Page 55 of Between Steel and Secrets
Ashton strides across the room, pulling Nova close against him. “Come to the game with us.”
“What about Harper and Zeke?” Nova asks. She smacks Ashton’s chest. “I can’t believe you’d suggest I leave my best friend and her son behind to go watch your game.”
Ashton grabs Nova’s wrist after the second smack.
“All three of you,” Ashton growls. “Drive Luca’s car up to Great Falls and come see the game. Nothing will happen if you’re in public. These guys don’t operate around out in the open.”
“Right. Like they don’t strike at grocery stores?” Harper quips, raising an eyebrow.
“That was the parking lot,” Ashton says. “The hockey game will have a lot of people and it’s an away game. You guys will be safer in Great Falls at the game than here, alone.”
“I’ll drive us home after the game,” Luca agrees, “but that doesn’t solve the issue the next time we’re at an away game, none of us will be here to protect you.”
“I’ll be here.” Nova stomps her foot, annoyed that the boys don’t seem to pay her any attention.
“Yes, we heard you.” Luca glances at Nova. “But you’re not exactly the muscle around here.”
She glares at Luca and swings her fist at him, trying to prove her point, but he blocks it and shoves her backward up against the wall. Luca glares at Ashton all the while, holding Nova against the wall. “Control your girlfriend!”
“Control your sister!” Ashton shoots back at him.
Nova struggles against his grip, his point clearly made.
He drops his hold on her. “I’ll talk to Dante.”
Luca can’t be serious. I scoff at his suggestion. “You’re going to talk to your father, the man who absolutely hates me?” I don’t see how Dante is going to help with the situation. If he’s not already behind the attempted abduction, he’ll make it worse.
“He doesn’t hate you,” Luca says, but not even he sounds convinced of his own words.
Ashton clears his throat. “I hate to dampen the mood, but we need to grab a quick bite and then head to practice. Coach is going to pissed if we’re late.”
Luca looks a bit perplexed, and then shakes the cobwebs free. Whatever he’s thinking, it’s clearly troubling him. I just hope he won’t be distracted at practice or tomorrow at their game in Great Falls.
“I’m not leaving Harper and Zeke alone. I’ll skip practice,” Luca says.
“You can’t skip it, coach is still pissed about you missing the last game of last season,” Ashton says. He heads toward the door, getting his shoes and coat on.
“Fine, then Harper and Zeke are coming with us. I’m not leaving them alone.”
Luca doesn’t even ask my input but I’m glad he’s taking charge. It makes me feel safe after what happened today. “Okay.” I hurry to help Zeke get his shoes on then I do the same while Luca gets ready to head back out the front door.
“We can’t go to every practice with you,” I remind him. “We’re going to have to figure something out.”
“This weekend, we’ll work on self-defense training,” Luca says. “I’m going to teach you the basics to protect yourself and Zeke.”
“What about if the assailant has a weapon, like a gun?” He can’t honestly expect me to disarm him with some basic self-defense.
“We’ll take you to the shooting range,” Ashton says. He jabs his thumb in the direction of Luca. “I taught this guy to use a gun. You can’t do any worse than Luca on your first day.”
I watch from the stands; Nova, Kensley, and I are seated next to each other at the Predators’ arena in Great Falls. Zeke has his headphones on to help block some of the noise as he sits on my lap and then squirms, wanting to run around.
We managed to quite easily convince Kensley to join us on the drive. I’ve seen less and less of her lately, and I miss hanging out together.
She’s constantly with Brooks or partying, which I have little interest in doing. Even if I wanted to party, I’ve got Zeke, which makes it a non-priority.
“Look at your daddy,” I say, pointing at the ice as Luca skates on by. We’re several rows back, with Predators’ fans all around us.
Our little group wears our Narwhals jerseys. We definitely stand out, but there’s a speckling of white and teal throughout the arena in a sea of green and black.
