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“It’s not about ‘letting,’” Niko said gently. “The body is only capable of so much.”
Jasper let out a wordless growl. “If I’d just gotten there sooner, maybe they wouldn’t have managed to hurt you so badly.”
“No sense in beating ourselves up about it.” I smiled at him. “Those goons already took care of that for us.”
Silence. My joke had landed like a one-winged seagull. All three of them stared at me, incredulous looks on their faces.
“Nothing?” I asked. “Not a single laugh? Come on, we can’t sit around moping. We’ve got work to do. My ribs are bruised, big whoop. I’ll rest for another day or two so the worst of the pain has eased off, but then I’m back on the ice, no arguments.”
Rafael considered me for a long moment with his best stern expression. “I can’t stop you, Lou, but I wish you’d take your basic needs into account more. You know this is the only body you get. If you destroy it, then there’s no way you can make skating a career in the long run.”
I paused. He had a point.
“I can see a doctor if you guys really want me to,” I said. “Just to make sure nothing’s worse than it seems. And I’ll pick up a cortisone shot to take away the pain so I can practice and perform no problem. Then I can get right back to skating as if none of this ever happened.”
Jasper was still frowning. “A cortisone shot? Those things can be dangerous if you’re not careful. If you mask your pain chemically and end up hurting yourself more, you couldreallydamage your body.”
I gritted my teeth. “It’s my decision. It’s only a couple of weeks before I can take a longer break, and I haven’t had a real fall in ages. And, look—I’ll be in a hell of a lot more pain if I let these bastards ruin my chances of getting my skating career off the ground.”
I paused, glancing around at them, the twist of emotions in my gut rising to join the physical pain in my chest. “I hear what you’re saying. I really do. But you don’t understand. If I lose this chance… I don’t know what’s going to happen over the next year. How long I can stay off my mom’s radar. Look at how quickly I ended up tangling with two different people who could report my whereabouts back to her. This could be mylastchance to show what I can do.”
Silence fell over the room. Niko and Jasper traded an agonized look.
They all knew I was right. My time with them was precarious. There was no guarantee I’d even make it to Finals without my old life coming crashing down on me, let alone all the way to next year’s competitive circuit.
I picked up my sandwich, took a bite, and rallied against those awful thoughts while I chewed. “We do have to get the Harvester’s Boston crew off my back before they ruin things even more. Right now, it seems like they’re not going to stop coming at me until I give in and leave town. Which is not happening.”
Niko’s forehead had furrowed. “How are we going to do that? The threats we made didn’t work. Are you going to go through with the threats?”
I sighed and swallowed thickly. I’d been hoping I wouldn’t have to be part of more destruction. And— “I’m not sure that would actually do us any good. If anything, if we start launching attacks on Sheeran’s people, he’ll be even more convinced I’m working against him.”
Rafael ran a hand over the wiry coils of his hair. “We went after Sheeran’s main people before, but not the local boss himself. He calls the shots. We have to findhisweak spot, something we can use against him.”
I rubbed my mouth. “But none of your contacts knew any major dirt on him, right? And you haven’t seen anything obvious.”
“No. I’ll keep at it.”
Jasper tapped his fingers against the tabletop and then spoke up cautiously. “There is something… I don’t know if it’s enough, or anything at all for sure, but it might help.”
All our gazes shot to him.
“What?” I demanded.
“From how you described him to us—I think I saw him last night, right before I rushed in to fight those pricks. There was an older guy, pretty slick looking, hanging back by the alley they all ran into when they took off. He was watching the others beat you down.”
I perked up. “White hair, dressed in nice clothes?” When Jasper nodded, I did too. “Yep, that’d be him.”
Jasper’s eyes went momentarily distant in thought. “There was something that struck me, looking at him. The way he had his hands in his coat pockets, the angle of the seams…” He focused on Rafael. “You said that he seems to have an awful lot of money, right? More than you’d normally expect a local gang leader to have unless the main guy he works for was incredibly happy with him?”
Rafael gave the other man a contemplative look. “Yeah, it is pretty extreme. Not saying it isn’t possible the Harvester just is that pleased, but it’s a lot beyond what I’d normally see. Where are you going with this?”
A smile, nervous but determined, curved Jasper’s lips. “I think if we can catch him at the end of one of the business deals he oversees here, we could get exactly what we need.”
TWENTY-FOUR
Jasper
I peeredat the old convenience store where Rafael had determined that Sheeran carried out a lot of his business dealings, just down the street from where we’d paused. The streetlamp overhead buzzed, casting a yellow glow into the darkness of the night. Niko’s shoulders bumped against mine with a hint of nervous agitation.
