Page 19

Chapter Nineteen

Chelsea

"Is this where you tell me you won't say where we're going?" I stepped around a crack in the sidewalk and gave Atlas and Jay a curious look.

"I like surprises," Atlas said.

"I don't," Jay said. "Where are we going?" He stuck his jaw forward, and glared at Atlas. A hint of a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

"Can you be patient for once?" Atlas asked. Impatiently.

"Nope," Jay replied.

"What he said," I agreed. In a loud, conspiratorial whisper I asked Jay, "Should we threaten to tickle him or something?"

Jay grinned. "I know exactly where he's ticklish."

"I know where you keep your socks," Atlas told him. "I could put spiders in them.”

Jay bumped his shoulder against Atlas'. "Go ahead. That'll give me an excuse not to wear them." He wore canvas shoes without socks, even though the evening was cool.

"You laugh now, but they'll crawl into your underwear drawer and start breeding," Atlas said.

"Then I won't wear underwear either," Jay said easily.

He looked over to me. It was his turn to whisper loudly, "He thinks he's good at making threats. You might've noticed, he's pretty shit." He smiled warmly at me and Atlas.

"Only because I wasn't making threats," Atlas said simply. "If I was making an actual threat, it'd be better than that."

"Are you going to give us an example?" I asked. This banter between us was nice. A break from the tension of the last couple of days.

"I would, but I don't want to scare you," Atlas said.

I snorted. "You'd have to try pretty hard to scare me. When it comes to threats, I've probably seen and heard them all."

"You could teach Atlas," Jay said, elbowing the inside centre. "The last time he tried to get to someone, he put confetti in their locker."

"It was their school bag, and I was seven," Atlas said. "I've pulled better pranks than that."

"Name one," Jay said.

Atlas hesitated.

Jay snapped his fingers. "See? You need all the help you can get."

"What about you?" I asked Jay. "What pranks have you pulled?" I'd rather talk about those than actual threats.

"Epic ones." Jay puffed out his chest. "Like the time I put lemon juice in everyone's drinking water."

"Fuck off," Atlas said. "That was you?" He seemed impressed, eyes wider with a hint of awe.

"With a bit of help," Jay admitted. "But it was my idea. We should pull that on Storm. It would be awesome."

I tried to bite back a laugh, but failed. "I shouldn't encourage you, but I'd like to see the expression on his face." Although, that would likely be followed by Storm living up to his name. The aftermath might not be worth the giggle.

"You should definitely encourage us," Atlas said. "Most of the pranks we pull are harmless."

"'Most of them,' he says." I grimaced at him. "What about the ones that aren't?"

"One of the Devils players put itching powder in the coach's shoes right before he was about to put them on," Jay said. "Turned out, he was allergic to it. His feet blew up like balloons and stayed like that for about a week. He was really pissed off and uncomfortable. They could have ended up worse."

"They never found who did it." Atlas gave Jay a sidelong look.

The look Jay gave him back was pure innocence. "They can't prove anything."

"I wouldn't have picked either of you for pranksters," I said.

"Some of the Smashers don't share our sense of humour," Atlas said. "With the animosity on the team, it was better to keep our heads down. Let them get used to us."

"And vice versa," I said. "Now they have, can I look forward to hearing stories about glitter in places glitter shouldn't go."

"Glitter is evil," Jay said, with a mock shudder. "You wouldn't catch me pranking anyone with glitter."

"They wouldn't catch you," I echoed. "That doesn't mean you wouldn't do it." Yeah, I was onto him.

Jay grinned. "If I was to use it, I'd exercise discretion."

"No using it on Dominic King or Otis Skinner," Atlas said. "Unless you and your glitter want a shallow grave."

"Hell no," Jay agreed. "I wouldn't prank Chelsea with it either." He took my hand and held it loosely in his.

"It's nice to know I'm safe from glitter," I said dryly. "What worries me is what not I'm not safe from. You're not going to put thumbtacks on my work chair, are you? Or bring me coffee that has salt instead of sugar? Or put icing on a sponge, pretending it's cake?"

"No, but those are all good ideas," Jay said. "Which one of those have you done?"

"Jay Lang, did you just suggest I'd prank someone? Like, my teachers at school?" I pretended to be outraged.

"You did, didn't you?" Atlas asked, ending the question with a laugh. "I bet you raised hell when you were at school."

"Not really," I said. "I was the one who sat quietly and got my work done. Which is why they never figured out I made the fake cake."

After they both had a good laugh, I added, "That particular teacher was mean. She used to hold the whole class back during lunchtime if one kid did anything wrong. I tried to explain to her that it wasn't fair to punish all of us because one person decided to be a dickhead. She gave me detention, and kept on doing what she was doing."

She was lucky she wasn't around these days, or she could look forward to spending some time with my brother. Which was extreme, even given the way she treated us.

"Sounds like one of my teachers," Jay said ruefully. "He used to get angry at me for being distracted in class. Problem was, I knew the work already and I was bored. Or I didn't understand why we needed to know it. I can focus if I give a shit."

