Scoring Off The Ice: Ice Kings, #2 Read online

  “You’ll figure it out. And the most important thing about babies is that they need love, feeding, changing, and sleep.”

  Four things. I can do four things. She makes it sound so easy but it’s a human I might now be responsible for by myself with a life that is not meant for this. It’s anything but simple or easy.

  There’s a quick, loud knock at my door and our gazes swing in that direction before I return to her…

  “You can get the door,” she says, reading my thoughts. “I’ve got him.”

  I let out a relieved breath. Byron is loud. He’s going to give me so much shit for this, but this is his fault.

  Well, not the baby-making part, but he was part of the crew who insisted I get out and experience life and the benefits of being a pro hockey player. I can’t blame him for the rest but if I would have stuck to hockey, none of this would be happening right now.

  I open the door, standing in the doorway, Byron and Hannah are both there.

  “Thank you for coming.”

  He practically shoves me out of the way and he squares his large form up to Paisley. I barely have time to step back and allow for Hannah to step in right behind him, thank goodness, when Byron barks out an evil sound.

  “Sweetheart, if you think you’re getting money from this man here, you’re barking up the wrong tree. No way in hell that baby is yours.”

  Oh. Oh no. He read that wrong. Or maybe I explained it wrong. I flip back to what I said on the phone but can’t remember.

  “A baby?” Hannah says on a breath.

  I step in front of Byron, hands out. Paisley’s face has paled and then scrunched.

  “It is not hers.” I lower my voice. He was with me on my birthday. “Angela,” I say quietly. But I’m also pretty sure I shorten her name to one syllable.

  Louder, I continue. “She left him here. In the hallway. Paisley, she is my neighbor. She found him.”

  “Oh,” Hannah gasps and her fingers fly to her mouth. “That’s so…”

  “Shitty?” Paisley snaps and again I am struck by the anger in her too.

  “What the fuck?” Byron glances at me. His eyes are steel like he’s facing down an opponent and I know with the way he’s looking at the woman holding the baby behind me that she is his new target. “How much is that bitch paying you to lie about this?”

  Hannah slaps his chest. “Stop it,” she hisses. “Don’t be a dick.”

  It took me almost a year of living in the States to stop thinking of my penis when someone called someone a dick. English slang sometimes makes no sense.

  “Paisley didn’t do anything. She lives across the hall and heard him. I believe her. Angela left a note.”

  “No shit?” Byron mutters.

  “Wow,” Hannah croons and I swivel my gaze off Byron to her. She’s already hurried over to Paisley and she’s peeling back the blanket, smiling down at him. “He’s so cute, Mikah. Are you sure he’s yours?”

  “That’s what the note says.”

  “This is un-fucking-believable.” I am really going to need Byron to do or say something more helpful soon. It’s the whole reason he’s here.

  “It was just that weekend.” I don’t need to elaborate. It was all his and Newman’s idea in the first place. “But why would she lie?”

  “Why would she drop off a baby at your door? Where is the note?” Hannah is scanning the place like it’s going to float from the ceiling and land in her hands.

  “I threw it somewhere, but his birth certificate is on the table.” I point to the coffee table and Hannah snatches it up. Her brows furrow and I imagine her planning on hunting down Angela and giving her a piece of her mind.

  I hope she brings me with. I have a few things to say myself. But then her lips press together and I can almost see her mind working.

  “July,” she says softly. “Timing fits. Birthday weekend, right?”

  She grins at me and I burn straight to the tips of my ears. Does everyone know when I lost my virginity?

  “Yeah.” I clear my throat and I’m fascinated with Paisley who is still standing there, holding my kid, looking like she wants to run.

  It’s probably time I man up. I go to her and hold out my arms. It feels awkward. Like I’m made of wood but in truth, the only time I have ever felt comfortable is on skates and on the ice. “I’ll take him.”

  “I should go. Let you have time with your friends. It’s good you have help though.” She chews her lip and her eyes bounce to all of us in the room. I don’t think she knows who Byron and I are, and I like that almost as much as her voice.

