Off the Ice (Penalty Kill 2)

“Hey, son. How was your flight?” he answers.

“It was good. We’re headed to the hotel now.”

“Okay. Be careful down there and have fun.”

“We will, Pops. Call me if you need me, okay?” I’m trying my best not to worry too much about being gone for a week at a place nowhere near home.

Pops chuckles. “You’re not much of a help in South Carolina, Levi. I’ll be fine, though. Don’t worry. Just have fun and relax.”

“Alright,” I grumble because I didn’t need him to tell me how helpless I am right now.

“And Levi?”

“Yeah, Pops?”

“Don’t call me for at least two days.”

I fake a laugh

. “Okay. Love ya, Pops.”

“Love you too, son.”

I stare at my phone for a second and when I look up to see Smarty watching me, I say, “Don’t even start.” The last thing I want to hear right now is that she agrees with him. Pops will be fine. He has neighbors, so it’s not like he’s in the middle of nowhere. Unless he goes to the land… No, he’s healthy, and he can handle himself.

“After we get checked in, is everyone up for something to eat?” McCarthy asks from the front.

“Yeah,” the rest of us say.

We get checked in, dropping our bags off in our rooms. Walking up behind Presley, who is putting her hair up in a ponytail, I grab her hips to bring her against me. I kiss her shoulder softly and say, “I can’t call my dad every day, but you can call him when he won’t let me.” I rest my chin on her shoulder, and she gives me a small smile.

“He’ll be fine, Levi,” she says.

“I know, but I want to be sure, you know?”

Presley leans into me, resting her hands over mine. “I love that you worry about him.”

There’s a pounding on the door and then McCarthy says, “We’re about to leave your asses! Let’s go.”

Presley steps away from me and I have no choice but to follow her. I smirk at McCarthy, “We were just trying to have a little fun.” He glares when I wink at him. Smarty slaps my arm and denies what I said.

We eat along the boardwalk and afterwards, Marley and Presley leave McCarthy and me behind to shop at these little stores along the way. After an hour of their shopping, Trev decides he’s tired of following them around. We sit at a bench to wait for the girls.

“Hey, I don’t know what you might have planned for Pres’ birthday, but the team wants to throw us a party again this year when we get back. I figured since her birthday is while we’re here, you would do something then and she wouldn’t have an excuse not to go to the party.”

The twins’ birthday is this upcoming Thursday, the 27th, and also the last full day we are here. I worried about how I would make her birthday just as good as Valentine’s Day. I don’t want to repeat that so I have to think of something new. But back to what Trevor said, I’m not thrilled about spending time around more JWU players. “Okay, cool. Does she know about the party?”

“Not yet. Just found out about it today. I’ll tell her tomorrow. She shouldn’t throw a fit about going either. A party every now and then doesn’t bother her. It’s just the constant partying she doesn’t like. Plus, she had fun at last year’s birthday party they threw for us.”

“Levi!” Presley’s excited voice comes from my right, and I turn to watch her walk up to me. My eyebrows rise at the bags she’s carrying and then higher when she sits sideways in my lap. “Guess what I just realized?”

“What’s that?”

“I’m older than you,” she grins.

“A few months hardly counts as older. Are you finally done shopping?”

“It counts for me and I think that I should have some sort of leverage because of it.”