Page 95 of Dirty Devil

“That’s your solution, Ronald. You want this mess,your child, to go away? Then sign over your rights, and leave us the fuck alone.”

I don’t wait for an answer, and judging by his open mouth, he’s not going to have a reply anytime soon. After grabbing my purse and coffee, I scoot my chair back to leave and shoot him one last glare.

“I’d love to say it was nice to see you, but it wasn’t. Have a nice life, Ron.”

And with that, I throw my shoulders back, hold my head up, and start to walk out of both this coffee shop, and his life.

“Wait, Avery.”

I spin on my heel so quickly he almost bumps into me, and press my finger into his chest. “I’ve waited to hear from you for over a year, waited for you to man up and do the right thing by your son. Turns out you’re not even half the man I thought you were. I’m done waiting for you.”

This time I don’t stop when he calls my name or scrambles to chase after me. I don’t stop until I get to Gloria’s apartment, just in time to change into my zamboner sweater.

I’ve got a hockey game to watch, and I can only hope the Devils are ready to kick LA Stars’ ass.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

LA is kicking our arse.

No matter how much I try to shake Ron ‘Fuckface’ Cooper off me, he’s right there, chirping in my fucking ear. You’d think getting a two-minute penalty for the both of us in the first period would cool him down, but no, it’s only made him more volatile.

Fuck this guy.

I’d like to say I’m the better man and having him up my ass isn’t affecting my game play, but it is. I’m playing like a rookie at his first game in the big leagues.

I’m missing shots and fucking up passes, and it’s not just me that’s off tonight, the guys are too. We’re only a minute and a half into the second period, and they’re ahead three to one.

“What’s the matter, Craig? Forget how to play hockey?” he taunts as he skates around me, shouldering me into the glass.

Deep breaths. In. Out.

“Are you hoping your team gets a participation trophy? Your fuck-up team has no chance at the cup. Maybe I’ll let you hold it for a minute this summer.”

Deep breaths.

“How much ice time have you had this game?”Deep fucking breaths.“That’s a long time to do nothing.”

I’d love nothing more than to take my gloves off and punch this fucker in the face, but the new GM is here somewhere watching the game, and Avery is in the owner’s box. She doesn’t need to see me beat the shit out of Mason’s father—although I use the term ‘father’ loosely. He’s more of a father to this random puck than he is his own kid.

And the new GM, Dean Prescott? Well, he holds my future in his hands, and I’ve worked way too hard to throw it away on a dick like Ron ‘Fuckface’ Cooper.

Finally, I manage to get my stick on the puck, and of course, Cooper is right on my ass as I fly around behind our goal. I make it to the blue line before passing it off to Tag who dekes around their defender and heads toward the net.

Cooper knocks into me again and takes off after Tag, skating along the boards. The asshole acts like he’s untouchable, and Remington is quick to show him he’s not, slamming him against the glass and glancing back to me, before taking off after the puck.

Cooper stumbles and quickly recovers, but it was enough to make me feel marginally better.

I’m glad to see Rhett is finally going to help me out with this guy. It’s not like he didn’t punch his lights out last year.

Ron should be all over Rhett for that shit, not me.

There’s only one reason he’d be out for my blood, and she’s sitting in the owner’s box.

Tag’s in front of the net, passing the puck off to Lincoln, who battles against the Stars, left and right winger. The puck shakes loose, and Linc sails it my way. I don’t even think; I take my shot and it bounces off the goalie’s pads, only for Tag to get it in on the rebound, giving me the assist.

The horn goes off, the fans cheer, and after a brief group hug, we skate back to the bench for shift change. The Devils win the faceoff, but LA’s quick to steal the puck back, and thank God our goalie has finally decided to wake up, because he blocks it from going in the net. They try for another point, and there’s another save by our goalie.

After the next shift change, Cooper fires the puck and makes a lucky goal off the crossbar. It pains me to admit it, but it was a good shot. I just wish the next one would knock out his teeth.

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