Goalie Interference (NHL Scorpions) (29 page)

The next night Crystal cut herself once again. Zoe and Vlad were curled up in front of the fire when Crystal came out to find them.

“Hey, Little Bit, what are you doing out of bed?”

Crystal looked up at him with a flood of emotions in her eyes. She looked haunted. He hated that look.

“Come here, sweetheart.” He picked her up and sat her on his lap, even though she was a bit too big. “What’s wrong?”

She pulled up her sleeve, exposing a tiny new cut. “I cut myself again. But then I stopped and came out to talk to you.”

Vlad pursed his lips together to keep himself from yelling.
Shit
. “Okay, well, I’m glad that you’re coming to me now. Why did you do it?”

“My mom’s birthday is next week. And … I don’t know. I’m just … I …”

Oh my God, her mother’s birthday is so close to Christmas. This kid can’t catch a break!
He put his hand on her head and pulled her up against him, trying to give her some comfort.
“I’m sorry, Crystal. I didn’t know, honey.” He got an idea. “Why don’t get a cake and celebrate her birthday? We can do it every year.”

She pulled her head back to look up at him. “Can we? I’m so scared I’ll start to forget her.”

“You won’t forget her. I won’t let you. We’ll make it a tradition. We’ll have cake and look at pictures of the two of you. Does that help a little?”

“Yeah. I’m still sad, but it’s okay. Thank you.” She kissed him and slid down off his lap. “Dad?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for keeping me.”

“I love you, Crystal.”

She looked back at him and said quietly, “I love you, too.”

Vlad thought they may have been the sweetest words he’d ever heard.

It had only taken Vlad a couple of days to get Crystal enrolled into her new school. It was the second time he threw his name and money around to get things done, but he wanted to get her settled and into a daily routine as quickly as possible.

“Even though there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to help Crystal, I still feel dirty buying her way into that private school. It’s wrong that other kids don’t have the same opportunities she has just because I can pay for it and they can’t.”

Zoe had just shown her last client of the morning to the door and was enjoying a cup of coffee with Vlad at the kitchen table. “I know what you mean. It
is
wrong, but that’s the way things work. Maybe we could set up some kind of scholarship at the school. Between the two of us, we certainly have the money to sponsor it.”

“That’s what I love about you. You’re always thinking of ways to make things better for other people. I’ll make an appointment this week to speak to the head of the school about setting up a scholarship fund.”

“You know, I’ve been thinking about something else. What would you think of me changing my profession a little?”

“Huh? To what? I thought you loved your job.”

“Oh, I do. I don’t mean taking on a completely different occupation, I’m thinking of ‘hanging up my skates’ so to speak and concentrating on child psychology. I want to help kids like Crystal. Who knows? Maybe I could even help the kids who do the bullying figure out a better way to deal with their own emotions. There’s got to be a way to stop the bullying cycle.”

“Zoe, I think whatever area of psychology you choose to work in will be all the better for having you in it. You know I’ll stand behind you no matter what you do. I think it’s a great idea. I can’t stand thinking about what Crystal went through—is still going through. It’s not fair.”

“That’s another thing I’ve been thinking about. From the research I’ve done, children who start cutting as young as Crystal, tend to fare much worse than children who start in their teens. I want to make sure I know all of the signs to look for. I want to beat the odds with her. And I think we can.”

Vlad reached across the table and took her hands in his. “I hope we can, sweetheart. I’ll do anything to beat the odds. At least we know she hasn’t cut herself in a while. It’s a start, right?”

Zoe had been checking Crystal weekly to see if she had any new cuts. She was doing well, and even seemed to like the structure of the weekly exams. It was as if the weekly checkups were giving her something that she could control. She was proud when she showed Zoe there were no new cuts. “It’s a start, absolutely. I just don’t want to get too relaxed and find out she’s going in the wrong direction again.”

“I know what you mean. It’s scary to think that she could go back to being that sad little girl who was hurting herself. We just can’t let it happen.” Vlad looked at his watch and got up from the table. “Since I have the day off, I’m going to go do some Christmas shopping and then pick Crystal up from school, okay?”

“Sure. I think I’ll call Julie and see what she thinks about my idea to switch specialties. I’m sure she’ll have some pointers for me.”

As Vlad got up, he looked down at Zoe and caught a glimpse of her breasts in the V of her blouse. “On second thought …” He picked her up out of her chair and sat her on the kitchen counter.

