Losing an Edge (Portland Storm Book 13) (30 page)

He cracked a grin. “I’m sure I can come up with a way to get rid of Koz for an hour.”

“Longer wouldn’t be a bad thing.”

“Are you going to get away from Katie and Dani for that?” he asked.

“I’m sure I can arrange that. I can have time alone, even if we’re doing a girls’ weekend.”

“You have a wicked streak. Is your brother aware of that?”

“Probably. Just wait till Connor hits puberty. Cam can think of me as training, to prepare him for dealing with that boy.”

“I doubt anything could prepare someone for dealing with your nephew.”

“Probably not. Still…” I gave him another quick peck on the chin. “I’ll pick my card in the morning and text you with what I want.”

“I doubt I’ll sleep from the anticipation.”

“Maybe we can both stay up…”

“We’d have Koz for company,” he said.

I pouted. “That doesn’t sound as good.”

“Know what having to leave you now is making me realize?”

“Not a clue. But I’m desperate to know.”

His eyes roamed over every inch of my face, as if he were trying to memorize how I looked at exactly this moment. “It’s that I don’t ever want to be without you. We haven’t been together all that long, and it’s way too soon to be talking about getting married or anything. But when I’m with you, it’s easy to think about forever.”

That wasn’t even remotely what I’d been expecting. My lips formed an O, but nothing came out, and this amazingly warm sensation spread from my belly all the way out to the tips of my fingers and toes.

“I only want you to know I’m thinking about it. With you.” Then he kissed me again, a long and lingering one, before being dragged out of the owner’s box with the rest of the team.

I headed back over to see if Katie and Dani were ready to go, surprised to find Dani grinning like a loon—much the way I suspected I might be, after what Levi had just said to me.

“What?” I asked, dropping down into my seat to gather up my purse and coat.

Katie shook her head, laughing. “Dad’s going to murder you. Not to mention Harry.”

“Seriously,” I said. “What happened? You’re killing me.”

“I kissed him.” Dani beamed. “He’s a very good kisser. And his hands! Oh my God, his hands are huge. And so strong. And he understands how to use them. The thought of what he could do with those hands if we were alone… But Dad came up before I was done, and I think Katie’s probably right. It looked like he was going to murder the poor guy. And
Harry
looked like he wanted to murder me. I probably shouldn’t have done that with Dad around…”

“It was way worse than the way Dad ever reacted with me and Jamie.
Ever
. Even when I was still only seventeen.”

“Now I
really
want to find out what Harry did to end up in jail,” I said.

“I couldn’t care less,” Dani said. “I just want him to kiss me again. And maybe try that move you were talking about. The one on the kitchen counter? Yeah. I think if I was with Harry, I could totally manage that one. He’s more than strong enough.”

“You’re a mess!” I said.

Katie rolled her eyes. “And you’re going to get him killed before you ever get to try it.”

“Maybe not,” Dani said. “They kind of need him on
D
right now. I doubt Bergy’ll let Daddy kill him.”

“And you’re heading back to Seattle before they come home again.” Katie gathered up all her things and waved to her mother and a few of the other wives as we headed out the door.

“Yeah.” Dani sighed. “But I’ll be back for spring break. Not to mention all summer long.”

“Good thing for Harry he doesn’t stay in Portland for the summer,” Katie said.

“True.” Dani turned to me with a wicked grin. “But my semester ends mid-May. With any luck, they’ll still be in the playoffs at that point.”

I didn’t even try to stop myself from laughing. There wasn’t a chance I could succeed.

FRIDAY PASSED WITH
a lot of laughter and no cause for concern. Dani and Katie’s mom, Laura, came over for dinner and brought wine and Riley Jezek’s fiancée, Amanda Morris, along with her. Dani technically wasn’t old enough to legally drink, but since we were sticking around the house and her mother was the one giving it to her, I figured it wasn’t the end of the world.

Since it was a full house and we were busy giving each other makeovers, I chose a card for Levi to order delivery for our dinner. We sat around eating Chinese food, drinking wine, and watching the guys crush the Canucks.

The next morning over a late breakfast, Katie brought up the idea of her and Dani coming with me to the rink while I taught my students.

“I’ve got three hour-long sessions. You’ll both be freezing and bored out of your minds.”

“But you wouldn’t be alone,” Dani said.

I rolled my eyes. “I won’t be alone. Gord will be working up front. I’ll have my students, and I should have at least one parent sitting in the stands and observing. Besides, Guy hasn’t tried anything in weeks. I think he’s forgotten all about me, or maybe he’s gone back home.” Although, if he’d gone home, the police would have informed me about that. I decided not to mention that part to these two sisters, because they appeared to be giving in. No reason to alter circumstances against myself.

After a couple more minutes of debate, they gave in and agreed to let me teach my students without the two of them tagging along.

Running later than I’d intended, I headed out to my car and froze. There was a large envelope stuck under the wiper blade. Running my fingers over the pepper spray on my keys, I glanced up and down the street. No sign of Guy’s car, or anything that seemed out of the ordinary. So maybe he knew I was here, and just wanted to remind me that he hadn’t forgotten about me.

