Page 32 of The Spice Play

“You should learn!” he chirped excitedly. “Sometimes, after practice, before they bring the big Zamboni out to smooth the ice for the figure skaters, Daddy lets me put on my skates and takes me out on the ice. Maybe he’ll let you, too.”

I jutted my lower lip out a little too far, playing up my sadness. “I don’t have any skates.”

“I’ll ask Daddy to get you some,” he said, looking smug as hell as he sat back in his seat.

I chuckled, but the sound of something slamming into the wall in front of us made me jump, and the second I looked up, all I could see was the back of Sebastian’s helmet and his back against the lip of the wall. Another man, someone with sandy brown hair and tanned skin and a look of pure anger on his face, had Seb pinned with his shoulder.

“Daddy!” Matty shouted, his hands covering his mouth and his eyes going wide as he leaned forward in his seat. “Are you okay?”

Seb turned his head toward us, his mouth twisted up in pain, and for a second, I wondered if I needed to get Matty out, if I needed to rush over, or if I was just witnessing anormal day of practice for him. My heartbeat rose, but Seb lifted a single gloved hand and gave a thumbs up.

“I’m fine, bud,” Seb grunted. He pushed the brown-haired man off him, sending him gliding a few feet back before the man dug his skate in and stopped himself.

“Oh, shit, that your kid?”

Coach Casey blew his whistle, shouting a hasty, “Take five!”

“Yeah. Matty,” Seb said, spitting a mouthful of saliva onto the bare ice and rotating his shoulders as he replied to the man who had driven him into the wall. “If you could refrain from swearing in front of him, that would be great.”

“Ah, fuck, sorry,” he laughed. He skated up to the wall, resting his arms on it and leaning over, looking directly at Matty. “What’s up, squirt? I’m Bryan. Center, like your dad.”

I raised a brow at Seb as he turned, positioning himself between Bryan and the exit. Seb just shook his head.

“Hi,” Matty said, his voice a little smaller as he stared at Bryan, his eyes narrowed and untrusting. In fairness, hehadjust seen his dad get slammed into the wall by this guy, so I couldn’t blame him.

Bryan’s gaze drifted toward me instead, and as if Seb had been watching like a goddamn hawk, he mumbled, “Don’t.”

“You must be the new nanny,” Bryan said, glancing at Seb beside him but completely ignoring his request. “I didn’t catch your name.”

“Uh, yeah, sorry. It’s Nelly,” I said, lifting up from my seat and reaching across the single set in front of us with an outstretched hand. Bryan reached out, too, giving it a quick little shake. He was handsome enough — he looked a little older than Seb’s thirty-two years, a little more weathered,with a jaw hard enough to cut steel and a hint of a tattoo poking up beneath his shirt at the neckline.

“Nice to meet you,” he said, smirking. He still hadn’t let go of my hand. “Any other services you offer?”

“What?”

“Bryan,” Seb warned, his voice dropping far lower than I’d heard it before.

“Oh, just because you’re living with him,” Bryan said, squeezing my hand just a little bit tighter, unrelenting in his grasp. My pulse rose further, my balance uneven across the gap. Matty’s hand slid into my free hand as if he could tell, and goddammit, that kid deserved an ice cream after this. “Howfullis this service package? Just cooking, cleaning, and watching the kid? Or does he have you sucking his cock in the middle of the night?”

Seb moved before the words had even settled in.

I could barely catch what happened — one moment, Bryan was persistently holding my hand, and the next, he’d released it, and I was frozen, and he was laid back on the ice with Seb’s bladed foot against his stomach.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Coach shouted, the sound of a whistle peeling out across the arena.

“What does that mean?” Matty asked, tugging on my hand, trying to get me to come back to him. But I couldn’t move.

He said that in front of Matty.

“What’s wrong with you?” Seb spat, shoving his hockey stick up against Bryan’s chin. His cheeks had turned red, his ears pink, and even though I could only see his profile, he lookedfurious. “You don’t say that to her. You don’t say that in front of my kid!”

Function over my body returned to me all at once, and I moved, blocking Matty’s view as I tried to keep half myattention on him and half on what was happening on the ice. I needed to get him out of here.

“Nelly?” Matty asked, pulling on my hand.

“Get your twig off his neck, Blue,” Coach said.

“Like hell I will,” Seb snarled, leaning just a little further in toward Bryan, pushing down on his diaphragm with his skate. “Apologize to her. Now.”

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