Page 115 of Offside Angel

I stop my scan of the stands and whirl towards her. “What? Who?”

There’s no way I said what I was thinking out loud, but maybe I’m not playing off my paranoia as well as I think I am. Maybe it’s obvious I’m one loud noise away from dropping to the deck and rocking in the fetal position.

This is the first time I’ve been in a public space since before the car accident. I haven’t even been going to kickboxing, not that I had a lot of time for working out classes with wedding planning and unpacking going on. But still, I should’ve thought this through. I shouldn’t have let Aiden guilt me into coming with his puppy dog eyes and his pouty lower lip.

“Who do you think? Your hubby,” she whispers low enough so no one else can hear. She points to the ice, where Zane is waving.

The girls in front of us think he’s waving at them and scream, but I lift Aiden over their heads and point out Zane.

“Daddy!” He throws both arms over his head, waving them so wildly that it actually sparks an impromptu wave from the crowd.

The entire arena moves as one and we stand up and hurl our arms in the air three times before it finally dies out.

“I did that!” Aiden beams, trying to sit down, but bouncing in his seat from pure excitement. “Everyone did what I was doing!”

As if Aiden needs even more reason to crawl out of his skin, Taylor hands him a family-sized box of candy that she nabbed from the owner’s box behind us.

The box we were supposed to sit in until Aiden complained that he couldn’t see anything from there and we were too far away.

The box where Evan is stationed, currently watching me like a hawk… if a hawk’s goal was to protect me from harm, not eat me.

A buzzer sounds and the players skate out onto the ice. Taylor shakes her head. “Wow. Zane is starting.”

“Why do you sound surprised?”

“Why do you not?” She arches a brow. “I figured Popov would bench him after what happened in the locker room the other day.”

“What happened?”

“Oh… did he not tell you?” Taylor winces. “Maybe I shouldn’t, either. I don’t want to cause trouble in paradise.”

I grab her arm, digging my nails in deep. “You love causing trouble. Now, open that big mouth of yours, Taylor, or I’ll dive in and drag the truth out of you.”

“Why am I both terrified and turned-on right now?” She pries her arm out of my grip. “Daniel came home from work the other day and said Carson and Zane got into it in the locker room. Something about Carson threatening you to get Zane to back out of being captain.” She shrugs, like I’m not hanging onto every single detail. “I don’t know, but it sounded intense. And kind of hot. People would pay good money online for any cell phone footage, but Daniel swears there isn’t any.”

“Carson threatened me?” I shake my head. Surely Zane would’ve told me about that.

Unless he’s trying to protect me.

I saw his face the other night when I told him I could take care of myself. Zane wants to take care of me, but keeping me in the dark isn’t the way. If he didn’t tell me about Carson’s threat, what else has he been keeping from me?

“Classic Carson stuff.” Taylor dismisses the whole thing with a wave of her hand. “He’s an asshole and I’m glad someone finally broke his nose.”

“Zane broke his nose?!”

She shrugs. “That’s what Daniel said, but he can be dramatic sometimes.”

Zane broke someone’s nose at work and didn’t say a word. I had no idea. What other signs have I missed?

I thought Dante might have slunk back to whatever hole he crawled out of after he was caught on camera at the gym, but the truth might be that I’m not on the receiving end of information anymore and I’m too cushy in my brand new life to realize I’m in danger.

I glance at the young girls in front of us and the family off to our right. I look for a familiar head of dark hair or a red laser sniper dot aimed right at my chest.

When the puck drops and the crowd roars, I jolt and instinctively reach for Aiden’s shoulder.

“Ow,” he complains, frowning down at the gummy candies he dropped on the ground.

“Sorry, A,” I mumble.

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