No way.She’s not that stupid, is she? She’s too smart to be doing that shit.
My grip tightens on my stick. Drugs are a slippery slope, and so is having relationships with people who use drugs. It’s a never-ending nightmare. Even if you never dip your toe into their world, you now love somebody with an addiction and that is a different kind of nightmare I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.
To keep going back to someone whodealsdrugs? Dealers are the scum of the earth. They know what they’re doing. They know they’re the slow killers and part of the overall problem with this epidemic. What does she see in somebody who intentionally poisons people and helps them get addicted to shit that they’ll never be able to quit?
A woman of such high caliber and a low-gradedrug dealer?What the ever-loving fuck is going on?
I meet Declan’s knowing stare. My back goes stiff when drugs come up in conversation, and despite my many attempts to stop reacting to this shit—my discomfort is always all over me like abad smell. Forker speaks before he thinks sometimes, but this isn’t one of those cases. He doesn’t have to completely censor himself around me. My parents are addicts, it is what it is. His sister dates drug dealers. It is what it fucking is.
“She cut him off?” I ask.
“She says so,” he says, pulling off his helmet. He runs a towel over his glistening face and neck. “Who knows, though. He always seems to crash his way back into her life. I’m hoping the last time was the final time. But then again, the devil you know is often better than the devil you don’t. There are tons more Jareds out there.”
I stare at him, the gears turning in my head.
So…what? It’s okay that she keeps dating a piece of shit because the next guy might be worse? What kind of logic is that? I open my mouth, but my eyes cut to Lowesy, who gives a subtle shake of his head.
Not up for discussion.
Drop it.
Fine.
“Okay, back to it.” Forker sighs, taking one more sip of water before glancing at me. I smack my helmet onto my head. “I know Waters went home, but is Took in town? We need a goalie.”
“I asked Reno and Cole about coming by next week, too,” I say as I stand. Dec pushes the door open for me and I hop onto the ice. “I feel like slapping Rossi into the boards a few times before he heads home for the summer. Feels like a good way to blow off some steam.”
Lowesy tilts his head back and laughs.
“We should ask Saltzy, too,” Fork says, gliding to center ice. Yes, we should. After our chat at Lowesy’s, I’ve made a mental note to include him more. Even when I know he might not accept my invitation. I’m going to put in an effort. I don’t want him feeling like he’s got nobody.
Dec pauses, slowly tossing a puck back and forth with his stick.
“What?”
He glances over at me. “I know a good defenseman that might have a hell of a time joining these practices.”
I cock a brow. “Caulfield?”
Dec smirks, hazel eyes flaring with a new sense of excitement. “You want to see raw, natural talent? Wyatt reeks of it. It’s disgusting.”
“Never thought about going pro?”
“Wasn’t interested,” Lowesy says, pulling some pucks back to center ice, “but I think he’d enjoy shooting the shit with us on professional ice.”
“Invite him,” Forker says. “Let’s see what he’s made of.”
And for some reason, even as we start our drills and get back to hockey, my mind whirls to the remarkable woman who wears her smile like armour. Who refuses to do anything but blind the whole world with her brightness.
Yet, she’s dating scumbags, as if that’s the lot she deserves in life.
And for a moment, I wonder if there’s more going on with her that Forker is unaware of. If there are reasons beyond her job that brought Ariana to his doorstep. That if the golden girl is hiding beyond the light she emits, the aura that disorients the rest of us.
And the feeling I get in my chest is something I can’t explain. I cut worrying off, remember? I try not to do that anymore.
And yet…
Kane
