46. Cope

46

COPE

Luca bounced up and down on the balls of his feet. “I can’t believe I get to meet all of them. Every single one. Randal the Ravager. Frankie the Finisher. And Marcus freaking Warner.”

Gretzky yipped as if agreeing with him, and then the puppy tumbled as he tried to attack his leash. I tried not to scowl at that final name. If Marcus was mean to Luca just because he despised me, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stop myself from decking him in front of dozens of little kids. At least most of them weren’t here yet.

Arden’s lips twitched from where she stood behind Luca. “Yeah, Marcus is my favorite player on the Sparks, too.”

There was no helping my scowl this time. “Traitor,” I shot at her.

Arden laughed, picking up Gretzky. But I didn’t miss the unease in her gaze as it traveled over the vast space. She wasn’t one for large groups, always wondering if there was a chance someone from her past life would show up and recognize her. So, it meant even more that she was here.

“Don’t worry, Cope. You’re still my number-one favorite of all time,” Luca assured me .

I chuckled and held out my knuckles for a fist bump. “Good to know you’ve still got my back.”

“Always,” Luca vowed.

In the way only a kid could, he’d bounced back from finding out pieces of the truth about his father and had taken the media attention in stride. We’d had Arden and Kye or Anson and Rhodes take him to and from hockey to avoid his photo ending up in any media coverage. But Luca had turned it into a game, pretending to be a superhero escaping all the villains—the reporters being the bad guys. And he wasn’t wrong there.

But Sutton and I still kept a close eye. She’d asked him a couple of times if he had any more questions, but Luca said no. And my family had swooped in to surround him with all the love. Hence why all of them had homemade jerseys with Holland on the back, along with Luca’s number.

But something about seeing Holland had something lighting deep inside me: the need to see that name changed to Colson on the jerseys. Because I wanted Sutton and Luca to have my last name. To feel every bit a part of my family as possible.

“Oooooh, I see hottie hockey players,” Lolli called, doing a shimmy. She’d blinged out her jersey so it sparkled in the rink lights. “Do you think I could get one of them to throw me against the boards?”

“Lolli,” my mom hissed. “Children will be present at this event. Please, rein it in.”

Lolli just waved her off. “It’s good for them to see healthy sexuality.”

Fallon pinned her with a stare. “I’m not sure asking one of these poor, unprepared players to throw you against the boards is healthy sexuality.”

Lolli let out a huff. “Always ruining all my fun.”

Kye wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Come hang out with me. We can cheer on the violence and bloodshed.”

Lolli grinned up at him. “Well, that is my second favorite thing to do. ”

Thea looked up from the table where she and Sutton had spread out an array of baked goods for everyone to snack on while we got set up and waited for the kids to arrive. “I thought special brownies were your second favorite.”

“That’s just a way of life, dear,” Lolli assured her.

Sutton laughed, light catching in her eyes. God, she was beautiful. I could stare at her forever.

“You’ve got a little drool,” Arden muttered, wiping at the corner of her mouth with a smirk.

The urge to elbow my sister in the gut was strong. “Shut up.” I looked back at Sutton and mouthed, “ You okay? ”

She nodded, but I didn’t miss how she pulled her lip between her teeth. Before I could make my way across the room to her, the doors to the rink opened, and players and staff poured in. My family greeted them, having met most over the past several years.

Luca wasn’t bouncing up and down now; he was full-on jumping. “Frankie the Finisher!”

Frankie’s lips twitched. “You must be Luca. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Luca stilled. “You have?”

Frankie shot me a look. “Reaper goes on and on about you. Said you fly across the ice.”

Luca’s eyes widened as his head snapped toward me and then back to Frankie. “I’m trying to get faster.” His voice dropped. “Teddy was teaching me, too.”

A shadow passed over Frankie’s features, but he crouched down. “You know, Teddy taught me a lot over the years. Maybe I can keep helping you where he left off.”

“Really?” Luca asked.

“Really.” Frankie held out his knuckles for a fist bump.

Luca returned the gesture, grinning. “You better fuel up. My mom brought all her best stuff from the bakery, but the cupcakes are my favorite!”

Frankie straightened and patted his stomach. “I never say no to baked goods. ”

As Frankie headed for the bakery table, my gaze connected with Marcus’s. There was no warmth there. “Figures we’d have to swoop in to save your ass.”

