Page 42

FORTY-ONE

declan

“This is amazing!” Maggie says, while bouncing on her toes and clapping. “Willa is the coolest person I know.”

“Hey!” Gideon says. “You’re married to the captain of the Boston Bruisers and the best center in the league.”

“I said what I said.” Maggie shrugs and keeps watching Shattered Halo. They just finished the first song of their last show.

“Sorry!”

I turn and see Ben rushing up to us with Nate pointing him in our direction.

“Turns out you’re not the only one planning to announce their retirement at the end of this season. I had a meeting with media to plan an announcement. They want you both together for a photo op,” Ben explains.

I give Gideon a questioning look. He holds up his hands and shakes his head.

“Who?” I ask Ben.

“Can’t tell you,” he says with a grin.

We watch the rest of the set in relative silence. We’re all singing along, obviously, but there’s no conversation happening. Maggie keeps clapping after every song while Gideon holds her against him, smiling at how happy his wife is. Ben is smiling too, but it’s almost sad. Or maybe wistful. I’m not as good at reading people as Harlow, but she’s home with a sick Cora tonight.

“You good, Benny boy?” I ask him.

“Yeah, I’m good,” he says and sighs. “You know that guy I’ve talked to you about?”

“Of course.”

“He’d love this.”

“I gave you two passes,” I point out.

Ben nods. “You did, but we’re not exactly on speaking terms right now.”

“If you love him like I love Willa, you’ll work it out.”

He laughs. “Is that the scale?”

I shrug. “I love her epically. Like the entire reason my heart beats is for her.”

“You’re practically a poet,” he jokes.

“What do you love most about your man?”

Ben’s smile is so sad I want to hug him, but he’s not really a physical affection type of guy.

“He hears me when I’m quiet.”

“Fuck, dude.”

“Yeah.”

“I hope you work it out,” I tell him honestly.

“Me too.”

I turn my attention back to my wife. Her eyes are shut as she beats her drums and just feels the music. It’s fucking erotic. I could watch her do anything and find it erotic, but when she’s like this, in her element, it does something to me. It’s a particular mixture of pride and lust that gives me a high for her like no other.

“Fuck,” Ben mutters next to me. He answers his phone quickly. I can’t hear what he’s saying, but the call ends quickly.

“What?” I ask. He’s looking down at his phone with a scowl.

“The alarm on my house went off. The company is sending the police out, but I have to go meet them.”

“Shit, man. I hope everything is alright. Do you want me to go with you?”

He hesitates, looking out at the stage briefly before turning back to me. “No. Thanks for offering, though.”

“It’s not an issue. I can go if you’re uncomfortable.”

“I’ll call you if I need you. Does that work?”

“Only if you mean that,” I say.

“I promise.”

I nod and wave to him as he rushes back towards the exit to the parking lot.

“Declan, have you seen Nate?” I turn to see Jo.

“Not since he brought drinks over for us about an hour ago.”

“He’s not organizing the meet and greet like he usually is. I don’t have the list to figure it out.”

That seems odd. I haven’t been to enough shows to know much about Nate, but he seems to always be on top of his job. If someone told me efficiency was his middle name, I would believe them.

“Thank you, Boston! You’re perfect as always. We are Shattered Halo, and we’ll see you soon! Drive safe!” Cal says, ending the show.

I catch Willa when she throws herself into my arms. Kissing her in a way that’s inappropriate in front of our friends.

“We have to go meet the people that paid for a meet and greet, but then I want to do that dressing room fantasy of yours,” Willa whispers in my ear. I groan and kiss her neck.

“Where’s Nate?” Kai asks.

“We can’t find him,” Jo explains. Cal calls over security and asks them to locate Nate.

“Where’s Jon?” I ask, realizing I haven’t seen him in a while either.

Security rushes up, surrounding us all. “We need to lock you and your friends down in one of the dressing rooms while we await police assistance,” the one closest to Cal says.

“Why?” Cal asks him.

“We found Nate, Mr. Griffin. His throat was slit.”