  It’s nice to not be recognized sometimes.

  I don’t blame her for wanting to leave, either. Byron is still glaring at her, like he doesn’t believe her.

  “I’ll be around all weekend,” she says again. “If you need anything. Don’t hesitate to walk across the hall, okay?”

  “Thank you.” A pressure in my chest releases. I’m going to need her help. But I don’t know if I will ask. I laugh then and it’s strained and ridiculous. “It was nice meeting you. Finally.”

  I smile and hers appears too. She shakes her head, brushes a finger down Angelo’s cheek. She peers up at me through her lashes. Gud. She’s so pretty I want to kiss her. I bet she’ll taste sweeter than she looks.

  “You too, Mikah. Finally.”

  She lingers on the word and it gives me hope. As does the blush rising on her cheeks.

  Her hand drifts away from Angelo and if I wasn’t holding him, I would reach for it. The thought of her leaving me makes my heart jump. Byron and Hannah will leave and go home and then I’ll be with Angelo alone.

  She must see the panic in my eyes, the racing of my heart because she giggles. “All weekend, Mikah. If you need anything, come get me. And maybe I can come check on you?”

  “Please.” It falls through me in a rush, before I can be embarrassed about it.

  “Okay then.” She steps back and lifts her hand toward Byron and Hannah. “It was nice to meet you.”

  “You too.” Hannah smiles at her and then she’s in front of me, whisking Angelo out of my arms before I can blink.

  At some point, I’ll need to hold him for longer than a minute or two. I hope I don’t break him.

  Byron grunts at Paisley as she walks by him, but that is his way with most people.

  As soon as the door shuts behind her, Byron turns to me and smirks.

  “Knocked someone up the first time you have a go, hey slugger? That’s my man.”

  He slaps me on the shoulder, jolting me forward. He’s a big guy and even though I’m six feet, he’s much bigger.

  Hannah tells him to shut up and then he grabs Angelo from her and holds him tight to his chest.

  It’s that moment, seeing another man more comfortable with him than I am that I break down.

  “What in the hell am I supposed to do, guys?”

  Chapter Six

  Paisley

  * * *

  It’s time I call the cops on myself for being a stalker. Has anyone actually tried to get a restraining order against themselves? My eye has been glued to my peephole for so long since my awkward and weird return to my apartment, it’s surprising it doesn’t stay stuck to the door when I finally turn my back.

  It’s been noisy though, and who can blame me for being curious.

  It seemed like not long after I came home, glass of wine in hand and all thought of a bubble bath evaporated, the door shut and then an hour later, I heard another noise and saw Byron returning. With boxes and boxes of things.

  The pictures on the sides as he made trip after trip showed he’d done some serious shopping. Pack’n’Play was in one. Stroller. Car seat. Diapers. Large red bags from Target proving how many items and how large some of them are and when he opened the door to Mikah’s, I heard a lot of laughing come through.

  I wish I was still there.

  Stupid. It’s a stupid thought and an even worse idea. He doesn’t need a stranger in his way as
he gets settled and holy cow… what he must be thinking. How scared must he be? What’s he going to do?

  Mind your own darn business, Paisley. I scold myself and sip my wine before heading to my living room where I pull up Netflix and toss the remote to the table and sit on the couch. I am anything but relaxed.

  Man. What a night to end the longest and hardest week.

  My imagination runs away with me and it can’t be helped. I held Angelo almost for the entire time I was there earlier. And Mikah mostly looked scared.

  What will he do tonight when he cries? How will he handle it when he spits up or when he has to be changed?

  I can go over and offer to stay the night. To help. To ease him into this.

  I slap my forehead. He has friends. A lot of them considering he named several before deciding on Byron, and man… that guy is big and angry looking.

  At first I thought he was going to grab me by the throat and string me up by my toes. Hannah, on the other hand, I thought was going to rip Angelo straight out of my arms if she didn’t get her baby fix. I’m so crazily invested in this entire, wild situation, I zone out to the Netflix logo on the screen. I haven’t bothered turning on a show I won’t focus on watching.

