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Reed didn’t seem too bothered by my silence as he slowly approached and carefully placed his jacket over my shoulders. He was moving with the kind of caution you might use around a wild animal. Is that what I was to him right now? Some feral beast he’d encountered out in the snow? I should have told him not to bother with the jacket because I could no longer feel the cold. But I didn’t have it in me to argue.
“So, is there a reason we’re beating up a brand-new 2024 Ford Mustang?”
“We?”
“I mean, I haven’t done anything yet, but I’ve got a couple of hockey sticks in my truck if you want to do some real damage?”
“You’re going to help me beat up a car?”
“It pretty much goes against my religion, but you clearly need the help…”
Given his reputation, it wasn’t all that surprising Reed was so happy to help. A few minutes ago, I might have just let him. But a wave of exhaustion rushed over me as the fiery anger that had fueled my outburst wore off. Now that I no longer felt the hot adrenaline pulsing through me, the cold night air started to seep through Reed’s jacket, and I pulled it closer around me. As much as I hated Jeremy right now, beating up his car wasn’t going to make things any better.
“What happened?” Reed asked as if he could sense the change in me.
I shook my head. I didn’t want to talk about my anger, my frustration, my embarrassment, or any of the many emotions I was currently struggling to sort through. Thankfully, Reed didn’t push me to respond and was patient as he waited for my answer.
I blew out a breath as I looked back at the house. “Let’s just say I’m never dating another hockey player.”
Reed’s expression faltered when I glanced back at him, and a deep furrow lined his brow. “Never sounds very final.”
“I made that mistake once. I won’t do it again.”
I glanced up and down the street but let out a sigh when I remembered I didn’t have my car. Not that it mattered; I was in no state to drive. Mia wasn’t either. She was my best chance at finding a ride though.
I pulled up her number and gave her a call. The phone rang several times before it went to voicemail. I tried Nicole too, but she didn’t answer either. They probably couldn’t hear their phones over all the noise at the party. That’s why Mia had missed my call earlier, and if anything, the music in the house only seemed to be growing louder.
I bit my lip as I tried to figure out what to do. I just wanted to get home, but there was no way I was going back inside the house to find a ride. Reed hadn’t moved, and he was still watching me with concern in his eyes. My head was already all over the place, but I was finding it even harder to think straight when he looked at me that way.
“Can I drive you home?” he asked.
“It’s fine. I’ll get an Uber.” I started to open the app.
“It’s a Saturday night. You’ll be waiting out in the cold for ages.”
“I can handle the cold.” I couldn’t, but he didn’t need to know that. When the app found my closest driver, my heart sank. It was thirty minutes away. That was far too long. Not only would I be waiting out in the cold, there was also a chance Jeremy would come outside, and I wasn’t prepared to face him yet.
“I’m not letting you get an Uber alone,” Reed said. “Any psycho could be picking you up.”
“I heard you’re the resident psycho around here.”
He gave me a smirk, but a flicker of hurt flashed across his eyes. “And what do you think?”
I hesitated. Reed certainly didn’t seem like a psycho to me, but I was hearing more and more concerning rumors about him, and there was no smoke without fire. Right now, I was too cold and exhausted to care. I let out a sigh. “I think I’d like a ride home.”
“You got it.”
He didn’t start to his car straightaway though. Instead, he glanced back at the party with a grimace as the two massive guys I’d seen him with earlier marched out the front gate.
“I should probably apologize in advance,” he said.
“Why?”
“Because my brothers will be coming too…”
5
VIOLET
