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“Honey, are you getting up?” My mom typed away on her phone, answering work emails despite it being after hours.
“No, I wasn’t going to.”
“Can you grab a bottle of water? I need to take some Tylenol,” she asked me.
Of course, I couldn’t refuse that. My mom often found that the games gave her a headache after a busy day at the real estate office she worked in. I nodded and stood reluctantly. Eve was working at the diner tonight, so I was alone. Where the hell I’d gotten the courage to wear Josh’s jersey here, alone, I had no idea, but I suspected it stemmed from the anger that’d been brewing inside me all weekend.
Cayden had twisted me inside out with his touch in Beckett’s room. I’d felt all sorts of things toward him in that moment; weak, soft, forgiving things. Then, it turned out he’d been manipulating the entire thing. I was furious, resentful, and yes, maybe a little hurt. Here I was, my feelings latching on to the guy who was terrorizing me, and he was just playing with my emotions, and my body, too, whenever he felt like it.
My mind had rationalized that since Cayden was only toying with me, he shouldn’t care whose jersey I wore. By the look on his face and the way he’d gone after Josh in the game, I quickly realized I was wrong. For some reason, it bothered him. I had to apologize to Josh. The poor guy hadn’t done anything wrong, and he was going to be bruised for days because of me.
I grabbed my mom’s water bottle from the vending machine outside the rink and headed back in the direction of our seats. Passing by the women’s bathroom, I ducked inside. I was physically incapable of passing a toilet without needing to go.
There were a few other people inside, and one or two cast curious glances at my jersey as I headed for a stall. Great, in my quest to rebel against Cayden, I’d made everyone suspect that I was dating Josh.Really bright idea, Lily. Brava.
I’d just finished up when the commotion started outside the stall.
“Excuse me! This is the ladies’ room!” someone screeched.
“I don’t care. Get out now.” Cayden’s voice was furious, a deep, scoring line of fury that seemed to lead right to me.
There was slamming of doors and the sounds of mutters and whispers, then the main door banged shut, and we were alone.
I stood in the stall, frozen with tension, listening for the slightest sound.
“Come on out, Lillian, unless you want to be responsible for this door getting broken.”
His voice came from just outside my stall. My breath caught, and my heart pounded, sweat slicking my palms.Fucking hell.Why had I antagonized him?
A sudden bang on the door shook the entire row of stalls… Crap. He wasn’t joking.
“Fine, I’m coming out, no need to break things like a neanderthal,” I muttered, sliding open the lock.
I only just managed to step back when the door banged open, and Cayden invaded the tiny space. He didn’t let me out; he was coming in. He nearly didn’t fit with all his padding on. He took up the entire space, and all I could do was look up at him as he crowded me back against the wall.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he demanded.
“I might ask you the same thing. Don’t you have a game to play? Coach won’t like the fact that you’re out here during intermission.” Trying to get him worried about the game was weak at best, but I had no other defenses right now. “Also, attempting to start fights on your own team is frowned upon, too, which I’m sure you know.”
“Meaning?” Cayden’s furious face was only inches from mine, his eyes burrowing deep like hooks, trying their best to tear into me.
“Meaning leave Josh alone, he doesn’t deserve to be crushed by you.”
Cayden laughed, and it felt dangerous. “You want to be careful about defending that guy to me right now.”
“Why?”
“Because I might decide that there is actually something going on between you, instead of you just trying to piss me off, and that wouldn’t be good for Josh.”
“Why? What are you going to do to him? You can’t fight with him, you’ll get kicked off the team!”
“I won’t bother fighting with him. He’ll just have an accident…and if he’s lucky, losing the ability to play will be the only thing that happens to him, and not something far worse.”
He looked stone-cold serious while he threatened Josh’s safety so casually. It was scary as hell.
“Cayden, be serious, you can’t—” I started, my heart all but in my throat.
“I can do whatever I want. Ihavedone whatever I want, and breaking someone’s leg would be the least of it. Don’t test me, Lily. You don’t know what I’m capable of, and you don’t want to know,” he said quietly, leaning close to me. “After what we shared the other night, you turning around and bringing someone between us won’t be tolerated, do you understand? Since you don’t seem to care that I could leak your journal, then think of Josh’s safety and don’t risk it.”
