Page 25 of Unsteady

“Yes, I—”

“Prove it.”

“I-I-I think I have the birth certificate. I can’t—”

“I don’t care. You have two options. Either you sit here while I call the police and my lawyer to make sure you pay the years of missing child support. Or, you go the fuck home and send me that document. And you sign my fucking custody papers.”

It takes barely a minute before she says, “Okay. Just let me go.”

As soon as I hear the door close behind her, I burst into action. My hands won’t stop shaking even as I pack Liam’s clothes into a bag. Oliver sees what I’m doing and takes off to his room, leaving Liam perched on the bed.

“Spend the night party?”

“Yeah,” I breathe out, pushing his hair back off his little freckled face. “Are you okay, bug?”

“Yeah… Is that weird lady gone?”

“Yeah. She’s not coming back.”

“She said she was my mom.”

“She's not,” I say, fervently.

“Oh.” He nods, thinking hard. “Do you think, maybe, one day I’ll have a mommy?”

My heart hurts.

“Maybe one day, bug.”

His words haunt me the entire drive, so much so it must be written across my face judging by Rora’s reaction. We tuck them in and Rora tells me to shower in her room while she starts a movie for them. She’s already playing Tracy Chapman on the soft speakers by her bed.

I cry until I can’t breathe.

For a moment, while lying on Rora’s bed waiting on her, I think about trying to contact Rhys. Like something about him would make this better—which is ridiculous considering who he is and what he’s dealing with himself. But I can't shake the thought.

Aurora scratches my back and holds me until I fall asleep.

EIGHT

RHYS

Somehow, she got here before me, which makes me rush to get on the ice like an overeager kid for his first real game.

I don’t even bother to try to wipe off the cheesy smile that hangs off my face almost constantly around her. She turns every hesitancy into excitement, every anxiety back into near bliss in the way it used to be for me on this ice.

I wonder if I could convince her toShe’s the Manherself onto the hockey team so I never have to be on the ice without her.

God, I’ve got to get it together if I’m going to be “Captain Rhys” again by next month.

Trying not to disturb her mid-routine—because I can tell it’s full out from the intensity of her movements, the artistry woven between so beautifully, it makes my chest ache. I clench my fists to trap the anxious monster in my head that’s so desperate for more of her, worried if I even stare too long at her, I won’t be able to stop myself from doing something insane—like pin her to the boards again.

Or see how light she is in my hands. Could I hold her up with my hand while the other presses—

A loud crunch and hard bang rip me from replaying my inappropriate dreams, shooting the head in my body away with an ice cold plunge of terror as I watch Sadie slide on her stomach into the boards, hard.

She doesn’t move.

She’s on her goddamn stomach on the ice and she isn’t moving.

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