Page 47 of Broken Promises

TWENTY-FIVE

willa

“The National Anthem? Really?”Cal whines.

“It was the only way Jon could get me what I needed.”

Cal glares at me as he paces. “Rockstars don’t sing the National Anthem.”

“There’s no way that’s true,” Kai says, but he’s smiling at how annoyed Cal is.

“Reba did it,” I say.

Cal stops pacing. “Really? Reba did it?”

“She’s telling the truth,” Kai tells Cal.

“Well, if Reba did it, so can I,” Cal says, puffing out his chest and starting his vocal warm-ups.

“Come on,” I say to Kai. “Maggie is sitting alone waiting for us.”

He follows me to our seats, adjusting his baseball cap to try to cover some of his face while I make sure my wig is still in place.

“It’s weird seeing you blonde again,” he says. “Not bad,” he amends when he catches my questioning look. “Just different.”

“There you are!” Maggie shouts. She jumps up from her seat and gives me a quick hug. “You must be Kai. I’m Maggie, Gideon Banks is my husband.” Kai smiles and shakes her outstretched hand. The team is finishing up their warm-ups by the time wefinishing greeting each other. Maggie was able to use the other two tickets her parents have for Cal and Kai. They’re doing what Declan’s parents are and traveling a lot. She said they’ve only made it to two games so far this season.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please stand for the singing of your National Anthem,” the announcer says. “Tonight’s performance is by Callahan Griffin of Shattered Halo.”

Maggie’s big brown eyes go wide as Kai and I descend into a fit of laughter that’s luckily drowned out by the roaring of the crowd. We manage to get ourselves together in time for Cal’s first note.

“He’s going to get you back for this,” Kai says in my ear.

“Worth it.”

Cal does a great job. The crowd gets so loud it’s deafening. You’d think he won a Grammy with the way they’re cheering for him. Declan even skates up to the rug Cal is standing on and gives him a hug. I’m sure he was wondering what the hell Cal was doing here.

By the time Cal gets to his seat next to Kai, he’s changed into a jersey with Declan’s number on it and a baseball hat.

“Are you wearing a Chickadees hat?” I ask him, leaning around Kai.

“Jasper gave it to me,” Cal huffs.

“Your funeral,” I say and lean back into my seat. Boston is a serious sports town, and the Chickadees have beaten us in the World Series twice in the last five years. Cal is asking to get beat up in the parking lot.

“Does Dec have to score for this to work?” Cal asks.

“Ideally.” Declan said Chicago was going to be tough, so him scoring isn’t key to my plan.

“Why is Dec’s teammate blowing kisses at you?” Kai’s pointing at Martinez, who is in fact, blowing kisses at Maggie and me.

I snort at the same time Maggie giggles. We look at each other and blow him a kiss back. He smiles and gets in position for the face-off. Dec and Gideon both glare at him before turning back to the ref holding the puck.

“Cameron has a theory that if he flirts with us, it’ll make Gideon and Declan play harder,” Maggie explains. “Because of aggression or something.”

Kai nods like that makes complete sense to him.

“Looks like it worked,” Cal says as Gideon wins the face-off.

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