Page 42 of No Pucks Given
His voice was practically menacing, which wasn’t like him at all. His steel grey eyes went cold and hard as he stared at me. The only other time I’d seen him like this was at Scuba’s wedding, when the bartenders cut him off. I didn’t know what it was about the guy, but when he got pissed off, he was one scary motherfucker. Thankfully, he was a friend.
“You know, you sound like the dad inTaken," I said.
Coop attempted to hide a chuckle, but it sounded more like a snort. “Probably, but at the same time, it doesn’t change the fact that I was trained to track people in the woods.”
I shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, but it also sounded insane. Still, with Stephanie going missing, I would take any help I could get.
“Where did you learn to do that?” I asked.
Coop tugged on his ginger hair and pulled it up into a bun. “If I tell you, I’ll have to kill you."
I shook my head as he leaned into this man-of-mystery character. After playing with him for about a year, I still barely knew the guy. But he’d been opening up more and more, and he seemed like a good guy. I could see why he was a captain back in Minnesota.
I focused on the road while Coop was busy on his phone, which made me realize I needed to call Coach. “Are you letting Coach know?”
“Sorta. More like I’m talking with Logan, and he’s going to handle it with management.”
Coop was close with the owner’s son, so much so that he was doing an intervention with Coop even before we showed up after Scuba’s wedding. But it was good to know he went to someone who would keep us out of trouble for this little escapade.
Coop’s phone must have rung since he pulled it up to his ear. “No… I don’t need Mace to fly out. I should have it. But if we can’t find her, I’ll let you know.”
It was clear he was talking to Logan on the phone, which made me want to know their connection. Either way, I was glad he was trying to help me.
The moment Coop dropped the phone from his ear, I asked, “What’s the deal with you and Logan? This is more than a simple friendship that you have with him.”
Coop sighed, and I was afraid he was going to shut down and not answer me. He licked his lips, but he surprised me by actually answering me. “He’s basically an in-law. His fiancée is a cousin through marriage.”
“Must be nice to have the owner on speed dial.”
While I had Logan and Petey’s numbers on my phone, I wouldn’t randomly call them up. Only if it was work-related. Although I guess today was work-related. I almost envied how comfortable he was talking to them.
Coop just shrugged. “Meh. While I don’t think I could ever call his dad, it’s different with Logan and Paddy.”
Paddy was the Wild’s owner. Even if I was tempted to prod about how he got so close with Paddy, this wasn’t the time. We pulled into Siobhan’s place, and he immediately hopped out of the truck.
Looking at him, he seemed a little crazy, sniffing the air and whatnot. Maybe he did know how to track people with skills I didn’t know about. But I was more worried about Shiv, who ran out of the house with the world’s reddest and puffiest eyes. I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her tightly.
Coop tapped my arms. “Come on. We need to get going. The fact that he drove her in a car makes things a hell of a lot trickier, but I got the scent. Hand over the keys. I’m driving.”
I chucked the keys backward, kissing the top of Siobhan’s head. “Come on. Let’s follow the guy who says he can find our daughter.”
Chapter 39
Siobhan
As Coop drove the truck, Carter held me tight. I kept going to the Guardian app, hoping the results would change. I hated how I felt so damn useless when the app couldn’t locate Stephanie’s phone.
The only solace was that Carter’s teammate had a good idea of the direction. At least, he claimed he did.
We got to a fork in the road. Coop rolled the car to a stop and then leaned his head out the window to sniff the air. He’d done this a couple of times thus far. Although, unlike the previous times, he didn’t immediately turn in that direction. Instead, he was debating something.
Carter’s touch was the one thing that kept me sane. It was so damn soothing as he rubbed his hand up and down my arm.
Then, Carter said, “Let’s go ahead and turn on the listening feature.”
I nodded, although it killed me to turn it on. It was one of those privacy things that the two of us didn’t like about the app, but at a time like this, it seemed like a lifeline. I clicked through to see if we could hear anything from Stephanie’s phone. I heard a muffled sob that broke my heart. I needed to find her.
Other than Stephanie’s tears, there was nothing useful from the microphone feature. It was good to know she was alive, but she was upset and crying.