Willa gasps and pushes herself closer to my side. Belle is crying into Kai’s shirt. Poor Maggie and Gideon look shocked and confused. Maverick looks like he wants to throw up.

“Fuck!” I shout. “Let’s go where they want us to. Cal, call Harrison.”

We’re only in the room for a few minutes before the police come in and question us. It must be protocol since the band members were on stage and the rest of us were right next to it and very visible the entire night.

“We’re still questioning the staff, but it looks like he was really only missing for a thirty-minute period before security found his body,” the detective tells us after taking our statements. “Is there anyone else that was with you tonight that isn’t here right now?”

“My friend, Ben. He left maybe two minutes before the end of the show. Someone broke into his house,” I say. The detective nods and takes Ben’s information from me. He hands it off to the other detective that’s been standing there while this one questions us. The second detective takes out her phone and goes into the hallway.

“That’s really easy to confirm since home security companies call the police when alarms go on for too long. They’ll have a timestamp,” the first detective explains.

“Our manager Jon is missing too,” Maverick adds. His brows are furrowed like he’s working hard to figure something out. “He was here when we went out on stage.”

Jo frowns and pulls out her phone. “I’ll call him.” She dials his number and puts it on speaker.

“I can’t talk right now,” Jon says as a greeting.

“Well, you don’t have a choice,” Jo says.

“I have a personal matter I’m dealing with. Unless the stage blew up, I really don’t have time for this.”

“Nate was murdered, and you disappeared,” Jo says, not beating around the bush.

“Well, I’m clearly alive,” Jon says, completely missing the accusation in Jo’s statement.

“You need to report to the Boston Police to give a statement by tomorrow afternoon or they’re going to find you,” Jo says and hangs up on him.

The detective tries to hide his smile, but his lip twitches. The second detective reenters the room, my eyes darting straight to him. I don’t think Ben is a murderer, but I am worried about his break-in, and I haven’t been able to check on him.

“Ben is clear. The timestamp on the alarm is around ten minutes before Nate was last seen. Ben arrived on the scene thirty minutes after the phone call and the police were already there. It’s a thirty-eight-minute drive from here to his address. He definitely broke some speeding laws, but there’s no way he could commit a murder in that timeframe,” she says.

The detectives give us their cards and ask us to call if we think of anything. Gideon and Maggie head home after Willa apologizes for their night ending this way.

“Do you think Eva has a thing for throats?” Jo says. We all freeze.

“You think it’s related?” Belle asks her.

“Dean’s throat was slit. Wolfe’s throat was slit. Now Nate’s? That seems unlikely, doesn’t it?”

“I need to get home to Harlow and Cora. Everyone needs to get behind the gates and security. We’ll talk about this in the morning,” Cal says, and I agree with him, scooping Willa into my arms and walking out into the hallway. Security is there waiting to escort us to our cars.

“We’re locking down at home and never leaving,” I tell Willa as I pull my car onto the road.

She laughs, though the sadness is clear in it. “You have a game tomorrow.”

“I don’t give a shit. I’ll retire right now.” I mean it.

“You have two months left. Four if you go all the way. Finish your career like you want to.”

“Fuck my career, Willa. You’re what matters to me. You. Nothing else. Not hockey. I will never pick hockey over you. Ever.”

She sighs. “That may be true, but I still want you to finish the season.”

“Princess. . .” I start.

“Baby, stop. I’ll stay home unless I’m at your games. I’ll even agree to bring security with me if that makes you feel better. But we don’t know that this is related to anything. No threats have been made against any of us.”

I squeeze the steering wheel so tight my knuckles pop. “I can’t lose you, Willa. I won’t fucking survive it.”

She reaches over and squeezes my thigh. “I swear I won’t put myself in danger, Dec. Cal already told Isla and Logan we wouldn’t be discussing a new album or new tour dates until everything settles down. And that was before tonight. I’m going to be a trophy wife until further notice.”

“I love you, Princess.”

“I love you, too, hockey boy.”

My shoulders don’t fully relax until I have her behind the locked doors of our house.