  “Get over yourself,” I mutter and take a sip of my wine.

  It’s none of my business. So the hottie next door is now a dad. So I finally know his name. So I also now know he has an accent that I can’t place and speaks a language so easily he’s definitely not originally from here. So I know more about him than I did before and I might see him again in passing, or maybe drop by tomorrow to see how he’s doing.

  Big deal. He’s still only my neighbor.

  Sighing, I grab the remote again and pull up the medical drama I’ve been streaming for the last several weeks. Whatever is going on across the hall from me isn’t my business. I’m glad I was home earlier to help, but Mikah will figure everything out. We’ll go back to passing each other in the hall with a smile and perhaps now a polite word or two.

  Other than that, it’s best I focus on me and my schoolwork and what I need to do this weekend like laundry and research. Speaking of, I should probably get started. I set down my wine and head to my bedroom where I grab my laundry basket.

  A quick sort and a few minutes later, I have my first load in the washer, humming from the small laundry room closet off my hallway.

  I’m just about ready to sit back down with my wine and television drama when a soft knock hits my door.

  Mikah. It’s scary he’s my first thought but who else would be here? I hurry to the door and open it without thinking, surprised when Hannah is standing on the other side, hand still raised in a fist like she’s preparing to knock again.

  She drops her hand to her side and smiles. “Hey… Paisley? Do you have a minute?”

  I step back, stunned. She’s here? Why is she here? I give a quick glance to the closed door across the hall. “Is everything okay?”

  “They’re doing well. Angelo is sleeping. Byron and Mikah are setting up the bassinet and other furniture we went out and got him. But I’d like to talk to you if that’s okay?”

  “Um. Sure.” I step back slowly, wary at the look on her face. “Come on in.”

  I close the door behind her and go to the bottle of wine on my counter. Something tells me I’ll need it. “Would you like one?”

  “Oh my gosh, yes.” She laughs and shakes her head. “What a night, right? I mean, I swear my head is still spinning from all of this. And Mikah, the poor guy. He’s so utterly and adorably lost.”

  She babbles on while I grab a glass and fill it for her, but I’m stuck on adorable.

  To me, Mikah is anything but adorable, except for maybe his embarrassment when he admitted he doesn’t know what he’s doing. On a scale of one to ten for awkward actions with a strange neighbor I’m pretty sure the hug I wanted to give him at that moment would have reached a twenty.

  “Anyway” —she flips her hand in the air— “that’s all, well that’s sort of why I’m here. Byron wanted to come talk you, but I convinced him it’d be better coming from me.”

  A chill runs through me at her words, the way she’s smiling at me. It’s not exactly friendly and I’m not sure what to do with it.

  “Okay…”

  “Well, here’s the thing and I’m just going to say it.” She takes a sip of her wine and licks her lips. “You haven’t told anyone about tonight, have you?”

  “No.” I haven’t even considered it. It might help my friends are all out partying and my parents and I, while close, aren’t exactly the kind of parents I dish about boys with. “No. I haven’t said anything.”

  “Okay good.” She sighs and presses her hands to the countertop. Her eyes harden and I’m not even sure I know how I recognize it but the happy babbling woman vanishes. She’s so much more serious and I’m stunned again when she asks, “You don’t know who he is, do you?”

  “Know who, who is? Mikah?”

  “Yeah. I take it you don’t watch hockey?”

  “Hockey?” It’d be fantastic if I could stop answering her questions with questions but I’m not sure where she’s going. Everything she says confuses me. “I don’t really watch any sports,” I admit.

  At my answer, Hannah’s smile widens and she returns to being friendly.

  “Okay. See, that’s good. Great even, I think. But Mikah and Byron, well, they play for the Ice Kings.”

  “Ice Kings?”

