Page 81 of All Your Pucking Secrets

“First, I’ll ask if she’ll consider changing universities. If not, then I’ll turn it down.”

He looks skeptical. “Just like that? You’d turn down the NHL for a girl?”

I gaze out over the stadium, where half time is soon to end. “Yeah. I’d like to join the NHL. Hockey is all I know. But I don’t need the money, and hockey isn’t more important to me than she is. I’m sure I could work as a coach or an agent somewhere nearby to keep myself busy.”

I’ve considered doing that anyway. I’m particularly interested in coaching for one of the charities that works with lower income families, but I’d be disappointed not to get to play at least a few years with the NHL first. There will be decades after I retire from professional sports that I can dedicate to the cause.

“I’m impressed,” Ryan says. “I don’t know if I’d do the same if someone offered me the choice between a major league contract and love.”

I chuckle. “Everyone is different. Maybe if you met the girl first, you’d make that choice, or maybe if you knew you wouldn’t have to worry about finances then you would. My position and yours aren’t the same.”

“Don’t I know it. I appreciate what you’ve done for me though. Taking care of Echo hasn’t felt like work, but the fact you’ve paid me well for it means I’ve been able to focus on my grades and my game rather than having to run around with part-time jobs like some of my teammates do.”

“I’m just glad you were willing to do it.”

Play resumes, and he focuses on the action while I surreptitiously study him.

It was difficult to find someone for this role. It had to be someone who needed money, was in some of the same classes as Echo, was physically capable of protecting her, and whose personality I thought would be well-matched to hers but who wouldn’t fall in love with her.

Ryan has been a lifesaver. I’d have paid him as much as he asked for, provided I was able to get it out of Dad. Although Dad loosened the purse strings a little after I broke up with Echo.

Perhaps it was his way of rewarding me——I don’t know—but I appreciated him being freer with money and fulfilling his part of our deal by setting Echo up to have a college experience relatively free of financial limitations.

Not that the scholarship she was awarded could be in any way linked back to him, but I knew it was his doing. It was one of the only good things he ever did, even though it came on the back of one of the worst.

I grab another curry leaf thing and bite into it, enjoying the spicy flavors. Most of my cooking at home is bland. On the field, the Seahawks score a field goal. Ryan pumps his fist. I just smile and return to my musings.

I always wondered if Dad felt a little guilty about what happened to Echo. After all, if I’d been with her, she might have been safe. I was surprised when he allowed me to set up ongoing legal advice for her following the assault—although I did have to threaten to get caught with drugs before he signed the paperwork.

I knew he’d be furious if I ruined my chances at getting onto a good college hockey team and continuing to the NHL. For the first time in my life, I’d had leverage over him because I no longer cared about what happened to me.

Players run back and forth, a blur of black and blue. Ryan hollers again, and it takes me a moment to figure out what’s going on. After that, I try to keep my mind on the game, but it’s hard not to dwell on how Echo might react when she learns how I’ve been interfering with her life.

By the time the game ends, Ryan is hoarse from shouting and my temples are beginning to throb. He’s a good guy, but fucking hell, no one warned me how loud he can be when he gets worked up.

On the way out, we’re heading away from the stadium when a familiar voice calls my name. I spin around. Soraya is with a group of girls walking in the same direction as us, but twenty yards back.

I stop, and Ryan does the same. As his gaze lands on the girls, his eyes narrow and he shoots me a sidelong look, perhaps wondering if I’ve been sneaking around behind Echo’s back.

“Hey, Ty. I didn’t expect to see you here,” Soraya says, stealing a peek at Ryan from beneath her lashes. “Who’s this?”

Ryan folds his arms across his chest, his posture stiff, and his arched eyebrow asks how I’m going to explain away the fact a group of eighteen- and nineteen-year-old girls are on friendly terms with me.

“This is Ryan,” I tell her. “Ryan, this is my baby sister, Soraya.”

“Oh.” He unwinds his arms and runs one hand through his hair. “Nice to meet you.”

“You too.” She raises her eyebrow at me. “I didn’t know Ty had any friends here.”

“I met him through Echo,” I say, which is only a lie in some lights.

“And now you’re bonding.” A smile spreads across her face. “How cute.”

I scowl, and Ryan shuffles from foot to foot, obviously as uncomfortable with being called ‘cute’ as I am.

“Do you study at Newbury?” Ryan asks, glancing at the other girls, who are absorbed by something on the redhead’s phone, before focusing on Soraya. There’s a gleam of interest in his eye that I don’t like.

Soraya nods. “Sociology. Then, once I graduate, I’ll go on to law school.”

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