He turned and started toward the door when I called out to him.
“Hey! I believe you owe this young man a dollar.”
“Yes. Yes, sir.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and pulled out a five-dollar bill. “This is all I have.”
I crossed my arms over my chest, flexing just a little bit. “And your point is?”
“Here. Sorry, kid.” He shoved the money into Matthew’s hand and quickly bolted for the door.
Matthew looked up at me and his chin trembled.
“Hey, hey… it’s okay.” I knelt down in front of him and put my hands on his shoulders, looking him straight in the eyes. “You did good, Matthew. Always do that, okay? If anyone picks on you, you defend yourself. Don’t let them treat you like that, okay?”
He stared down at the ground and swallowed, and I couldn’t help the urge I had to hug that kid. I thought I might explode if I didn’t, but I didn’t want to freak him out.
“Matthew, is it okay if I hug you?”
The words were barely out of my mouth when he threw himself into my chest and squeezed. I cupped his little head in my hands and pulled him even tighter against me.
It was my job on the ice to protect my teammates, but other than them and Gam, there weren’t too many other people I cared about in the world, let alone felt the need to protect—until that moment.
“HEY!” MICHELLE SPUN around in the kitchen as she heard us come through the door.
“I hope it’s okay that I didn’t knock. It was open.” I pointed back toward the front of the house.
“No problem at all.” She waved a dish towel toward me and then flipped it over her shoulder. “How did it go? How was storytime?”
Matthew tucked his hands under his armpits and flapped his wings as he walked around the kitchen. “It was awesome. Viper danced like a duck!”
“Viper danced?” She turned her head toward me slowly, a playful gleam in her eyes.
“Viper did.” I nodded proudly. “I figured if he was willing to do it, why the heck shouldn’t I?”
She laughed. “I’m impressed. What else happened?”
Matthew stood up from his duck position and put his hands on his hips. “There were big boys in the arcade who were mean.”
She pulled her brows in tight, looking from Matthew to me. “What’s he talking about?”
“That big boy took the game I was playing,” Matthew continued, “but Viper pulled him out of the seat and told him to give me money.”
Michelle’s eyes were full of panic as they flashed from Matthew’s over to mine. “What is he talking about?”
I held my hands out in front of me. “Wait, I promise it’s not as bad as it sounds. Let me explain.”
She cocked her hip to the side and crossed her arms, staring me square in the face. Quite intimidating, actually.
“So we went to storytime and danced like ducks, then I took him to Cowboy Phil’s, that place I told you about?” I paused so she could add something, an mmhmm, a yep, a nod of the head, anything to let me know she didn’t want to rip my face off right then.
Crickets.
“Anyway, we ordered our food, and while we were waiting for it to get there, we went to the arcade to donate some quarters to the place. I was playing pinball and he was playing a driving game. Before I knew it, some punk-ass teenagers took his game, so… I very politely asked them to get up and give Matthew his game back. At first, the kid wasn’t exactly willing, but once he stood up and turned around, he changed his tune very quickly.”
Chewing on her bottom lip, she narrowed her eyes and shifted them over to Matthew and back to me again. “What was he talking about when he said they paid him?”
“Oh. That.” I shrugged. “Well, as he was rushing out of the room, I reminded them that they owed the young man money.”
Matthew reached into his pocket and pulled the money out, proudly showing it off to his mom. “I got five bucks, Mom!”
“The game was five dollars? What kind of an arcade was this?” she asked.
“Well, no. The game was one dollar, but all he had was a five, so we’ll just consider the other four punitive damages.” I grinned at her.
“And Mom, Viper only said ‘tit’ one time, so don’t be mad,” Matthew added.
Michelle glared at me and inhaled deeply as her nostrils flared like an angry bull’s.
“I swear it made sense during my bully beatdown,” I defended.
She slapped her hand over her eyes and shook her head just as I reached over and high-fived Matthew and Maura started making noise through the monitor.
Michelle looked up at Matthew and winked. “Someone must have sensed her big brother was home and now she wants to get up to play.” She kissed the top of Matthew’s head and started out of the kitchen. “Be right back.”