  She laughs so hard she snorts and covers her mouth. “Sorry. So sorry. I’m not laughing at you, I promise, but yeah. Carolina Ice Kings. The local professional hockey team? Ever hear of them? Because their games are like three blocks away from here.”

  I pay attention to hockey as much as I pay attention to golf, which is to say not at all. And that includes all sports. My father is more of a NASCAR fan but Mom and I usually left the house when races came on. Like either of us wanted to sit around and scream at cars zooming around the track.

  “Um. It sounds familiar, but I’m confused why this matters I guess?”

  “Because, if word gets out Mikah has had a baby dropped on his doorstep that’ll make the news. It’ll be all over social media. It can distract the team before their season ever begins and it won’t be good for any of them, or him.”

  My throat tightens and that chill I felt earlier turns to a rolling heat. “I wouldn’t do that.”

  “That’s good. Good. Great, really, it’s just, I’m not trying to be mean, but I care about the guys and the team. We’re like family. Mikah’s going to get enough attention once people find out he has a kid. Fans will go absolutely nuts. I want to help him as much as possible. And to be honest, we’re the only family he has here.”

  “I do too.” Yes, I blurt that out before I can stop it. “I don’t, I mean, I don’t even know him but I wouldn’t hurt someone. Not intentionally at least.”

  “And I’m not saying you would, but I also wanted to come over here and double check. Mikah said before tonight you two had never met, so he doesn’t know you. We’re dealing with a rather large unknown.”

  My lip curls at not only her insinuation, but by calling me an unknown. Like I’m dirt. Or someone not worth knowing here. She must see what she’s done by my expression because she throws her hands up.

  “I’m not trying to offend you. Or hurt you. Maybe I’m not explaining everything clearly and for that, forgive me, it’s been kind of a whirlwind few hours.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  She cracks a smile and takes a drink. “You seem nice, Paisley. But can you understand why one of us would want to come over and at least ask you to keep this news to yourself? Let Mikah get settled. He’ll have to announce it at some point. He’s known as rather, well… he’s known on the team at least as this, well, innocent kid. Byron and the guys who have been playing for awhile like to think of themselves as his big brothers. We’re just looking out for him.”

  He is young. He’s never once seemed inno
cent to me though. Way too handsome and hot to be that. And yet there’s his blushing and uncertainty.

  I can see her point. It’s not like I’ve ever paid attention to professional athletes to know how big of a deal they are, but I’m not stupid. I know they get attention.

  “I won’t say anything. You can reassure him, and I will too the next time I see him.”

  “He’s called the team lawyer. Byron insisted. I’m pretty sure he should call the cops or something, maybe DHS? I’m not really sure so to be further honest, I’m not sure we’re handling it the most legal way. Mikah wants to keep it quiet so the lawyer said he’ll see what he can do.”

  She doesn’t owe me further explanations. Yet, she has a point.

  “I get it, Hannah, and I promise. My lips are sealed.” I mime a zipping motion across my lips. It’s less offensive to think of it this way and she has a point. Should I have called the cops or something? But how was I supposed to know? I was so thrown by the sight of a random baby in our hallway my only real thought was to get him to stop crying.

  “Thank you.” She sighs and takes another sip of her wine. “It was really nice of you to help him out earlier. I have no idea what he would have done if he would have found Angelo first.” Another pause and then, a bigger smile. “He’s really cute, isn’t he?”

  I’m assuming she’s talking about Angelo. But my mind first goes to Mikah.

  “Yeah.” Regardless of who she means, they both are. And seeing Mikah hold Angelo the first time? Ovary explosion!

  Enough.

  And a professional hockey player? I come from such a small upbringing I can’t even fathom what his life is like. Trent’s the first person from either of my parents’ side who actually left Blandsford. It’s a small town closer to the coast, much more farming and trade schools than high rises and big cities and even bigger paychecks.

  Perhaps I’ve been swept away with the luxury of Trent’s living and have forgotten myself. When I finish school, I plan on returning to Blandsford where I can make a difference in the small, farming community schools.

  What in the world do I have to offer someone like Mikah?