10. Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

A s we pull up to the common house, a horn sounds, and three figures rush out the door. I groan as I watch Lewi park my car in the driveway, Oli and me pulling in behind him. "You called the others? I told you guys not to bother them."

Oli shrugs. "You must have missed the text in the team chat."

I shake my head but pull out my phone. I forgot I had silenced the notifications for the team group chat. Now, I only get notifications for the chat with my guys. It's hard to follow twenty guys chirping back and forth. Danni and I were both added to the team chat to ‘keep an eye' on the boys. I'm pretty sure Danni silenced her notifications too.

There are several unread texts in the chat. I usually open them just to get the notification number back down to zero. Huffing out a sigh, I open it and see the text Vicy had sent.

Vicy

911! Get to the house ASAP!

RayRay

Why are you putting this in the team chat?

Vicy

Roe Roe is in trouble!

DocDanni

Shit, she okay?

Vicy

Not sure yet. I'll keep you updated. But I need our boys outside now to go get her. I just want to make sure everyone knows what's going on.

DocDanni

Keep me updated! I'll make your life hell otherwise Vic!

Vicy

Roger that!

I exit the team chat and find several missed messages in my guys' group chat along with one from Danni. I check the group chat first since that is just me and the boys, and it's blown up with messages.

Perri

How's our girl? Need an update. On the way to the house now.

Vicy

What did you say to the Mrs?

Perri

I told her there was an emergency at the common house that I needed to check on. You know Karen loves you guys, but she also knows how much trouble you cause.

Merc

I need an update! I can't get away from the house. We're in the middle of the twin's bedtime routine, and I'm on story duty. Cheryl told me to go, but you know how crazy they can get.

Vicy

Yeah. We are on our way now.

Gilly

Fenni and I are on the way.

Ozzy

How are the wives?

Gilly

They are doing fine. Pregnancy looks good on them.

Vicy

lol I can't believe they got pregnant at the same time.

Gilly

That's what happens when you and your best friend marry identical twins.

When my door opens, I pause my reading and look up. Oli holds out a hand as he asks, "You ready?"

I nod and slip out of the car but wince when I try to put weight on my foot. Shit. I didn't ice it when I got home.

Oli doesn't hesitate to lift me into his arms, bridal style. I huff a sigh but don't argue; there would be no point. Tapping the screen of my phone, I ask, "Gilly and Fenni married identical twins?"

He nods as maneuvers around the car. "Yeah. A few years ago. Dannielle and Samantha both got pregnant a few months back and insisted the four of them live together."

"That's pretty cool." When I've finished catching up on messages, I scroll to the bottom of the chat. It doesn't look like anyone has given poor Merc an update yet. Nope. Not a single text on the way to the house. So, I send a quick text in both chats.

I'm fine everyone. The guys have insisted I stay at the common house for a bit.

It doesn't take long for my phone to blow up again, but I don't have a chance to respond when we are stopped by Perri, Gilly, and Fenni.

"Are you okay!?" Perri's wide eyes take me in, looking for any injuries, while Oli holds me.

I nod. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You are not fine," Oli grunts.

I roll my eyes as I smile at Peri. "I'm fine. Thank you."

"She needs to get inside and elevate her foot. So move," Oli grunts.

I slap him on the chest. "Be nice." It's odd seeing my normally soft cinnamon roll so grumpy.

He huffs. "Can you please move, so we can get her inside? She hurt her ankle, and needs to take care of it before it swells anymore. She'll need to be able to walk on it in the morning."

The three large men jump out of Oli's way, so he can carry me into the house with no problem. I pat his chest and smirk. "There we go. I was worried you swapped personalities with Lewi there for a moment."

He snorts. "I'm not sure that's possible. Lewi is a dark cloud."

I laugh when Lewi grunts. Oli gently sets me down on the couch, but before my feet hit the cushions, Lewi sits and lays them across his lap. I shoot him an arched brow, but he lets out a grunt and avoids my eyes, pretending to spend all of his concentration on untying my sneakers.

Oli heads toward the kitchen and yells, "I'll get the ice."

