Page 75 of Textbook Defense

Jordy felt like any answer he could give would incriminate him. “Is it a first for you?” he countered.

“You could say that.” He winced. “Okay, I need a shower or you’re going to have to throw me out along with the sheets.”

A shower sounded fabulous.

KAIRA WAStalking a mile a minute as Rowan followed the automated voice to “Turn right.”

“I want a hot dog and a soda!”

“Sure,” Rowan agreed, because Jordy had suggested Rowan buy her food at the arena and said not to worry about spoiling her dinner.

He hung another right, stopped at a gate, and rolled down his window to show security the parking pass Jordy had given him.

Attending Jordy’s final preseason game in Toronto was a tradition for Kaira, Jordy had explained, and Janice had previously been her chaperone. Of course, Jordy had offered to find someone else, but Kaira was ecstatic to bring Rowan to his first ever hockey game. Because “field hockey doesn’t count, Rowan!”

Kaira took his hand and skipped up to the private entrance, continuing her narration of everything she wanted to do today. “We need to go to our seats so that we can see Daddy do warmup. We can’t miss it.”

Not that Rowan wanted to deny her anything, but he didn’t know how to get there from here.

“Hello! Are you Kaira Shaw?” A young employee dressed in a team-branded blue polo with a bright lanyard around her neck stood nearby, smiling and waving.

“Yes. Who are you?”

“I’m Jessica. Your dad asked me to check in to make sure you found your seats okay.”

“Oh! Do you know where they are? We have to go now so we don’t miss warmups.”

Jessica smiled brightly, clearly charmed, and guided the way. “I hear it’s your first game,” she said to Rowan. “Is there anything else I can help you with while I’m here?”

“Uh, I’m guessing it should be straightforward to find food and bathrooms from our seats.”

Jessica laughed. “It should be. You’re right at the glass, regular fan seats, so everything is clearly marked.” She led them into the stands and pointed down the steps. “All the way down and to the right.”

“Thank you, Jessica,” Rowan said as Kaira tugged on his hand. “Kaira, don’t forget to say thank you.”

“Thank you, Miss Jessica. Come on, Rowan!”

Jessica waved them away, and Rowan followed Kaira to their seats.

Naturally, Kaira did not sit down. She stood at the boards she was just tall enough to see over with her nose pressed to the glass in eager anticipation, even though there was nothing to see. The ice was empty.

Rowan figured these must be good seats, since they sat on a longer edge of the ice, halfway between the middle and one of the nets. From here, he had a pretty good view of the home bench and could see most of the ice.

He leaned back and watched Kaira vibrate with excitement. She’d dressed for the occasion in rainbow leggings and bright yellow shoes, her hair tied into two pigtails with Shield-branded scrunchies. The look was completed, of course, with an official Shield jersey.

Rowan couldn’t claim any fondness for the uniform. According to Jordy, the eye-searing blue and yellow came from the city crest. Kaira’s jersey had a yellow torso with blue shoulders and stripes around the cuffs and hems. The team logo, a stylized blue T on a yellow shield, didn’t exactly help tone things down. He’d gotten the better end of the jersey deal at least; the one Jordy had lent him was blue with yellow highlights. It was somewhat boring in that it simply had Jordy’s name—Shaw—and number—7—on the back. But Kaira clearly wore a special order, because above the number 7 on her back read DADDY.

She’d pulled it out of her closet and showed it off with pride earlier in the day, and Rowan had melted at the label and manfully tried not to picture Jordy holding an even tinier Kaira in her special jersey.

Of course, Kaira had then declared that Rowan also needed a jersey and run to find her dad to solve the problem. Jordy had rubbed his jaw, looked Rowan up and down—while Rowan thought very boring, pure thoughts—and said, “Guess he’ll have to borrow one of mine.”

Rowan had never understood the clothes-sharing kink before, maybe because he was tall and broad enough that he rarely had a boyfriend who outsized him. Or maybe because he had never been all that attached to any of his previous partners. But when Jordy pulled the jersey out of his closet and explained that they needed them for off-ice events, and Rowan had to pull it on under Jordy’s watchful eyes? Well. Rowan flushed hot and desperately wished they didn’t have a six-year-old chaperone.

Now, at the rink, he tried not to think about Jordy’s name and number branded across his back. He could think about it later. Judging by Jordy’s hot gaze, he had also been into it.

“Rowan!” Kaira cried. “Look!” She pointed across the ice toward players trickling in from whatever you called backstage when it was a sport.

Even if Rowan hadn’t been able to recognize Jordy by his jersey or stance or familiar face, he couldn’t have missed his arrival. Kaira squealed and pressed her palms against the glass. Rowan scootched forward in his chair. She didn’t need him, but suddenly he felt like he should be closer.

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