"It sounded like he needed more training," I said. It must be difficult to teach a class full of kids who all had different learning abilities and interests, but no one should be punished for being bored, or if the work wasn't challenging enough.

"Yeah, I guess so." Jay shrugged. "Anyway, Atlas has sidetracked us enough. He was just about to tell us where we're going." He looked over to Atlas, his head tilted sideways.

"No I wasn't," Atlas said. "But you can see it up ahead."

Jay and I both looked.

"Demons' Arena?" I asked. "It's not hockey season yet." Which was a shame, because I would have enjoyed seeing a game with them.

"I know," Atlas said. "Otherwise we'd have seats at the front, right behind the plexiglass. I buy season tickets every year."

"He's slightly obsessed with hockey," Jay said.

"If I wasn't playing footy, I'd be an ice hockey player," Atlas said.

"I'd be a sprinter," Jay said. "Rugby is the only team sport I ever liked. Everything else, I preferred to be an individual."

"No one could accuse you of being anything other than an individual," Atlas said affectionately.

"You too," Jay told him. "So, what are we doing at Demons' Arena? Watching preseason training?"

"Huh." Atlas frowned. "I should have thought of that. Good guess, but no."

"We’re not taking part in an attack like the one that happened five years ago, are we?" I asked carefully.

So many people died in that attack, it was considered a dark time, even by Dusk Bay standards. Just thinking about it gave me chills. I could easily have been there, watching the game. Thankfully, we didn't go that night, but we heard the horror stories afterwards. That was bad enough.

Atlas pointed a finger gun at me. "Also a good idea, but no. We're not attacking anyone. That is to say, an attack isn't on tonight's agenda, but I'm always open to a change of plan. You never know what might happen around here."

"Let's hope that doesn't happen," I said, giving him a well-deserved side eye.

That wasn't my idea of a fun way to spend the evening. Admittedly, I knew plenty of people who would put that at the top of the list. Strangely, my brother wasn't even one of them. The Brantley twins, definitely, but not him. He preferred a more subtle approach, unless there was no other choice. If there wasn't, he'd take part.

"If it does come, we'll be ready," Jay assured me. He squeezed my hand lightly.

In spite of the contact, he didn't make any effort to bring me any closer to him. If he needed his personal space, I was happy to give it to him. I'd wait for him to decide when and if he wanted more.

"It must be nice to have a normal life." I sighed softly.

"I don't know, normal looks boring to me," Atlas said. "Jay and I usually get restless on a night off."

"Yes, but you don't go and attack people or places because you get bored," I said. "On any given night in Dusk Bay, that could happen."

I couldn't help looking over my shoulder. As far as I could tell, no one followed us. I couldn't see anyone lurking in the shadows, ready to make trouble.

Just because I didn't see them, didn't mean they weren't there though. I wouldn't assume. Assuming anything in this town could get you dead.

"We won't let it happen," Atlas assured me. "Come on, let's get inside." He led us over to a small door at the rear of the building and tapped on it.

After a few moments, the door opened.

"I was starting to think you weren't coming." Coast Riggs, the team's strength and conditioning coach, grinned and held out a hand to Atlas. "This must be Chelsea. They've both said a lot about you." He shook Atlas' hand before offering to shake mine.

I noticed he didn't make the same offer to Jay.

"All good," Jay interjected.

My face heated. "I'm sure they exaggerated."

"They often do, but you're as cute as they said you were." Coast gave me a wink and stepped back so we could enter the building. "Atlas said he wanted to teach you how to skate."

"Did he?" I looked at Atlas sidelong.

Atlas grinned. "I did. Coast was nice enough to say we could use the ice for an hour or two."

"That's not how I remember the conversation going," Coast said. "I recall bribery and maybe a threat or two."

"Your memory is failing you, Riggs," Atlas said. "For the record, I offered no bribes or threats."

"This time," Jay said.

"I like to keep my options open," Atlas said, grinning.

"I like to think you're smarter than to actually try to threaten me," Coast said sweetly. He turned to me and added, "Atlas knows how easy it would be for me to make him disappear. Lucky for both of us, he's harmless, for the most part."

He reminded me of Frost. Smiling and friendly on the outside, dangerous as hell on the inside. He was also a valued employee of the Brantley family.

Formerly centre for the Dusk Bay Demons, he retired a couple of years ago, but stuck around to coach and do jobs for his boss on the side. Rumour had it, he once killed a man with his ice skate. I had no idea if that was true or not, but this was Dusk Bay; nothing would surprise me.

Plus, they don't call them knife shoes for nothing.

Atlas rolled his eyes. "That's what I want everyone to think."

Jay patted his bicep. "We really know you're not harmless. Right Chelsea?"

I looked at all of them, opened my mouth, then closed it again. Slowly shook my head and said, "You said something about skating?"

Coast chuckled. "I like this woman. I might have to introduce you to Sinclair, my girlfriend. I think you two would get along." He closed the door behind us and waved us toward a nearby corridor.