I'm about to tell him I'm fine when Lewi removes my socks and begins to massage the swollen tissue around my ankle. I let out a hiss when he hits a tender patch of bruised skin. His eyes snap to mine, and his hands freeze. "That bad?"

My head thumps back against the arm of the couch as I groan. "I knew going that hard on the ice was a bad idea."

Oli returns, hovering over the back of the couch as he hands Lewi a gel ice pack. "Let's agree that you won't go that hard on the ice again, alright?"

I smirk. "No promises."

Vicy is sitting on the floor next to my head, his voice soft as he asks, "What's he talking about, Roe Roe?"

Oli and Lewi both chuckle as I groan. "Yeah. Tell Vicy why your ankle is bruised and swollen, Roe Roe," Lewi playfully scolds.

I send him my meanest glare before I turn to Vicy. "I worked on an ice-skating routine I've been practicing."

Vicy arches a brow in confusion. "Why would that cause your ankle to swell that badly?"

My gaze shifts to Oli, then Lewi, who gives me another raised brow as if challenging me to share what happened to me with the guys, but he stays silent as his thumb teases the edge of my pants near my ankle. I debate if I want the others to know my secret. It's not a secret because I'm ashamed of what happened, more so that I hate the looks of pity I get when people see the scars.

Taking a deep breath, I let it out with a heavy exhale and give Lewi a nod. He removes the ice pack before gently rolling up my pant leg to the bottom of my knee. My scars are now on full display. They, admittedly, look worse with the dark purple of my bruised skin.

There's a unified hiss from everyone in the room. Gilly is the first to shuffle closer to the edge of the couch for a better look. He reaches out his hand but pauses and looks up at me. His eyes ask for permission to touch.

I give him a nod, and his fingers softly caress the pale scar that runs from my ankle to mid-calf. His brows pinch when he looks up at me. "You're a figure skater?"

I give him a sad smile as I say, "I was a figure skater."

"You are a figure skater," Oli growls. My eyes meet his as he continues. "Just because a hockey player retires or gets injured doesn't make him any less of a hockey player. Why is this any different?" He taps a finger to my chest. "It's here. You are a figure skater in here. It's in your blood."

My eyes blur as I shift my gaze back to Gilly. "I was a professional figure skater."

His eyes shift to Oli, and a silent conversation passes between the two before his eyes narrow then meet mine as he stands. "Who are we killing?" Gilly demands.

I laugh wholeheartedly, my heart a little lighter from his sincere concern, but I shake my head. "No one. They're not important anymore."

Fenni comes up to stand next to Gilly. "Why does he sound so pissed? What does being a figure skater have to do with her ankle scars?"

The others follow suit and crowd around the couch, looking down at me. Not going to lie, it's extremely intimidating to have nine pairs of eyes on you. I try to placate them by letting out a forced laugh, then say, "It's not a big deal. Accidents happen, you know."

Gilly points at my ankle and grunts. "That injury doesn't happen if you're a single skater. And I can see in your eyes that you don't believe it was an accident. So tell me, Roe Roe, who am I killing?"

I see the moment realization dawns in their eyes, and I close my own. I don't want to see their pity. Not before I catch a glimpse of Oli and Lewi's faces, and they looked way too satisfied by the guys' reactions.

"Some guy did that to you?!" Taz screeches. I wince because, holy shit, I didn't realize a man's voice could get that high-pitched.

Understanding fills the guys' eyes when Tuck says, "You were a pair skater. Which means you had a partner you trusted."

"He betrayed you," Perri quietly adds.

I nod as I whisper, "Yes."

"I'm with Gilly on this. Who are we killing?" Vicy growls.

Wanting to get off the subject of my ankle and Emmitt, I grumble, "He's not important. Can we just watch TV or something?"

The guys all share a look before letting out sighs of their own. Vicy settles back down beside my head on the floor. " Yuri on Ice ?"

Excitement bubbles in my chest as I nod, "Yes please!" I need the distraction, and the guys probably need it just as much. I hate thinking about Emmitt or being reminded of him in any way. Yuri on Ice is the perfect distraction. Plus who doesn't love watching Yuri and Victor? Psst, a little secret between you and me; I shipped the two of them so hard and had the biggest crush on Victor.