Page 25 of The Long Game

Rupert shrugged, trying to appear innocent. “Well, if we had to get jerseys for them anyway…”

Jack was about to ask if it might look bad to the kids who had been coming for years in a hodgepodge of team and personal jerseys, when twenty-five more skaters jumped onto the ice from the other tunnel, all of them wearing the same Ice Cats gear.

“Sweaters are awesome, Rupert,” Garrick called as he stepped onto the ice after the kids.

Jack shook his head at Rupert but couldn’t suppress his smile. “You’re ridiculous.”

Garrick bumped Jack’s shoulder hard enough to knock him off his skates if he hadn’t been expecting it. Travis and Barnaby drew up next to Jack, too, thanks to Travis half-dragging Barnaby across the ice.

The adults at center ice watched as the two groups of kids blended together and settled into clockwise warm-up laps without any instruction.

Barnaby’s mouth dropped open. “Every one of them can skate beautifully!”

Jack shrugged. “They’re Canadian.”

Barnaby glared at him. “I’m going to Pathways tomorrow to find the kids who didn’t come along because they don’t know how to skate or how to play hockey, and I’m going to take them all to lessons.”

Travis rubbed Barnaby’s back. “Save your pennies, baby. I’ll teach them, and you. I bet Rupert would help, too.”

Barnaby beamed at Travis and Travis smiled sweetly back. They were disgusting and Jack loved them. Watching the two of them fall in love and fight for each other had been a revelation for Jack, and made him want things he couldn’t have.

He shook that off and blew his whistle. “Bring it in!”

The kids gathered around and Jack was delighted that, thanks to Rupert’s generosity, it was unclear who had come from Pathways and who had not. Maybe Rupert and Callum had gone a little over the top, but the results were awesome. Behind the kids stood ten members of the Ice Cats and a bunch of guys from Jack’s work crew.

They split the kids into groups focused on different drills with different instructors. Rupert helped on skating skills, Garrick on shooting, and Alexei and the Ice Cats’ goalie coach took the kids who wanted to try being in net. This left Jack, Travis, and Barnaby to create two rosters of roughly equivalent talent for a scrimmage later.

They called the kids over one at a time and asked what position they wanted to play. Most of the kids had strong feelings about this, but when it became clear there were a lot more forwards than defense, Jack started telling the kids they might have to wait to have a turn at forward next time.

The community kids shrugged it off, but the kids from Pathways were unhappy.

“Let’s be real. If I don’t play center today, there’s a good chance it’s never going to happen. I’ll be lucky to be here next week,” explained a kid named Colton.

Jack sighed, because it suckedandhe should have been able to figure that out.

“So, can I play center?” Colton asked with a winning, vaguely familiar, smile. Jack wondered if Colton was a local kid. Or maybe the child of someone Jack had known growing up.

“We’ll see,” Jack said mock-sternly.

Colton made a three-act production out of rolling big brown eyes that were too large in his skinny face. The kid was funny, and it was hard not to laugh.

Then Colton glanced over Jack’s shoulder and froze. His stick clattered to the ice like he’d forgotten it was in his hand.

“Colton?” Jack asked, concerned.

Colton’s cheeks, which had been flushed with healthy exertion from the shooting drills, went bone white. “Fuck,” he whispered, his shoulders curling in as much as was possible in his gear. “Fuck fuck fuck fuck…” His eyes darted around the arena frantically.

Alarmed, Jack put a hand on Colton’s arm. “Colton, what’s wrong?”

Even Colton’s lips had lost their color. “I have to go.”

Jack scanned the arena, trying to figure out what might have frightened the boy. He didn’t see anything or anyone out of place and was relieved to find Grady on the bench, putting on his skates.

Colton took advantage of Jack’s momentary distraction and made a break for it. Jack barely caught his arm in time, digging in his edges to keep Colton from dragging him across the ice. “Whoa. What’s going on?”

“I have to go,” Colton hissed desperately. “Please, let me go. I have togo.” Tears welled in his eyes and Jack’s concern turned to genuine fear. Had someone Colton was hiding from found him? Pathways had more than one family taking shelter within its walls because an abuser was searching for them. But they’d taken all the precautions. Jack’s crew had locked all the doors but one and were checking the IDs of anyone coming in or out.

Jack looked at Grady, desperate for help. Grady jumped to his feet.

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