A muscle in my cheek started to flutter, but before I could say a word, Arden stepped forward just as Gretzky let out a little growl from her arms. “Just consider it returning the favor for that time he saved your ass when you lost the puck in the game against Phoenix.”

Marcus’s green eyes flashed in annoyance and something else. Surprise, maybe?

Luca giggled at my side, not reading the underlying tension in the exchange. “He did save you.”

Marcus’s gaze flicked to Luca, and I braced. I had a feeling both Arden and I would take him down if he was unkind to Luca. But Marcus shot him a grin and crouched so he was on the boy’s level. “I bet you would’ve done a better job of getting me out of that jam. Would’ve stolen that puck a heck of a lot faster, too.”

I clapped a hand on Luca’s shoulder. “There’s no doubt about that.”

Luca grinned up at me. “I can’t wait to make it to the pros.”

“Oh, my fucking cupcake gods,” Frankie mumble-yelled around a mouthful of cupcake. “This is heaven in baked form. There are Oreos in this.” He held up a non-half-eaten one. “And look at the little hockey dude on top.”

Everyone turned toward him, a few teammates picking up treats and taking bites.

Frankie turned to Sutton as he swallowed. “Please, tell me you’ll move to Seattle and open a bakery. Hell, move to Seattle and marry me.”

One of the enforcers choked on a laugh. “Uh, Frankie, you may wanna reconsider those words. Reaper looks like he’s about to straight-up murder your ass.”

Frankie shoved another bite of cupcake into his mouth. “Don’t care. It would be worth it.”

Sutton blushed and shot me a look, shaking her head.

A flash of red hair caught my attention, and I winced. I should’ve guessed that Linc would want Angie here, but I hadn’t thought about Angie and Sutton being in the same space for a prolonged period.

She crossed to me, a warm smile in place. Even in her sharp business suit with a pencil skirt and high heels, she still had to stretch up onto her toes to kiss my cheek.

Fuck.

I instantly stepped back, but Angie didn’t read the move. She just beamed up at me. “How are you, Cope?”

“Good, Ang. You?” I asked, but my gaze flicked to Sutton.

Sutton busied herself at the bakery table, but I didn’t miss how her expression had gone impassive. Not mad or hurt, just…nothingness.

A hand landed on my forearm. “Cope, are you listening at all?”

“Sorry.” I moved out of Angie’s range again. “What?”

“I thought it might be good for you to give the reporters outside a few minutes. I’ll be with you the whole time.”

I couldn’t help the scowl that rose to my mouth. “Don’t you think that completely contradicts the whole point of this? We’re supposed to be getting eyes off me and on the rest of the team. Have a couple of the other guys do it. Marcus and Frankie. They’re good in front of the camera.”

And maybe between that and Luca’s charm, Marcus would chill the hell out for a while.

Angie’s lips pursed. “They want to talk to you . I’m not sure they’ll be happy with Marcus and Frankie. I can guide the conversation away from your friendship with Ms. Holland.”

“My relationship,” I said, dropping my voice a fraction until I had eyes on Luca. We hadn’t talked about what Sutton and I were with him yet, and I wouldn’t do that without Sutton’s okay. But Luca had run off to where Lolli was feeling up one of the enforcer’s arms as he flexed for her.

I turned back to Angie. “Sutton is my partner. I love her, and I’ll do whatever it takes to get these vultures to leave her alone. Right now, that means staying out of the limelight. ”

Angie’s eyes were wide, and her face had gone pale. “You…love her?”

“Yes,” I said, dropping my voice again. I didn’t want to hurt Angie, but she needed to know.

“But you—you said you weren’t cut out for that sort of thing. For more.”

Fuck.

“I didn’t think I was. But sometimes it just takes the right person to change everything.”

Pain lashed across Angie’s face. “And that person wasn’t me.”

“I wasn’t the one for you. But you’ll find him one day. I know you will.”

Angie shook her head. “I had him. It’s just too bad he never gave me a chance.”

Guilt churned in my gut as Angie turned on her heel and strode away, heels clacking on the floor. But that guilt only intensified when a turquoise gaze met mine from across the room—with a look that held nothing but hurt.