Scoring Off The Ice (Ice Kings #2) - Stacey Lynn Page 0,82

A lot. No way he’d do this. Not without something going wrong. We’ll figure it out. You here with someone?”

“Friends.” I point my thumb toward the dance floor and then… Oh shit. I’ve just ditched them. I slap my forehead and groan. “I need to get back to them.”

“No need,” Katie says, and she’s laughing. “I think they found you.” She points behind me toward the stairs that lead to the upper floor. I spin slowly so I don’t get dizzy, but it still doesn’t help.

I should sit. I don’t drink much. Long Islands might not have been a great choice. I make a mental note to listen to Maggie in the future and then see them both, waving their hands in my direction, behind the roped-off area. A bouncer the size of New Jersey prevents them from entering.

“I’ll go get them,” Katie says and gives me a quick hug. “The guys will figure things out and I’ll call you when I know more. Okay? Jude’s right. This doesn’t make sense. I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”

“Oh wow. The Ice Kings.” Maggie says it as she reaches me, collapsing into my shoulder. I throw my arm around her waist before we both topple over. “They’re so pretty.”

Katie laughs and I introduce my friends to them. Jude, Jason, and Newman are gone before I realize it and Katie scoots down, making room for us all.

I finish my drink and switch to water.

This night didn’t turn out the way I’d planned at all, and yet with Jason and Jude so pissed, the smallest flicker of hope grows.

They agree with me.

Something happened.

And before another song kicks in and Maggie starts shimmying in her seat next to me, one word—one person comes to mind.

Angela.

It has to be about Angela.

Chapter Thirty

Mikah

* * *

My house is quiet. Too quiet. It’s torture. Everything from the moment I stepped outside the arena earlier to now is an ugly blur of worst-case scenarios and the fear I’ve had about Angela coming back. How in the hell can she leave our son with me with a note saying she promises she doesn’t want him back and then show up, demanding to see him, demanding that she’ll go to the police for kidnapping if I don’t allow her to see him?

That was the exact threat she gave Luke when he called her. She didn’t even say hello and I know because he had her on speakerphone from my living room.

Let me see him or the golden boy of hockey will be arrested.

What else was I supposed to do?

Every second I spent waiting for her to arrive, Luke and I planned. Give her what she wants. Keep her happy and calm. This will give Luke time to figure out what her real plan is so we can determine how to proceed and not only ensure she doesn’t get custody if that’s what she wants, but that she has absolutely nothing to do with Angelo.

It killed me. I have never felt a pain so fierce as I did the moment I told Paisley it is over. But Angela was inside my home with Luke, fawning over Angelo. She’d already mentioned Paisley once and as soon as she did, realization struck.

She’d been watching me. But for what end?

That was when I decided. Paisley would have nothing to do with this, not until Luke knows what’s going on.

His theory? She wants money.

My theory? She’s a vile, evil witch. I’m beginning to suspect she planned this all along. Especially when I think back and realize many of the condoms we used that weekend were hers. What if she did something to them to get pregnant on purpose? What if that’s why she was always hanging around the team?

My mind is racing, and has been, for the entire evening and Angelo must sense my anxiousness because he’s been grouchier than normal, taking longer to get down.

Luke left several hours ago. He’s going to have his investigator widen his net to see what else we can discover about Angela. Earlier, she refused to sign away her rights. She didn’t even ask for money. Acted offended when Luke offered.

“I’ve realized my mistake. I want him.” She said it like she expected me to believe it.

I don’t and we need to figure out what she wants because I’m already dying inside with what I’ve done to Paisley. As soon as Angela left, I ran to Paisley’s. I can’t bear the look of pain on her face when I