I took the envelope and got into the car. The whole way to the rink, I debated whether I should cancel my classes for the day and go straight to the police with this or not. But I didn’t want to let the girls down. And besides, Guy hadn’t done anything but try to scare me. There was no reason to think he’d do otherwise now.

Once I parked, I took a moment to open the envelope. No note this time. It was just pictures.

Of me.

And Levi.

Having sex on the floor of his bathroom.

They’d clearly been taken by some sort of camera with a zoom lens, so it wasn’t like Guy had managed to set anything up in Levi’s apartment. Still, the violation of it clawed at me from the inside.

Someone knocked on the window of my car, and I might as well have jumped out of my skin. But it was just Devyn and Kaetlyn Griggs and their father, arriving at the rink for their lesson.
Calm down
, I told myself. I could do this. I could get through these lessons, then go to the police. And maybe this time, it would be enough evidence for them to arrest Guy.

My heart was pounding so hard I could practically hear it, and I could barely see through my tears to shove the pictures back into the envelope. I slammed them into the glove box and forced myself to smile as I got out of the car.

“Sorry,” I said. “Running late.”

We hurried inside and got started. Their father sat in the stands watching attentively as we worked through some very basic mechanics. From what I could tell, he didn’t realize anything was wrong. All the better. The last thing I needed was to freak out so badly I scared anyone else.

We got through their hour, and I ushered them on their way. And, as expected, Guy hadn’t shown up or done anything else. I took a few minutes to head up front and talk to Gord. He seemed to think everything was as it should be, which was very reassuring.

Next up was Rachel Allan, whose mother had come along, as usual. Rachel had proven to be a challenging student for me, as she was dealing with both ADHD and a bit of autism. Skating gave her something to focus on, though, and she was just as determined as Sophie. By the time I finished with Rachel’s lesson, I was finally starting to calm down and breathe normally again. It was just Guy trying to get to me again, and it had worked all too well. I couldn’t keep letting him bother me like this.

Rachel and her mom were on their way out when Sophie and Paige rushed in.

“I’m sorry we’re late!” Paige said. She set Sophie’s gym bag on the bleachers and started getting her dressed. “It’s been a crazy day. Always is with four girls. I forgot that Zoe has dress rehearsals today for her next dance recital, and she doesn’t have her costume. So I’ve got to race back home, grab it, and rush it up to the studio.”

“No problem,” I assured her, even though I felt more nervous than I hoped I was letting on. But honestly, Guy hadn’t done anything other than put a freaking envelope full of photographs on my car this morning. That was all he’d done. There was no reason to think he’d do anything now. I forced a smile to my lips, determined to remain calm. “Sophie and I’ll be just fine on our own, won’t we?”

Sophie nodded emphatically. “We’re doing spirals today, Mom.”

“You’re sure?” Paige asked me, trying to get one of Sophie’s skates laced. “Because Mattias said I should stay with you two. I tried calling the girls’ father—”

“I’m sure. Sophie and I will be just fine, and if we need anything, Gord can help us out. Right, Sophie Bug?”

She’d recently given me permission to call her that, too, just like Levi did. Only the two of us were ever allowed to call her that.

“Right,” she said, tugging her arms out of her coat. “Cadence and I are just gonna skate, Mom.”

“Go,” I said, shooing her on her way. I took over working on Sophie’s skates because the activity would surely help me calm down. “I’ve got everything under control here.”

“You’re an angel,” Paige said. She kissed Sophie on the top of the head, and then she headed out with the same brisk pace as she’d come in.

I made sure Sophie’s laces were tight and then grinned at her. “Ready?”

“Yep. But I wish Levi was here.”

“Me, too.” For more reasons than I cared to explain at the moment. I held out my hand to help her up, but she pretended she didn’t see it and got up on her own. We headed out to the ice and got started.

Twenty minutes into our session, the doors banged open.

“That was fast,” I said, without bothering to look over my shoulder. I’d thought it would take Paige nearly the full hour before she returned. “I wasn’t expecting you back so soon.”

“Weren’t you?” Guy said.

Every ounce of blood in my body froze.

“
WHO’S THAT MAN
?” Sophie asked, always full of sweetness and light and all the good things Guy wanted to suck out of my life.

I tried to breathe, but the air got stuck halfway down my throat. Wouldn’t reach my lungs. I needed to calm down enough that I could breathe and figure out what to do. This was for real this time. He was actually here, and he intended to act, not just threaten me. Didn’t he? Why else would he be here? No reason I could fathom.

Think. Think!
By now, Guy was already closer to my phone and my pepper spray than I was. No time to go get them.

I didn’t have the first clue what Guy intended, but if he was deliberately going against the protective order and coming closer to me than he should, I had to get Sophie to safety, to make sure she understood how serious the situation might be, but not scare her—all at once. That was my first order of business. Everything else had to come later. But how? No clue.