“Hate polars,” the taller woman mumbled, which made absolutely no sense to Jerry.
“I told you we should bring someone else,” the hottie shot back.
“Shut up.”
“You shut up.”
The taller one released the man so suddenly his face bounced off the floor; he grunted in pain as the taller one stepped on the back of his head, so she could square off against the hottie.
“I ain’t in no mood for your shit, Malone.”
The hottie didn’t back down. Instead, she stepped closer, putting her face so close to the other one that their noses practically touched.
“Back off, Smith, or I’ll finish the job that dumb bear started and rip your face off.”
“Just try me.”
The two women silently eyed each other for a long moment, and then the taller one’s lip curled and she snarled. The hottie hissed and, for just a second, Jerry was sure he saw fangs . . .
But then Gregg got up right beside both women and he . . . well . . . he . . .
It sounded like a roar. An actual . . . animal roar.
So loud and powerful that the floor underneath Jerry’s feet trembled and one of the inmates pressed against the wall peed his pants.
“You two trifling house pets,” Gregg said when he had the women’s attention, “take this seal-eating idiot and leave my prison. Now.”
Both women snarled at Gregg but didn’t challenge him any further. Just grabbed hold of their prisoner again and walked a few more feet. Then the hottie stopped and said over her shoulder with renewed good humor, “Oh, before I forget, Gregg, if you still want your daughter to try out for the team, bring her by tomorrow.”
“We don’t have time for your hockey shit,” the taller one complained.
“There’s always time for hockey.” Then the hottie grinned and the taller one let out a short laugh.
After that, the women walked out. And once they were gone, the men remained silent. And stayed silent. In fact, the entire wing, for the first time that Jerry could ever remember, was silent for the next two days until new inmates came in and older ones were moved out.
When his coworkers asked him, “What’s going on over there?” he gave the same answer every time:
“No idea.”
*
Tock stepped out of the SUV, still answering questions that had begun during the after-practice shower.
“I don’t know,” she said again.
“You didn’t get any other information from her?” Mads demanded, sounding almost hysterical.
“What kind of information?”
“Like, what does all this mean for the championship? For the next few practices? How good is the New York team? How much playing time will we get or will we just be riding the bench? Is Coach planning on bringing anyone else from our team? What plans does she have for the new team and how will her choices affect this upcoming championship?”
Tock shrugged. “I’m pretty sure she’s planning on losing the championship so she can go on to the next team as a failure. Owners love to pay for coaches that fail.”
Mads stood in front of her, gripping the car keys, and glaring. A lot of Viking-like glaring.
“That’s sarcasm, isn’t it?” she asked.
“What do you think?”
Another, bigger SUV pulled past them and parked a few cars ahead. The three Malone brothers got out at the MacKilligan house to pick up Shay’s daughter.
On his way toward the brick home, Shay stopped and waved. Tock waved back, not thinking much about it. But when she turned around, her teammates were staring at her.
“What now?”
“What’s going on with you two?” Mads demanded. “Is he why you suddenly want to switch teams?”
“Oh, my God!” Streep gasped, hands clasped together. “Are you two in love?”
“Are you planning on stealing one of those puppies?” Max asked, smiling. “Now that we all know how much they’re actually worth, I say we take them all. Those idiots will never know.”
Nelle asked nothing. She was too busy taking a selfie.
“He waved at all of us,” Tock pointed out.
“But he meant it for you!” Streep cheered.
“I’m sorry,” Tock told Streep. “But clearly I’m going to have to kill you before this gets out of hand.”
*
“What was that?”
Shay stopped on the porch and faced his brother. “Huh?”
“You’re waving to her now?”
“I was waving to all of them.”
“Bullshit.”
“I was just being nice.”
“We’re not nice.”
“You’re not nice. That’s why my daughter calls you Uncle Mean.”
“Look, it’s bad enough this idiot—”
“Hey!” Finn barked when his brother pointed at him.
“—has involved himself with a badger. I’m just glad it’s Mads, who is less annoying than the others.”
“I’m not involving myself with anyone,” Shay explained. “I’ve got too much going on.”
His brothers stared at him.
“What exactly do you have going on?” Finn asked.
“Lots of things.”
“Like what?” Keane pushed. “And you better not say those fucking dogs.”
“They’re puppies. They’ll need a lot of care.”
“Oh, my God.” Disgusted, Keane pushed past him and opened the screen door so he could bang his fist on the hard wood of the front door.
He knew his brother was annoyed, which was why he banged on Charlie MacKilligan’s front door and didn’t think about the consequences. Shay cringed, though, when that door was snatched open and the muzzle of a semiauto was pressed against his brother’s chest because he was too tall for Charlie to reach his head.
“Oh,” she said. “It’s you.”
She lowered the weapon.
“You have guns around my niece?” Keane demanded before Shay could.
“I have guns around everyone. That’s how we survive. That’s how I protect your niece and our sister. Because I’d rather stop those who want to hurt us instead of getting revenge later.”
“I don’t like it,” Keane growled.
“You don’t like anything. But I have brownies, if you’re interested.”
Shay raised a finger. “I’m interested in brownies.”
Keane snarled at Shay.
“What?” Shay wanted to know. “I’m hungry.”
Chapter 15
Tock looked down at the big brownie on a paper plate Charlie had just put in front of her.
“Thanks.”
“I need you guys to come with me tomorrow,” Charlie said, sitting at the kitchen table with her own brownie on a paper plate.
“We have practice,” Mads said, unable to help herself.
“Dude, when have we ever gone to practice every day?” Max asked their teammate.
“You’re captain of the team. You should want us all to go to practice, every day, until we win the championships or die trying.”
Tock let out a sigh. Mads was going to continue being this unreasonable until the championships were won or lost. So it was best simply to ignore her.