way I love them. I'm not taking it off. Not tonight.

"Did you see his face?" Lucy twists to look at me, nearly throwing Lenzin off balance. "When the puck went in?"

"I saw."

"He was so mad."

I laugh and nod my agreement, “He certainly was.”

"Lucy." Hildy's voice carries that particular mom-tone she's been perfecting lately. "That's not nice."

"But he was."

She's not wrong. Reznik looked ready to put someone through the glass when the buzzer sounded. The image of him skating off the ice, shoulders tight, jaw set, sticks with me longer than it should.

Sofie holds up her phone, "Aleks is getting checked out by the medical staff. He'll be out in a few minutes."

“Is his jaw okay?" I ask.

"Probably. He's had worse," she says, thumb slowly moving up and down the side of the phone as she stares at the screen.

I think about the way Reznik's fist connected, the sound you couldn’t hear over the roar of the crowd but felt. The way Aleks went down before Lenzin threw himself into the fight.

Nalani yawns, "Anyone else starving?"

"Always," Claudia says.

"There's a place two blocks from here. Thai food. We could grab something before heading back." Noelle says in a taunting and teasing manner.

Hildy glances at Lenzin. "What do you think?"

"I think Lucy's going to fall asleep in her pad thai."

"Am not." Lucy's protest lacks conviction. She's already resting her head against Lenzin’s.

I move toward the wall and lean against it, letting the conversation wash over me. My feet ache from standing in heels for three hours, and I can still feel the adrenaline from the game humming under my skin. We won. Brooklyn won. Lenzin and Aleks, they have won.

I should feel quite content, instead, I keep thinking about Reznik, the way his eyes tracked Aleks across the ice like he was hunting something, the controlled fury in every movement. The way he attacked and⁠—.

"Anna?"

I blink and turn from the place on the ice that made my pulse quicken. Hildy's watching me with that particular expression that says she knows exactly where my thoughts went. Thankfully she doesn’t know those thoughts are on the villain of tonight’s story.

"Sorry. What?"

"Thai food. Yes or no?"

"Sure."

The door opens, and Aleks walks in with an ice pack pressed to his jaw.

"There's my favorite fan." Aleks grins.