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“Yeah, well, I don’t feel anything for you. It’s over, Thea. Whatever we had? It’s done. You know, the thing is, if you were just messing around with me, I could probably handle it. Take it on the chin and move on. But you brought my family into it. My niece, who’s innocent in all of this. You’ve put her in danger. My sister is living in fear of Lacey being taken away from her. And that? That is unforgivable. I told you before you had the power to destroy me. Well congratulations, you’ve succeeded. You’ve obliterated me. You and him? You deserve each other.”
Kyler’s words attack me like a predator kills his prey. Over and over, they peck and damage and pierce and hurt until I succumb to the pain. My chest tightens and my limbs tremble as I take deep, calming breaths to try and ease the caustic affect his words have had on me. The tears roll down my face and my attempts to hold back the heaving sob at the back of my throat fail.
“Please, Ky, please? Just give me a chance to fix this. To prove to you the Nelsons did all this by themselves. I swear to you, I didn’t know anything about it. I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you or your family.”
“No, Thea. There are no chances.” Ky looks at me again, and the coldness in his eyes have a finality about his decision. He turns and walks toward the stairs, stopping at the bottom to deliver the last devastating blow.
“You don’t have to worry about tiptoeing around me for the sake of the others; I’ll stay out of your way. I’m not your problem anymore.”
With his last words, the realization I’ve lost him comes crashing down around me.
twenty-eight
Kyler
The couch at my mother’s is fucking uncomfortable, and the food sucks. I miss my bed, my house, my damn teammates, and unfortunately, I miss Thea. I miss her smile, the food, the sex. But mostly, I just miss being in her presence. I never thought my cold, dark heart could break, but it has, and I don’t know what pain is worse: the pain my face feels, or the ache in my chest.
The front door opens and Lacey rushes toward me, barely dropping her backpack before she’s checking me over. Since my incident—as she calls it—Lacey is determined she will be a doctor instead of a hockey player. Honestly, I’m sad because having another Rose on skates would be badass.
Lacey looks me over. Her touch is soft, and she moves my head from right to left. “Does this hurt?” she asks.
“No,” I tell her truthfully.
She reaches for her school bag and pulls it onto the couch, unzipping it and removing a notebook. I try not to laugh when she uncaps a pen and starts writing. “Did you take a nap?”
“Yes.”
“What time?”
“I think after lunch?”
“Okay, good.”
Lacey writes this down.
“Did you play video games?”
“No, my doctor said I needed to rest.”
“Yes, I did,” she mutters as she scribbles on her notepad. “Did you take all your medicine?”
“Yes.”
She sets her pad aside. “I’ll be right back. Don’t move.”
Don’t worry, kid.
When she comes back, she has packages of gauze and medical tape. We already made a deal she could play doctor but bandaging me up was out of the question for many reasons. One, she doesn’t need to see how gruesome some of my injuries are. Two, I don’t need her to accidentally pull my stitches out. And three, while she may be gentle, every part of my body aches and I don’t want to be touched right now. The agreement we came to was she can tape up my arm—literally the one part of my body which isn’t bruised.
I hold my arm out and let her add the bandage and gauze. The tape is a bit tight, but I don’t tell her. It’s something I can fix when she’s not around. No need to hurt her feelings when all she’s doing is trying to take care of me.
“There,” she says. “All your ouchies are getting better.”
They are, except for one.
“Do you think Thea can come over?” Lacey asks as she sits next to me. “Maybe we can go ice skating.”
“Thea has school, and I can’t skate right now.”
