Page 158 of Breakaway Hearts

Chapter Seventy-One

Owen

Made everything worse

“Dude, what the fuck happened?”

Colt asks as soon as Coach lets me out of his office, which I think is more because of whoever called him than because he was done with his interrogation. My four housemates are the only ones left in the locker room.

“He was talking shit about Madison,” I tell a very limited version of the truth while texting her.

Me

Are you okay?

Just got out.

Where are you? Can I see you?

Etiquette be damned.

I can see the guys want to follow that up, to ask how bad it must have been to cause that much of a reaction, but I’m pretty sure each of them would have hit Milligan if they heard him disrespect her. If they knew what he did, then at the very least, they’d help me bury the body.

“How’s the kid?” I ask Mike, who has his phone out.

“Devon Pruitt,” Dave fills me in. “Ben says they’re hoping it isn’t broken but he left on crutches.”

“That’s who got hurt?” I feel sick to my stomach.

“You know him?” Donovan asks.

“His dad owns the firm Madison wants to intern for.” I sigh. “Fuck, I hope she didn’t tell him we were together.”

“Would you bring her up in a job interview?” Dave raises an eyebrow.

“The guy loves hockey,” I explain. “He corners me at every one of Haylie’s Charity Galas, and Madison was pissed because as soon as he found out Jason was her roommate all he wanted to talk about was our team.”

“I don’t think Maddie is the type to use your name for points.” Mike assures me.

“Don’t think it matters though.” Colt is staring at his phone and shaking his head. The more he scrolls, the more upset he gets.

“What is it?” I ask.

He reluctantly turns his phone around and shows me videos of what happened.

“Did Owen Brooks just beat up another player for sleeping with his girlfriend?” I read the text.

“They don’t all mention her by name, but gossip sites have the video,” Donovan warns me.

“School gossip sites, or…”

“Everywhere.” He sighs.

“Fuck. I just made everything worse.”

“Punching people rarely makes you have less problems,” Mike points out, making me want to punch him.

I’m used to my name unlocking doors and creating opportunities for people. Now I’m responsible for injuring Maddie’s potential boss’ kid, and people will dig into that fight to figure out what happened. The cheating angle is an unfounded guess for tonight, but it shouldn’t be too hard for a decent reporter to figure out I’m currently dating the same girl Trevor was hanging out with in high school.