Page 28 of Meant for Mayhem

“You abuse your power.”

“Keep talking. See how that works out for you.”

He skated away, muttering something about calling his lawyer.

Leena laughed, a belly-deep giggle that made the corners of her eyes crinkle. I couldn’t help but smile too while I took a seat in the stands with Leena in my lap. I tugged a beanie out of Leena’s diaper bag and pulled it down over her ears. She clapped her hands to the music. It wasn’t often that I sat on this side of the glass watching others on the ice, but being here, feeling the cold air against my face, felt right.

It only took a few minutes before I understood why Beckett and Ty kept coming back. Here in Linwood, hockey mattered. But these kids mattered more.

I hated the idea of having to choose between Leena and hockey, but I knew I’d choose my child in a heartbeat. But I didn’t want to choose.

I also didn’t want my daughter to grow up spending more time with strangers than with me.

Just as my thoughts spiraled, a dark figure walked into my peripheral vision. Shannon strode toward me wearing a burgundy shirt hanging off one shoulder, the rose tattoos showing on her skin. Her black jeans and boots matched the stormy look in her eyes as she walked toward us, softening only when my daughter turned to her and waved.

“Up,” Shannon said as she walked through the row of seats toward me.

“Excuse me?”

“Stand up, please.” Her words were nicer, but the intensity radiating off her didn’t lessen. “I want to test something.”

I set Leena on her feet, then stood up. Shannon crossed her arms over her chest.

“Now what?”

“Now, we’re going to see if I can get Leena to warm up to me. And when she does, you’re going to get on the ice with the team.”

I blinked, not bothering to hide my smirk as my daughter clung to my sweatpants. “There’s a lot of confidence in those words. You’re just going to boss us around?”

Shannon’s eyes glistened with a level of mischief I felt like I was about to regret. She dropped her backpack onto the bench seat, then sat down next to it and tugged the zipper open. Out came a bag of snacks, then several toys I’d seen in Emmy’s Pilates studio.

She didn’t ask Leena if she wanted to play.

She didn’t talk to her at all.

She opened the bag of snacks and placed it in her lap, then began setting up little princess dolls.

Leena peeked around my leg, watching her intently. When Shannon popped a cheese cracker in her mouth, Leena’s eyes followed the movement, her grip loosening on my leg.

Without looking at her, Shannon grabbed two crackers and held them in her open palm toward Leena while she played with a doll in her other hand.

I was about to lose this round.

The moment Leena stepped away from me and toward Shannon, I could hardly breathe the air left my lungs so fast.

“Would you like one?” Shannon said when she finally looked down at my daughter. She ate one of the crackers, then held the second one between two pinched fingers.

Leena closed her hand around it, then popped it into her mouth, chewing while she turned to look at the toys.

“Go now,” Shannon whispered. “Try not to walk past her if you can, but I want you suited up and on the ice. Prove to me this crackpot idea of yours is even going to work, and I’ll do it.”

If I couldn’t breathe before, then I wasn’t sure how to describe the tightness in my chest now.

She shooed me off with her hand, talking to Leena about which princess was which instead.

I backed away slowly, feeling the anxiety rush I had last week when I’d left Leena in Denver with my mom. But as long as I kept her in my sight, it wasn’t as crippling as before.

“What’s up, buddy?” Beckett said as I stopped near the bench, still staring at Shannon and Leena in the stands.