Page 62 of Your Sharpest Edge
I only elbowed him.
“Dude, you can’t swear today.”
“Oh, shit.” He covered his mouth. “Sheet. I meant to say sheet.”
“Uh-huh.” I rolled my eyes.
As we laughed, a mom and her little boy walked by, the kid clutching her hand as he looked up at her with wide eyes. Both Dirks and I fell silent, watching them for a moment.
Dirks sighed, his tone softening. “You ever wonder about her?”
My gaze lingered on the pair before I nodded. “All the time.”
“I can’t believe he only got ten years,” Dirks commented.
I’ll never forget the day I heard the news. It was blasted everywhere that Dimitri Sokolov was found guilty and sentenced to ten years in jail. If he’d killed her or done it in front of Damien, it would’ve been more. When they panned over to Anastasia, she was still in her wheelchair, crying as they took her out of court. My entire heart felt like it was crumbling into a million pieces.
“Thank you all for coming.” The lady’s familiar voice shook me from my thoughts. “We are so excited to be here for the tenth annual Kids Camp summer camp.”
The audience applauded, but I was distracted.
“We’re going to hear a few welcome words from our president, Travis Cannant.”
Travis took the stage as another round of applause filled the room, and the door to the gym across from us opened.
The lady walked over to the person coming in, and Ledger leaned over to me. “My team’s going to kick your team’s backside.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Dude. This isn’t a competition. That’s the opposite of what this is about.”
“Shh,” Dirks said from where we were lined up. The president was still making his speech, but then gestured over to us. “Come on, time for us to get up and say something.”
Ledger, since he was the captain, went first. He had prepared a little speech while we were waiting, looking out at the sea of people in front of us.
“We wanted to take a second to thank you all for coming. The Chicago Ravens, winners of the Stanley Cup this year, are proud to support Kids Camp this summer...”
Dirks, still in sunglasses, elbowed me as Ledger continued to talk about the team. I snapped my head in his direction.
“Shh,” I whispered.
“Dude.” He pulled off his glasses, and it was no wonder why he kept them on. He looked horrible with red-rimmed eyes and deep circles beneath.
“Put those back on.” I half laughed. “You’ll scare the kids.”
“No.” He elbowed me again. “Look.”
I stared at him. He was talking loudly, and we were standing right behind Ledger.
“Shut up,” I hissed.
We must’ve looked like blubbering idiots to anyone standing in the stands because we were fighting like toddlers behind Ledger.
Dirks turned toward me, his voice a little higher. “I need you to look out in the audience. Second row. Bleachers closest to the door.” Dirks paused, and I stared at him, cross-eyed in confusion. “Do it.”
“Okay, okay,” I said, rolling my eyes.
If it’d get him to shut up, I’d look at whatever chick he probably wanted me to see. My eyes scanned the crowd as I stepped to the side of Ledger so I could get a better view of everyone to my left.
Sure enough, I found the bleachers closest to the door, and in the second row, there was a lady with blonde...
