Page 46 of Cross-Checked

McCabe

“You gotta stop following her around like a goddamn puppy,” Colt says, turning his head back to me as I follow him onto the plane.

“She shouldn’t be carrying a suitcase with a broken arm.”

Maybe I shouldn’t have rushed over to AJ when she got out of the private car she insisted on taking to the charter jet terminal our plane is leaving from. She can’t drive herself right now, and she said it would be way too suspect if we arrived together, so she wouldn’t let me drive her either.

“Pretty sure she has two arms,” he replies.

There was no way I was letting her roll that big-ass suitcase over to the luggage cart, or lug her carry-on suitcase up those stairs to the plane. Not when she’s injured.

Colt drops his voice lower and says, “Never thought I’d see you go from hating her to hovering like this. Is this all because of the way she protected Abby the other night?”

The silent “Or...?” at the end of the question hangs there heavily.

“Yeah, I feel kind of indebted to her now. And Abby adores her, so that’s kind of softened my stance on her, I guess.” I try to play it off like this is just about Abby, and hope he buys it.

“Good, maybe she’ll renew your contract if you stop being such a dick.”

I laugh, and Colt’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise. “I’m not a dick. She just pisses me off.”

“She gave you your first contract in the NHL a decade ago, and took Abbytwiceso you could play the first two games of this series. Maybe whatever happened in that time between those two things doesn’t matter that much?”

After eight years of playing with Colt, I don’t know why it still surprises me that there’s more to him than the fuck-boy image he portrayed for so long. He’s so much more perceptive than he wants people to know.

“Maybe,” I grunt out as we take our seats—me in the aisle across from Colt, and him next to Drew.

“So...” Drew leans forward, looking at me. “You got your childcare all worked out?”

“Yeah. Found amanny, actually.”

“Like a guy who’s a nanny?” Colt asks, scratching at the back of his neck like the thought of having to spend four solid days with a baby is making him break out in a rash.

“Yep.”

“How’d that happen?” Drew asks.

“Little brother of a friend. He’s getting his degree in child psychology and loves kids. It’s only working because it’s just a summer gig for him. But at least I think he’ll be reliable through the rest of the season.”

Colt chuckles. “A college guy who’s watching a baby for the summer. Hope he’s not like either of you guys were in college.”

Colt came straight to the NHL, whereas Drew was drafted after his senior year of college, and I left after my junior year for the pros. But he’s right. I was definitely not the kind of guy you’d leave in charge of a baby back then. And after the way Drew accidentally ghosted Audrey post-senior year and missedthe first five years of his son’s life as a result, I don’t think he was responsible enough either.

“Stop trying to make him worry,” Drew says, elbowing Colt. “The last thing we need is for our captain to not have his head in the game.”

“Abby’s going to be just fine with Nicholas,” I say, praying I’m right. I have such a better feeling about him than I ever did about Lucy. And the fact that he showed up ten minutes early this morning only confirmed my intuition.

My phone pings with a text, and I glance down quickly, relieved that Hartmann isn’t in his seat next to me yet, because no one needs to see AJ’s name popping up on my screen. I quickly go to her contact and change her name so that I don’t risk one of my teammates seeing that she’s texting me.

Sunshine

Stop treating me like I’m made of glass. I can roll my own damn suitcase.

McCabe

You had two suitcases and one good hand.

Sunshine

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