I’ve already said everything there is to say. I said it at the police station, in my lawyer’s office, and in court. I’d been hanging around Curt and his buddies for years, but I was always on the outer fringes, mostly because I’m a few years younger than they are but also because hockey kept me too busy to get into any real trouble.
And Curt got into real trouble all the time. It started out as stupid shit, like lifting stuff from the convenience store down the road, but it quickly escalated. By the time I graduated high school, they were breaking into homes in the nicer parts of town, stealing anything of value and pawning it. The money they made went to two different places. It either funded Griggs’ drug habit or Curt’s favorite pastime, which included betting on anything from horses to sports to the freaking weather. Seriously. I must have been about fourteen when I saw him take a bet on how many inches of snow we were gonna get.
The night of my graduation, Curt and Griggs offered me a ride back to the crappy little apartment we shared. I accepted, and I wasn’t shocked when we stopped to pick up Griggs’s girlfriend. I figured we’d head back home, have a couple beers to celebrate, and I’d hit the sheets before Griggs and hisgirl started getting loud and before Curt started getting belligerent.
But my cousin and his best friend had other ideas. We pulled up into a nicer neighborhood, and the three of them hopped out of the car and told me to stay put. When I realized what the fuck they’d done, I was pissed as hell. And nervous as fuck. I knew if I stuck around that I’d be risking my hockey career and everything I’d worked so hard for.
I also knew that Griggs and Curt would happily let me take the fall if it meant they got off scot-free.
So I ran. I ended up at the graduation party of a kid I’d gone to school with. By the time I got home the next day, the apartment was empty, and five minutes after I made it back, the police were waiting to talk to me.
I don’t know what Griggs wants me to say or what will happen if Curt gets out early. But I know one thing: I have to keep them the hell away from Maggie and the life we’re building together. Those two ruin everything they touch, and that means they’re not getting anywhere near my girlfriend or our baby.
My feet pound the pavement as I turn the corner and see the hockey house in the distance. That place is an eyesore even from here.
I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Griggs’s message since I saw it late last night. I thought a run would clear my head, but all it did was give me an hour to replay the text on a loop in my head.
The driveway is full since classes start in a couple of days, and everyone is trickling in. I see Josie’s SUV, so I’m guessing Van’s back. Dean’s car is here, too, and there are a few more I don’t recognize. My instinct is to sneak in the back and head upstairs to Maggie. I haven’t seen her or kissed her since I leftfor work yesterday, and as crappy as it sounds, I know I’ll feel better when I can just hold her in my arms. It won’t solve all my problems. It won’t double my bank account or make Griggs and Curt go far, far away for a long time, but it will ease my mind.
What does not ease my mind is the fact that Mickey and Deano have turned our staircase into a freaking ski slope. Plywood boards line the steps and glisten with vegetable oil while guys wait eagerly at the top for their turn on the slopes. Some kid I vaguely recognize from the soccer team tosses his saucer on the makeshift slope as he lets out a yell and belly flops down onto it.
What the hell is wrong with half my freaking team?! This little stunt has disaster written all over it.
I’m on my way to talk to Van when my whole world shifts. In painfully slow motion, I watch in horror as the steps collapse. They just fall apart right in front of us. There’s noise and dust and chaos, and I feel light-headed and terrified as I hear myself scream, “Maggie!”
I race toward the stairs that aren’t there anymore, but I don’t get very far. There’s literally no way up to my room right now, but I have to get there. My whole world is in that room. If she’s still sleeping in my bed, holy shit she must be terrified. “Maggie!”
“JT, what the hell—” Dressed only in one of my t-shirts, Maggie stands in the doorway of my room and looks on in horror as she realizes that the crash she just heard was her only way out of there.
“Oh, fuck!” I hear Mickey curse as he herds everyone back down the hall, probably figuring they’ll all be a lot safer the further away they are from this mess.
All I can do is watch as my best friend races across the unstable landing and reaches his arms out. “Hop on, Cinderella,” he says, calm as hell, like they’re both not standing on literally shaky ground right now.
Out of fucking nowhere, some guy produces a ladder and I belatedly remember that today is the day Van’s uncle and cousins are coming to take a look at our place and offer some help.
We’re so far past help at this moment. But I can’t worry about the future of the hockey house, I just need to worry about my future, and that means Maggie and our baby.
Maggie looks back into my room for a quick second and I know she’s trying to calculate if she has enough time to throw on some pants or a giant hoodie. The ground they’re standing on lets out a groan, causing Maggie to leap into Mickey’s arms. He catches her with ease, and she clings on tight. They make it to the ladder, but she doesn’t loosen her grip. Mickey’s not fazed. He holds Maggie as he descends the ladder like it’s the most normal thing in the world to carry someone to safety in the midst of a mess. I do not understand how his brain works, how he has moments of utter clarity amidst a background of chaos. But right now, I don’t care. I rush toward them, peeling my girl from my best friend’s arms.
She latches onto me, causing her shirt to ride up for just a second.
Mickey looks at me, then at Maggie, then back at me. I can’t help the grin I’m wearing, just like I know Mickey can’t help opening his mouth and letting the words fly out. “Holy fuckballs! We’re having a baby!”
CHAPTER 34
MAGGIE
“Hey, roomie!”Viv’s voice booms through the coffee shop. You can take the megaphone out a cheerleader’s hand, but her voice is always going to carry.
She takes the seat across from me and starts tapping out her order on her phone.
“You do realize that we aren’t actually roommates,” I say. After the stairs literally collapsed, the hockey house was deemed unsafe and was shut down by the college, meaning all the guys had to find alternate housing. That’s not an easy thing to do right before the semester starts, but when Theo said his neighbor was moving out, we snapped the place up. “I mean, we live in the same building now, but my place is two floors up from yours.”
“Potato, tomato,” she says with a dismissive wave. “Besides, I have friends on your floor, and that’s practically the same thing.”
It’s not the same thing at all, but I’m not arguing. I’m sipping my hot cocoa and enjoying every second of it. Afterall, I’ve earned it. At my appointment this morning, Dr. Dols said everything looks great and that our sweet baby is measuring right at twenty-five weeks. She tried to sneak apeek at the gender, but our little nugget was facing the wrong way. It drives me crazy because I hate suspense, but JT was cracking up. He’s a take-life-as-it-comes kind of guy, so he doesn’t mind surprises. I’ve had enough surprises to last a lifetime, but this little one doesn’t seem to care.
“Do you still need my help tonight? I’m not tryna brag, but I am pretty handy in the bedroom. When it comes to putting together furniture, I mean. Well, actually, just kind of in general. In the bedroom, out of the bedroom. Anyway, what time are Big Daddy and I putting this dresser together?”
