War (Boston Bolts Hockey #3)

5. Tyler

FIVE

TYLER

Green eyes grow wide, and all the color drains from Ava’s face. Knowing her, she wants to scream or lash out. Tell Josie that I’d make the absolute worst father.

By some miracle, though, she swallows that inclination and instead forces a fake smile.

How does no one else see it? The duplicitous woman has everyone fooled. Innocent Ava. Sweet Ava. Angelic Ava. Or Josie’s personal favorite, my Ava .

She talks about her all the time. She always has.

I knew the two of them were close, but judging by Ava’s reaction, she is only now discovering my relationship with her.

While a rational person may be bothered by that, for some reason I enjoy watching Ava squirm.

“Where are these stitches?” I ask, working hard to ignore the woman gaping at us.

Josie spins her head to the side, showing me the spot still matted with blood behind her ear where a line of stitches falls just outside her hair line. Thank fuck. She would not be smiling if they’d had to shave her hair. Girl has been yapping about how long it’s grown since she left this hospital room last.

“You know better than to skate when I’m not home. ”

“I told her to wait for you,” Maria chimes in from the door. “I was putting Scarlett down for a nap, and when I came back, expecting to find this one where I left her, watching Zombies for the sixtieth time, she was nowhere to be found.”

Scarlett . My heart plummets. “Where’s Scarlett?” Fuck, this day keeps getting worse.

“She’s with the nurses in the playroom. She’s fine.” Maria waves dismissively. Of course she has everything covered. But damn, she shouldn’t have to. I hired her to ensure that Josie’s medical needs are taken care of. She’s not a nanny, but she’s the only other stable person in Josie’s life, and I can’t lose her. Madi’s words from earlier echo like a warning through my brain.

The kids need stability. I need a person who can help me prove to the court that I can be trusted to raise them. That Josie will be safe in my care.

“You told me you’d take me to the skate with you and Bray, and then you didn’t come home,” Josie says softly. The girl doesn’t whine. She doesn’t complain. God, I almost wish she would. I wish she knew that it would be okay if she did. That she knew I wouldn’t stop loving her, even if she did complain. But we’ve got a long way to go before she feels that safe with me.

I pull her into my chest, brushing my lips against her head. “I know. My meeting ran late, and I couldn’t get back there to pick you up before I had to be at the arena. I’m sorry. But you know it isn’t safe to be on the ice without me.” I tap on her head. “I wear a helmet and I’m like the best skater around.”

The woman hovering on the other side of the bed lets out a sarcastic huff, garnering our attention. When Josie and I look in her direction, her cheeks turn red.

It’s okay, vicious one. Let everyone see you for who you really are.

“I’m sorry,” Josie says, her voice barely a whisper. “Are you mad at me?”

Dipping lower, I make sure her eyes are locked with mine before I respond. “Never, fighter. Worried. Never mad.”

With her tiny arms wrapped around me, she squeezes, her words muffled against my chest. “Is my mom coming? ”

Dread slams into me like a freight train. Josie asks the same question every night before bed, and up until this afternoon, I held on to the tiniest sliver of hope that Krista would turn her life around and tell me to fuck myself and fuck my money. I held tight to the possibility that she would be adamantly against signing over her rights to her kids.

But I can’t lie to Josie. I won’t.

Lying to a child does nothing but shake their foundation. Inevitably, they find out, and any and all trust is irrevocably damaged. So even if it’s like swallowing razors, I pull back and look her in the eye. “No. It’s just going to be you, Scarlett, Bray, and me from here on out.”

Attention lowered, she nods.

She fucking nods, her expression completely neutral.

Then she smiles and says, “Can we go home?”

It takes everything in me not to stand up and punch the wall. To not scream into the universe about how unfair this is. She doesn’t cry or yell. She barely even reacts to the news that her mother isn’t coming home. And that fills me with a rage so wild I worry I can’t contain it. So I stand, drop one more kiss to her head, and tell her I’ll go check with her doctor.

As I back away from the hospital bed, Ava moves in and wraps her arms around Josie. The way the little girl settles there, the comfort she finds as they speak in hushed tones, is beyond maddening. Because in that moment, I know exactly what she needs. And I know that I’ll never deny her.