Page 39 of Cheap Shot

“Yes!” She took his hands and wriggled in Luke’s arms like she was ready to get started.

“Awesome!” Jesse seemed as happy about it as she did. “I can’t wait!”

Crawford moved onto the D-corps. Tanner looked ready to vibrate out his stall by the time they got to him.

“Hi, Harper! I’m Tanner. We’re gonna haveso much funtoday!” He was almost bouncing in his seat like it was physically hard to stay still.

She grinned. “You’re a D-man with Mr. Luke!”

“I sure am,” he said.

“He’s my favorite.” She leaned her head against Luke’s shoulder and let out a sigh.

Tanner made a face. “Oh no. You can do better thanthat. Like me!”

“Ilikehim. He’s all big and growly like a bear.”

Luke tried to hide a smile.

Tanner shook his head and planted his hands on his hips. “Did he bribe you with candy to say that?”

Harper giggled. “Noooo.”

“Oh, well I’lltotallybribe you to say nice things about me if that’s cool with your mom.” He glanced over at Brie, who nodded. “Wanna go see our candy stash?”

Her eyes lit up. “Yes, please. Put me down, Mr. Luke.”

Luke chuckled and set her down while she trotted after Tanner to see the little drawered cubby by the door that held basic things like breath mints, gum, and candy for the players or coaches to grab.

The cameras followed.

Brie came over to Luke, looking up at him earnestly. “I just want to say thank you so much. You weregreatwith her. She’s been through so much and she’s so friendly, but she has these shy moments occasionally and …”

“It’s no problem.”

“Well, I appreciate it.”

Brie was pretty. She looked … well, she and Sebastian looked a lot alike, actually. She had the same dark curls, dark eyes, and full lips, though she was at least a foot shorter than him.

Luke scowled, then felt bad when she shot him a weak smile and walked away, shoulders hunched and looking like she thought she’d done something wrong.

Shit. He wasn’t trying to be rude to her. He was just really fucking pissed her brother had shown up like this.

Speaking of …

He glanced over to see that Sebastian stood alone on the far side of the room, looking uncomfortable.Good. He fucking should.

Candy in hand, Harper was being shown to the stall they’d set up for her.

She didn’t have skates, because there had been medical concerns about her balance or something, but they had grippy winterboots in Harriers colors and hockey gloves and a custom helmet for her to wear.

Connor was showing her a stick and talking about how they were going to cut it down to just her size, and the cameras were all trained on them, so Luke took the opportunity to walk over to Sebastian.

“What the fuck?” he hissed. “If you think this is some kind of sick joke?—”

“No,” Sebastian argued under his breath. “Fuck, no.Harperasked me to come.”

“I swear to God, if you’re lying …”