Page 44 of No Pucks Given
“I took a video of Stephanie doing her morning stretches for cheer.”
Then I realized that Siobhan had the perfect proof that she was supposed to have custody of Stephanie right now. The court-mandated app. I whispered that into her ear as the cop looked at my phone.
“Here’s the proof that I am supposed to have custody of her this week, and I was letting him take her to school today since he was going to miss the next couple of weeks.”
The police officer looked at both of our phones before he talked to his fellow officers who were in the airport itself. There was a flurry of codes that went over the walkie-talkies, and it sounded like something had happened on the other side.
Coop grabbed my shoulder and held me in place. Not only could he apparently sniff out scents like a dog, but his strength was superhuman. It was freakish how strong of a hold he had on me. He was fit from lifting weights nearly all summer, but it was another thing to feel it firsthand. Spence has held me back once or twice, but when he did, I could still move. Coop only had one hand on my shoulder, and I couldn’t move at all.
I shook my head, trying to telepathically tell him that I wasn’t going to rush in. I wasn’t a fighter, and I would do the right thing even though a huge part of me wanted to pull Stephanie out of there.
Siobhan went slack in my arms, and I held her to me. As scared as I was for Stephanie, I needed to be strong for her.
The hardest thing to do was to do nothing when you knew something was happening on the other side of the walls. But if we did anything besides letting the police do their job, we would get into big trouble.
Eventually, after a lifetime of a few minutes, Stephanie was ushered out the doors, and she just bolted straight for us. The moment I saw that she was fine and unhurt was the moment that I could breathe again.
As Siobhan and I inspected and hugged Stephanie, Coop elbowed me. I looked in the general direction of the entrance and saw that Russell and a woman were being escorted out of the airport in handcuffs. The normally handsome and well put-together actor looked haggard and beaten down. With his low head and hunched shoulders, I could tell that was a man who had his ass handed to him in a fight.
I felt no sympathy for the guy. If anything, I wanted the book thrown at the fucker, but it wasn’t my call to make. But just thinking about charges made me realize we needed to call our lawyer.
Chapter 41
Siobhan
Walking out of the police interview room, I smiled seeing Stephanie crashed out in Carter’s arms. It made me realize just how much of a family the three of us had become.
It was still such a relief to have her back and to know that she was safe.
By the time I was done with the police, all I wanted to do was crawl into bed and avoid life for the next few days. Coming off the adrenaline rush and overall anxiety about Stephanie’s well-being was no joke, and I could feel the crash coming.
Upon seeing me, Carter pulled me into a hug. I melted into his strong body. He shifted Stephanie’s body slightly, and I realized we needed to go. Looking around, I didn’t see his teammate. “What happened to Coop?” I asked.
“Most likely afternoon practice. That’s if the Legacy doesn’t have him doing all sorts of crisis management meetings. They scheduled mine for tomorrow, but PR is already working on the spin.”
I felt like shit at that moment. I had gotten both of them into trouble with the team, although I was glad he was there with me.
As we walked out to the car, he said, “Let’s get something to eat.”
Food was the last thing on my mind. It might have been mid-afternoon, but I was exhausted. “Can’t we just go home and go to sleep?”
“You need to feed your body. It helps with the recovery process. Why do you think there’s a post-game meal or that the Avengers movies always end at a gyro shop? We don’t have to do anything crazy, but we need to get something.”
I sighed, but he was right. That’s when several flashbulbs went off in our faces. I tried not to react, but in my head, I was just screaming out curse words at the twats.
I wanted my privacy, but it was always going to be international news. I couldn’t even process that Russell would try to kidnap his own daughter and was the one behind this whole terror campaign.
I opened the car door and moved the car seat buckles before moving out of the way so Carter could place Stephanie in her car seat. Due to her weight, she still didn’t qualify to be in a regular seat. We got her latched up and then got into the front seats.
I looked at my phone, dreading to see what it said. It was flooded with messages and alerts. Thankfully, I saw one from Natalie.
So glad everyone is okay. Doing as much damage control as possible. Spence rented a room over at the Douglas for you. Thepaparazzi are staked out at Carter’s place and ours.
Thanks
I felt awful knowing Russell brought the paparazzi to Natalie and Spencer’s place. The worst thing was that Spencer was enough of a hot head that he might end up exploding at the press if they messed with Natalie or Carter’s life too much.
Looking up, I realized we weren’t on the way to either of our two places. “I take it you already know about the plan to go to the Douglas?”
