Page 25 of Hot for the Hockey Player
Running the back of my hand over her hair, my fingers still trembling, I rested my head against hers.She was too young to know the horrors of our family.Too young to know what kind of predators were out there and how they treated children.While I wanted to arm my children with knowledge and tools to keep them safe, I also wanted to keep them in the dark and blissfully ignorant for as long as possible.Because once you learned the dark and despicable side of people existed, there was no going back to being beautifully oblivious.
“They hurt …” I sucked in another deep breath through my nose, pulling in her sweet, child-like scent and held it in my lungs for a moment.“They hurt kids.They touched kids who couldn’t speak up and say no.”
“Like babies?”she asked.
“Your father’s brother—Wilson Wells—had three little girls.And he, your dad, and Danica’s husband—Rufus—all hurt those little girls.They were six, four, and two.”
Damon shifted awkwardly next to me, and I glanced at him.Pain, so real, so raw, stared back at me as tears welled up in his eyes.“Do you think … do you think I’m like Dad?”
“Oh, honey, no.”I rubbed the side of his arm, but then quickly realized he needed more and wrapped my arms around both of them and pulled them in toward me.“Neither of you areanythinglike your father.He was a bad, bad man.My father forced me to marry him.I didn’t have a choice.Cyrus was a lot older than me, and he was angry, mean, and so full of hate.None of you children are like your fathers.We got you out of that horrible place, and away from those terrible people.You weren’t raised around that.So you could choose whatever life you wanted, not the one forced upon you.You are both amazing people.All of you kids are.You are kind, thoughtful, loving, and while I know you’re angry with me right now,” I glanced at Damon, “there’s notrueanger in your heart the way it took up every corner of your father’s.”I pressed a kiss to the side of my son’s head, then one to Laurel’s.
“I’m not angry at you, Mom,” Damon murmured.“I’m just …”
“You’re a teenager.It’s expected.You’re figuring out your place in this world, pushing boundaries, testing limits, and it’s my job as your mother to keep those boundaries in place and push back.Stand firm.Keep you on the right track and guide you into adulthood the best way I can.We’re not always going to get along.”I lobbed a half-hearted chuckle.“We don’t have children to have friends.We have children, andhopethat if we raise them right, they will grow into adults who we not onlywantto be friends with, but whowantto be friends with us.A friendship based on mutual respect, love, and an actual desire to spend time with each other.But right now, I hate to break it to you, but I ain’t your friend.You sass me and there will be consequences.”I squeezed them both tight again, then released them and sat back, the pressure in my chest finally easing.“But know that everything I do, everything I’ve ever done, has been with you both at the very epicenter of my heart.My love for you will never waver, never decrease, and never be conditional.If you choose to run off and join the circus, I will still love you.”
Laurel snickered.
“You just need to trust me when I say this conversation needs to end.Talking about it more will only cause additional pain for everybody.We’re all trying to put it behind us.It was a dark time, and nobody wants to go back there.Okay?”
Laurel nodded, but the curiosity and burning questions streaked across Damon’s face.I lifted a brow at him, and he finally nodded.
“I’m not saying Maverick can’t come over and play video games, but we have rules in this house.Homework and chores before hobbies.It’s a pretty easy one, and I expect you to respect it.”
Damon nodded again.“I know.I’m sorry.”
“I finished my homework at school so I don’t have any today,” my daughter boasted, earning a glare, then an irritated eye roll from her older brother.“I’ll read before bed though.”
“Do you have homework?”I asked Damon.
He nodded, flicking his head so his floppy hair got tossed off his forehead.“Not a lot.I have to finish my essay on the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, then work on like ten math questions.”
“You weren’t doing that in your room?”Laurel asked.
“Enough,” I said softly to her.“Can you go set the table, please?”
Grumbling, she got up from the couch and went to do as I had asked.
I faced my oldest child.“You’re worried the kids at school will be able to find Cyrus?”
His head bobbed stiffly.
“Let me see what I can do, okay?There has to be a way to—”
“The internet is forever, Mom.Once it’s out there, it’s out there forever.There’s nothing you can do.If people find out Cyrus Wells is my dad—because I was able to find him, so why can’t others—it’s going to make my life at school and on the island a living hell.”
Exhaling through my nose, my shoulders slumped.“Just let me make some calls, okay?”Yes, all of it would be a matter of public record, but were high school boys really that smart?Would they know where to go looking?They didn’t know our former last name so they would have to dig pretty damn deep to link us to Cyrus.I’d shoot off some emails tonight to a few contacts and see if we couldn’t bury things a little deeper.
I could tell he was resisting the urge not to roll his eyes.“I’m sorry for my attitude.I know it’s not your fault.”
“Thank you.”
“I guess it’ll be too late for Maverick to come over tonight, huh?”
“Probably.But if you finish your chores and homework right after school tomorrow, I’m sure he’ll have time to pop over for a bit.”And fluster the crap out of me again.
Resigned to his fate, he finally let his face relax out of its crumpled frown of discontent.“I’ll go grab the laundry and fold it.”He stood up, then turned back around, his eyes falling to my thighs.“I’m really sorry about your legs.That looks like it hurts.”
“I’d get burned from head to toe if it meant easing the pain that’s wrapped around your heart, kiddo.”Unshed tears burned the backs of my eyes.“Don’t let it eat you up inside, okay?We’ll figure this out.I promise.”
