Page 75 of The Price of Ice

Oh fuck, he realised, there werecamerasthere. The sports channels often shared clips of them there.

“Mum—” He started to say and then the bell went off.

Their eyes met and he shook his head. “It’s okay,” he told her and found it was true. “I can do it.”

She’d gone to let Maslow in and walked him to the living room where Kallen waited in the sofa.

“I see you have got a visitor,” the doctor commented almost sweetly.

Kallen nodded. “Yeah, my mum’s here for a few days.”

“You are from Terali, aren’t you? That’s quite a journey for a few days.”

“A mother’s work is never over,” his mum said, a lot flatter than she usually spoke.

But Maslow nodded sagely. “Ah, of course, you are right there!”

The examination wasn’t any worse than the last one, Kallen’s legs still moved on reflex and of course his muscles hadn’t atrophied—in such a short time, they could have hardly been all that affected even if he’d still been paralysed. His mum was right that Maslow was considerably gentler than usual with her as a witness, and he parted by advising that Kallen rethink his decision to send Brad away.

“Oh, but he’s got me now,” his mother said. “Don’t you worry about him.”

And Maslow must have sensed it was in his best interest not to argue with a protective omega mother because he’d bowed out and left them alone at long last.

Kallen had listened for the lift intently, which he knew made no sense, and only then stood up and took her hands in his. “There are cameras in the locker room.”

He could tell at once that she didn’t get it, blinking up at him.

And there was a reason for it, he’d told her everything, but he hadn’t gone into any kind of detail, for both their sakes. He swallowed and pushed through; it was the only way out. “That’s where it happened, where McKinley...”

“Oh.” She was still for a moment, then tugged one of her hands free to clutch as him instead. “Thatarsehole.”

Kallen laughed, a little watery but real. “Yeah. But if the recordings are still there...”

“We must get them,” his mother said at once. “It hasn’t been that long, has it?”

He had to take a moment to think about it, then grab his phone and check the calendar. “Eleven days.” He shook his head, suddenly a little overcome. “Eleven days ago, I played my last game.”

“Notyour last,” she argued. “You will play again. Maybe not like this, but you will play, with people who respect you. You will play and you will love it, and no one will make outrageous demands from you in exchange for you winning games for them. You don’t owe them a thing, you never did.”

She was right, of course. He’d bargained himself away anyway, like his talent wasn’t enough. He’d believed them when they told him it wasn’t, thathewasn’t.

But he was done with that.

And he was going to screwthemover so hard, the White Cats wouldneednine lives.

THEY’D DECIDED HE’Dstill go back to Terali with her since it would be safer all around. Staying with Levy would put his career at risk when Kallen started legal proceedings and obviously he couldn’t go back to the Johnsons. And Maslow wouldn’t be showing up at his door whenever he pleased if he was in another city hours away.

He wanted to tell his friend about the cameras, but this was no longer about getting justice but revenge. The damage he hoped to do to the team wasn’t something he could ask one of its members to support. Levy would do it, he knew that instinctively. Just like he’d exposed himself with his confession because it was the right thing to do.

But Kallen didn’t need that from him. So he could leave Levy a friend, one who could begin to focus on his own life again once Kallen was gone.

It wasn’t what he wanted, but it was the best either of them could hope for given the circumstances, wasn’t it?

He knew it was a cowardly thing to do, but he still texted Levy when they booked the tickets for two days later. It felt like shit, but he selfishly didn’t want to see if it didn’t hurt Levy as much as it was hurting him.

And if it did, he figured, then he could at least offer him some privacy for his pain.

The argument had barely held together in his head, and then he got home from taking his mother to a museum that could have shown paintings or dinosaurs for all he’d seen, and Levy had gone to the Johnsons’ to collect anything Kallen might have forgotten there.

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