Page 106 of Unsteady

I laugh lightly, not mocking but more impressed as she wraps an arm across my back. “I’ve been watching Oliver play for years now and I’m still learning.”

But, I know Aurora learned it all. She could probably coach a team if she wanted to, because she doesn’t do anything halfway.

Just as we finish, there’s a flurry of knocks on Rora’s door, accompanied with high pitch giggling that could only be from Liam.

Rora opens the door with a grin, shouting “Boo!” to start up another round of six-year-old giggles. She chases after him as he runs, and Oliver is left standing by the kitchenette.

“You look cool,” he says.

It makes me pause for a moment, because it’s the equivalent of anI love youand extreme approval wrapped into three words.

“Yeah?”

He nods. “Rhys’ll like it.”

Oliver and Liam both are everything to me. But with Oliver, anything other than anger is hard to come by. Even if I know he doesn’t blame me, sometimes it’s hard to know if I’m doing the right thing. So, I squeeze his shoulder and thank him as we all head outside.

* * *

The walk on the concourse to the arena is busy, hockey being one of the top performing sports around here. It’s Saturday, too, which means we avoided most of the disapproving stares from our RA who spotted my little brothers trailing us out of the dorms.

We used to get fined for it, until Rora worked some kind of magic. Since then, I haven’t heard a peep.

Rhys’ mom is standing just inside the complex as we enter, a tall suit-clad man with a broad smile next to her. I know he isn’t Rhys’ dad, and that alone makes me pause, gripping Liam’s hand in mine a little tighter.

“Oh, beautiful.” She sighs, her hand reaching out to caress the sleeve of my jacket. “Did you make these?”

“My roommate did,” I answer, a little short in my response as my eyes flicker back to the man behind her. “This is Rora.”

They shake hands, and I can feel Liam trying to maneuver from my grip to go to her—but I won’t let him go.

Thankfully, I don’t have to ask because Aurora introduces herself to the man, probably assuming it’s Rhys’ father.

“Adam.” He nods, smiling.

“Are you a coach?” I ask, brows dipping.

“Lawyer.” He smiles, all calm and collected. Meanwhile, my heart rate skyrockets and I start to feel the panic building.

Alawyer? Why did she bring him here? Is this… Is it Liam and Oliver? Are they going to take them from me?

My grip tightens, and even Oliver steps back. The man seems a little surprised at our joint reaction, but I barely notice, too busy trying to find an exit route and hoping Rora will do something insane and distract them.

“Oh,” Anna says, her face dropping into pure devastation. I’m too busy panicking to be embarrassed by my reaction, but she puts her hand out towards the lawyer. “No, this is a family friend—Adam Reiner. Bennett’s father.”

It doesn’t calm me, nothing does until Aurora presses a hand to my shoulder and catches my eyes.

“They’re not trying to take them from you,” she whispers. But I know Mrs. Koteskiy can hear her words by the shuddering noise that comes from her.

“No, Sadie, god—I’m so sorry. No, my husband had to go to a press event and his flight was delayed back. Mr. Reiner just offered to accompany us today. Only if that’s alright with you.”

He’s not here to take them. No one is going to take them.

Oliver keeps holding onto me, even as I release Liam so he can run to Anna Koteskiy’s side and begins babbling to her about his morning. But, Bennett’s father—which now I can easily see the resemblance from the quaff sun-kissed brown hair and strong features, not to mention the height—steps over to us.

“I’ll grab us some drinks.” Rora excuses herself.

He smiles at her, something I’ve never really seen from his stoic son, but then looks down at Oliver and me.

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