Chapter 18—All the Edges

She should’ve resisted, but Marina wasn’t strong enough to resist her handsome hockey player with the dazzling smile, sad eyes, and rocking body. They snuck into each other’s rooms for the next few nights, and she stayed overnight at his house when they returned home. Ever cautious, she parked her car down the street or left it home and got a ride with him.

None of the staff or team appeared suspicious, and Drew’s play had definitely improved. What was a girl to do? She couldn’t cut him off now, even if she wanted to, not when he was playing up to his potential.

The Sockeyes lost both away games in the Conference Finals and returned to Seattle tied at two games each, despite Drew having good games and scoring in each one. Unfortunately, the first line wasn’t playing well. They were out of sync, and Cave was struggling under the pressure.

Meanwhile, Drew gathered steam and improved with each game. He played like a man possessed in Game 5 and inspired the rest of the team to raise their level of play, even Cave. He had one score, several good shots on goal, and a couple assists resulting in the other two goals.

In Game 6, they lost a heartbreaker in overtime. Drew scored twice and played even better than in Game 5, but it wasn’t enough. Brick had his worst game ever.

Now they were back in Seattle. Drew had been playing well ever since Game 3, and the coaches noticed, giving Marina more credit than she was comfortable with; good sex had more to do with his improved play than figure skating lessons.

She couldn’t shake the sick feeling things were about to come to a head, and her fantasy life would prove to be only a fantasy.

She hated the sneaking around, the worrying someone would catch them, the constant stress and guilt of living a lie.

Despite it all, she spent every moment she could with Drew. Their figure skating routine was near flawless. Their nights together beyond satisfying. Still, something wasn’t right. They both knew it, and neither said a word about it.

She was falling for him, and her defense mechanisms switched on. She’d give him her body, but she couldn’t give more when she didn’t know what the future held. She had to hold something in reserve, not go all-in, because if she did there’d be nothing left for her if he was suddenly gone.

* * * *

“Drew, look at this.” Bronson pointed at his monitor.

Drew stretched in his chair. He was tired after the game last night. He’d given it everything he had. Dragging himself to his feet, he looked over Bronson’s shoulder at the stack of papers haphazardly piled on his desk. Bronson pointed at a line on the paper.

“That’s a lot of money.”

“Yeah, a lot, and it’s in the victim’s brother’s account.” Bronson referred to the cold case of John Harmon he’d been investigating.

“There’s a brother?” Drew perked up. No matter how tired he was, investigating a crime or solving a mystery always gave him energy.

“Yeah. He was in business with the victim. The business went under after her parents’ deaths.”

“You think he did it?”

“I think there’s a good chance. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. The detectives interviewed him multiple times, but nothing came of it. They had no proof.”

“And neither do we.”

“There are a lot of notes about him. They were suspicious.”

“It’s worth pursuing to see where it goes.”

Drew had to agree. Every good detective knew that a brutal murder was usually personal and done by a relative more times than not. He’d love to look into it more, but during the playoffs wasn’t the time. The last thing Drew wanted was to ruin the streak he had going. This crime had gone unsolved for over five years. Another month or so wouldn’t hurt.

Pondering this recent development, Drew headed to practice, still tired but looking forward to getting on the ice with renewed enthusiasm.

Thank you, Marina.

She was responsible for his improvement in attitude and his self-esteem. He wasn’t certain he could live without her, now that he knew how good they were together in and out of bed.

He was walking across the parking garage to attend practice when his phone rang. Once again, it was his mother. She’d called a few times, and he hadn’t answered. He glanced at his watch. He had time; he might as well get it over with.

“Drew, are you avoiding me?”

“No, I’ve been busy.”

“So am I, and I’m going to make this short.” Nothing new there.

“OK.”

“Call your father. He’s missing you.”

“Why doesn’t he call me?”

“His pride is hurt after what you said to him, and you know how proud he is. All you have to do is call and approach him first. Mend those bridges.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Good. Love you. Gotta go.”

Drew frowned at the phone. His mother was something else, but not even a conversation with her about his father was going to ruin his good day.