Page 42 of Skating Towards Danger

“I got here as soon as Mama called Morg,” I reply, and she shrugs before looking at Paige, whose eyes are on the baby in Morgan's arms, awe but also fear etching from her.

“Paige, would you like to hold him?” Morgan asks, causing Roman to look up sharply towards Paige and then me, his mouth hanging open.

I guess he didn’t realize I brought her with me.

“I don’t think that’s wise. I’m not really good with babies,” Paige stutters, and Dad, Roman, and I are all tense.

Not knowing why Paige hesitates, Morgan gently smiles and says, “Honestly, you’ll be doing me a favor. He was a big boy, and I’m a little sore.”

Dad tenses further and opens his mouth, but I give him a subtle head shake, making him frown at me. I ignore his look and mumble, “Go on, Paige, go hold him. I promise he won’t break.”

She looks at me, and I hate the fear shining off her, but I tilt my head to the baby with a small smile, and she watches me for a second before she sighs and reluctantly walks over to Morgan before extremely carefully taking my new nephew from his mama while Dad and Roman come and stand next to me.

“Emma and Damian with Mama?” I ask, and Roman hums in confirmation while Dad asks, “Son, why did you encourage her to do that?” I shrug, and he starts to vibrate with anger as he snaps lowly, “You don’t understand what you’ve done, what you’ve caused for her.”

“What’s his name?” Paige whispers, and I smile gently at her look of awe as she gently sways with the baby and my heat skips a beat.

Fuck I’m so proud of her.

“Luca,” Morgan says, and Paige nods.

“I know exactly what I’ve done, Dad,” I say and look at my father. As soon as we lock eyes, I state, “I just ensured she faced her fears and realized her touching that baby does not mean he’s going to die like her baby brother, that she’s not going to taint him like she believes she tainted Royal by trying to cover him to save him.”

His eyes widen in shock, and he stutters, “S-she told you…”

I nod once and walk over to my girl. I gently wrap an arm around her waist and place my chin on her shoulder, taking in the cute, chubby baby in her arms, who is looking at her with wonder. Instantly, I can picture this a few years down the road, her holding our child after competing on the ice, my ring on her finger, and it doesn’t scare me.

“He’s so precious,” Paige whispers, and I rasp back, “So are you, and I’m so proud of you, little fairy.” I kiss her neck and just enjoy having her in my arms while she gives her whole attention to the baby.

I can feel Morgans's eyes on us, but I ignore her, and I ignore Romans, “Oh yeah, you two are def not fuck buddies,” mutter from across the room, not surprised that he knows we’ve been sleeping together. Instead, I hold Paige tighter and press my lips to her neck again, inhaling her scent, hating the smell of fry fat but loving the slight vanilla scent she normally smells of.

This girl is my everything. I knew it when we met, and I know it now. The only difference is that I’m not running away anymore.

I’ll do everything for her, even kill, and no one, not even herself, is going to keep me from having her always.

Chapter 16

Dante

“Alright, we’re a point down and have one period left. Adams, get your fucking head out of your ass. I get it, Roman beat you and it’s dented your ego, but that is because he’s Roman fucking Marino, and you’re one play away from getting benched and Frankie taking over,” I growl in our huddle, and he nods, his light blue eyes serious, and I look around the boys, “We won’t lose this game, we’re going to get our heads together, go out there and fucking destroy them.” They all nod, and I shout, “Who are we?”

“Jaguars!” they shout in unison, and we slap each other’s helmets and split up as five jump onto the ice.

I give Coach a nod and he nods back as he eyes Adams, and I know Adams’s days are numbered if he doesn’t change his tactics on the ice.

Growling, I jump over the boards as Rhett gets into his goal and Timmons and I get into our position while Adams faces off with the Badges center, the ref between them.

We’re down 2 to 1, and we only scored because Timmons took the puck off his own fucking center when he tried hogging it despite having two men after him, and before he could attack Timmons, I had to get in his face and drag him over to Coach.

Twice their team managed to get the puck from him, all because his ego got the best of him after Roman kicked his ass.

If that fucker doesn’t do this play right, then Frankie will be taking his place.

I’m not losing this game, and not because my family is in the box—they aren’t. I banned them from tonight’s game. Roman accepted instantly because Morgan had just given birth, whereas my parents, more my mother because Dad understood, threw a little bit of a tantrum.

I look to my left and lock eyes with my girl sitting in the stands. She’s wearing my name and number, and her hair is down as I requested, and I take deep breaths hoping my cock doesn’t make its appearance behind my cup because that shit will hurt.

She chews her bottom lip, and nerves radiate from her. I can feel them from here, and my heart flips, knowing that she’s nervous for me.

---