“Oh, I like the way you think.” Zoe spread her legs and pulled him into her with her hands on his hips. “We haven’t done it on the counter yet, have we? Thank God for granite.” She slapped her hand down on the surface. “Nice and strong. Unyielding.”

Vlad glided his hands up inside of her blouse, caressing her belly on his way up to cup her breasts, eliciting an appreciative moan from Zoe. He unclasped her bra and gently pinched her hardening nipples, watching her eyes as he did so. “I love to watch you when I bring you pleasure.” He continued his leisurely assault on her breasts until she, not so gently, yanked on his hair to pull him close enough to reach his mouth.

Zoe plunged her tongue past his lips in an effort to feel a deeper connection to him. She continued to kiss him until his hands came down to roughly grip her hips and tug her off the counter. He immediately began undoing her pants and slid them down her legs, kissing every beautiful inch of her skin on the way down.

“I could taste you all day, do you know that?” He tossed her pants to the side, but left her high heels on. He really had a thing for her in high heels. Not bothering to take his time, he ripped her panties off and buried his face in her, tasting the sweetness that was uniquely Zoe.

“Jesus, Vlad.” She said in a whoosh of air. “Slow down, baby, you’re going to make me come.”

With a low growl, he continued to lick her as he freed himself from the constraints of his jeans. Just as he felt the first subtle tremors from deep inside her, he stood up, lifted her back onto the counter and entered her fast and hard.

She threw her head back as the pleasure from his hard, quick thrust went through her body. Getting leverage by placing her hands behind her on the counter, she tilted her hips down slightly and thrust her hips back toward him. She felt instant gratification at the new angle.

Vlad continued to slide in and out of her until he felt her tightening up. “That’s it, Zoe. Feel me fucking you.”

“Yes. God, I love the way you fuck me.”

He grabbed her hips harder, knowing he’d leave marks, but also knowing she wouldn’t care. She liked his hands on her.

“Harder, Vlad.”

He gave her what she needed. “Come for me, Zoe. Come for me now.” He was about to lose the battle he’d been fighting with his own release, but he wanted her to come first. “Ah, God, Zoe. I can’t …” With a roar, Vlad came hard and was happy to feel her squeezing around him as she reached her peak and tumbled over it.

As Zoe’s muscles slowly stopped contracting around him, he pulled her gently off the counter and sat them in a kitchen chair, still joined. He cradled her head in his hands. “We are so good at that, moya lyubov.”

“I will never get enough of you, Vlad.” She traced the line of his jaw. “You are so gorgeous. I mean seriously hot. And the inside matches the outside. I’m a lucky girl.”

Crystal was doing very well in her new school, and had become fast friends with Vicki and Marissa. She was finally acting like a contented eight year old girl.

The celebration for Crystal’s mother seemed to put her further at ease. Vlad had contacted Thaddeus, who was only too happy to put a DVD together of pictures for her.

Even though it made her cry, Crystal loved watching that DVD. During Carla’s birthday celebration, she sat glued to the TV as she ate the birthday cake Zoe had bought. It had been almost two months since Carla had died. It would take much longer for the pain to dissipate to an acceptable level, but she was making progress.

“It’s so good to see her.” She looked to Vlad, who also had a suspicious sheen to his eyes. “I miss her so much. Thank you.”

Vlad wasn’t sure if he was helping or hindering by giving her all of those pictures to look at. He hoped he was doing the right thing. Time would tell.

Crystal was noticeably happier by the time Christmas Day rolled around. He knew he owed a lot of that to her friendship with Vicki and Marissa. The three girls were inseparable.

Christmas Day itself was a quiet affair. It was just the three of them—and Izzy. Jody and Lacey had gone to Vancouver to spend the holidays with her family so they were taking care of their dog. Crystal was in her glory, and Zoe could see a dog in their future.

After all of the dishes were washed and put away from Christmas dinner, Crystal asked them when they were getting married.

“We were thinking about getting married on Valentine’s Day, but remember, it’s going to be a small service and then a big party.”

“Can I still wear a pretty dress? And hold flowers?”

Zoe smiled at her. “Of course. How about something in pink?”

“I like pink.”

Crystal went back to playing with her new toys and throwing Izzy’s rag doll for her over and over again, as Vlad sat there looking at them, thinking how lucky he was. It was his best Christmas to date.

As time went by, Crystal became acclimated to her new life. She was learning to be happy again. She still had melancholy moments, but to their knowledge she’d only cut herself again on that one occasion that she had told them about.

With Crystal in bed for the night, Vlad gathered Zoe up in his arms as they sat in the overstuffed chair, staring at the fireplace.