Page 42 of ICED
I squat down to Lila’s level. “Think you can keep that puck safe for me?”
She nods solemnly. “I’m going to sleep with it next to my bed.”
“Perfect.”
When I rise, Maya’s watching me with something quieter in her eyes. Something unsure, but warm.
“You okay?” I ask.
She nods. “It was loud. And busy. But we had fun. You didn’t tell me you were going to bodycheck a man into next week.”
“That was the tame version. I didn’t want to scare Lila.”
Maya smirks. “She screamed ‘GET HIM’ like a tiny Viking.”
Her gaze flicks to my collarbone, where the towel’s slipped and a red mark has starting to bloom.
“Does it hurt?” she asks softly.
“Nah,” I say. Then, lower, “Not if you’re here.”
She rolls her eyes but can’t quite hide her smile. “That was terrible.”
“Little bit.”
We stand there for a long moment. The crowd thinning around us. The buzz of victory still humming under my skin. We smile at each other. There’s something new in the silence between us, comfortable, crackling. Close.
I glance around. “You two want to hang back? Meet the guys? They’re mostly harmless.”
Maya hesitates. Lila doesn’t.
“I wanna meet Diesel!” she shouts. “Mummy says he’s the one with the hair like a lion!”
Maya groans. “I did not say that.”
I raise an eyebrow.
“Okay, Imighthave said that.”
I grin. “Come on. I’ll smuggle you both in for a quick visit. You’ve earned it.”
Maya tucks her hair behind her ear and steps closer. “You played really well tonight.”
“Thanks.”
“Not just physically. You looked happy.”
I meet her eyes. “I was.”
Something passes between us then, quiet and sure.
She touches my wrist, a light brush of fingers. “Let’s go meet the lions.”
“You free tomorrow?” I ask.
She hesitates, then nods. “Yeah. We are.”
“Good.” I glance at Lila, who’s now attempting to use the puck as a make-believe camera. “Because I was thinking pancakes.”
