Page 46 of Cheap Shot

“I guess, unless there were other people that called and reported it.”

That gave me a tiny bit of hope. “I guess I could give them his name and let them investigate. I don’t want to be directly involved though.”

“Okay.” He dropped his eyes to the carpet but didn’t ask why. “I know I have no right to ask this of you. I’m not your brother. I’m barely even your friend. But please don’t go back to that house. That place has a horrible reputation for a reason. Stuff like this happens all the time, and the guys there just let it happen. I know you were with friends, you were drinking water, you were doing everything right. It shouldn’t have happened. It’s not fair. But I’ve heard too many stories of things that happen there. Not to say every other party is safe, but …” He trailed off.

I crossed my arms, biting back my initial response. He was right. He wasn’t my brother or close friend. He shouldn’t tell me what to do or where I could go, but I could feel his concern. He was telling me because he cared. He proved that by coming to get me last night. He took care of me and even listened to my wishes about the hospital. I wasn’t so immature or deviant that I would ignore his advice again.

“I shouldn’t have gone last night. I didn’t know where it was until we were walking up. I considered going back to the dorms, but I assumed I would be okay if I stuck with my friends.” I sucked in a breath and let it out slowly. “I won’t go back. I promise.”

He met my gaze and gave me the smallest smile. “Thanks.”

Did the girls know where I was? Were they worried? I couldn’t remember if I said anything to them before going upstairs. Hopefully, they weren’t panicking.

“Do you want me to walk you back to your dorm?” he offered.

It was kind of nice being in here with him. I felt safe, but there really wasn’t a reason to hang out and he probably had things to do.

“Sure, thanks.” I looked around for my shoes while he moved to his closet.

“I’ve got the number for the security line, too, if you want it.”

“Okay.” I found the platform sneakers I borrowed from Sadie and started to untie one.

The doorknob made a scraping noise as it turned. I turned to Reid at the same time he looked to me, a second before Ethan came barreling inside.

“What’s going on?” he yelled, looking worn out and ruffled with messy hair and wrinkly clothes.

“Where have you been?” I asked, eyeing him.

He stared at me, and his shoulders dropped. “Haley. You’re okay.”

I nodded then looked at Reid. That got his attention to shift to his best friend. “What did you do?”

Ethan shoved Reid hard into the open closet, causing Reid to fall into the clothes before sliding down. “What’s your problem?”

Ethan pointed at me. “What happened to her? Why does she look like she’s been through hell?”

He thought Reid had hurt me? What was he talking about? He had no idea what had been going on. He’d been ignoring my texts and calls. Blowing off his friends. He was the one that went missing and suddenly reappeared with his fists flying.

For the first time ever, I was worried about my brother.

Chapter 16

Reid

What was wrong with him?

Was he on drugs? Steroids?

In my three years of knowing him, Ethan had never acted like this. He was the last to start a fight, off the ice at least. Plus, he was the one that up and disappeared when everyone needed him. I finally snapped while trying to pull myself up out of my clothes.

“Me? What about you? Where have you been? You disappeared and didn’t answer when everyone was calling you. Now you’re here shouting accusations when you look like you were doing something that’s definitely going to get you in trouble with Coach.”

Ethan rubbed his face and dropped back against the opposite wall. “Haley, you’re okay?”

She nodded but stopped when she leaned forward and saw his eyes were closed. “Yes, I’m fine.”

“But you’re not,” I bit out. “What is wrong with you?”