Page 95 of Hot As Ice

“Don’t act dumb, asshole,” Ryder says from behind me.

“What do you want?” Wyatt asks.

I tap my fingers on the table. “Where’d you get the tip?”

“I don’t reveal my sources.”

I roll my eyes. Behind me, Jamie snickers.

“Dude, this isn’t the fucking New York Times,” Ryder interjects. “Get over yourself.”

“Tell me, or I’m gonna make you fucking sorry,” I say, staring him down.

He shifts in his seat. “You can’t threaten me.”

“Are you gonna run and tell mommy?” Ryder says.

A blush creeps up Wyatt’s neck. “You can’t just come in here and try to intimidate me. I don’t care if you’re on the stupid hockey team.”

“And you can’t fucking print whatever you want about people and ruin their reputations, asshole,” I say through gritted teeth. It’s taking all my willpower not to slam his head into the fucking table. I keep seeing Stevie’s tearstained face in front of me and it’s making me homicidal. I reach out and grab Wyatt by the collar of his sweater and pull him across the table. He gulps. “Tell me where you got the tip or I’m knocking all your teeth out.”

“It was fucking anonymous!” he says, face getting red.

“Don’t raise your voice at me.”

He has the grace to look ashamed for a second. “We have a section on the website where people can write in. People send in tips all the time.”

I release him and he flops back down into his seat, adjusting the collar of his sweater.

“Do you log the IP addresses of the senders?” Jamie asks.

Wyatt looks at him warily. “Y-yes.”

“Great,” Jamie says. “So you’ll give my friend the IP address of whoever sent the tip.”

Wyatt glares at us. “I can’t do that.”

“You can and you will,” I say. “I’ll give you until the end of the day.” I get up and push the chair back. “Don’t disappoint me, Wyatt.”

He looks back at his laptop screen, brow furrowed, but I can tell he’s gonna break.

We leave the library. My nerves are shot, but I’m glad I could get some of my frustration out by confronting that moron. I’m desperate to talk to Stevie, but I’m guessing she could use some space right now. I’ll text her tomorrow and hope she’ll hear me out.

I don’t know what else to do.

thirty

stevie

I AM NOT weak.

I am not helpless.

I can take care of myself.

I’ve just let these limiting beliefs crowd my head for too long, and it’s time I combat them. I can admit it was easier to brush everything under the rug. It usually is. It’s human nature to pretend like if we just ignore something, it will magically go away.

I get it. I can’t even be too mad at myself about it.