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If she’ll yell or make threats. If maybe this time she’ll agree and leave me alone for good.
Instead, she hangs up without a word.
23
Liam
Idon’t go inside when I get home. Stormy’s still at work, so it’s not like I’m avoiding her. It’s just that call with Jess fucked me up. Got under my skin and into my head, and I hate the feel of it. I don’t want to bring that poison into our home. But it’s right there, the tainted memories rushing at me.
The hotel in Atlanta. The coincidence that was no coincidence at all. The invitation I should have passed up. And a week later… the blindside that left me sick with shame and desperate to leave my mistake behind.
So, I sit in the truck, parked with the engine off, my hands gripping the wheel as I tell myself to shake it off. To focus on the good. On Stormy. To put Jess and my father and everything about that fucked-up situation into a locked safe and bury it in the very darkest corner of my mind.
Eventually, I get it together enough to go upstairs.
My life has changed so much with Stormy in it. She’s opened my heart and broken down my walls. She’s made me feel like I’m actually living. That’s what I need to think about.
So I search out the signs of her in this space we share, the evidence that I’m not alone.
Her mug from this morning. The wood-carved hockey player miniature that showed up on a shelf one day. The envelope with her tickets for tonight’s game. Each reminder calming me more.
It’s game night, and I need to rest.
My alarm sounds when it’s time to start the pre-game routine. I sit up, rubbing my eyes, and reach for my phone.
Skimming the notifications, I see the new text from Jess.
Every part of me rebels as I read her toxic message, once. Twice. Half a dozen times.
Until the realization sets in, no matter how fucking deep I try to bury this ugly past, it’s just going to keep crawling out.
* * *
Stormy
It’s a close game.Liam scores on a breakaway in the second period, but it’s not enough to pull ahead. By the third, it’s getting messy, and he ends up in the box twice, though everyone around us says that first one was a bad call.
We’re down by two when the final buzzer sounds. Misty and I start filing in with the crowd, making our way toward the concourse where the locker rooms are located. We’re just clearing security when I get the text from Liam.
“What’s up?” Misty stops beside me, but she keeps pushing to her toes, stretching to see down the hall. Looking for Noel.
“Liam says he’s going to be a while and I should ride back with you guys. If that’s okay?”
“Oh, yeah. Of course— oh, there’s Noel.” Her whole face lights up as she pulls me along.
* * *
“I toldyou not to wait up,” Liam says when he walks in a few hours later.
“I didn’t mind.” I unfold from the couch, going to him the way that’s become habit over the last month, win or lose. “Wanted to see you.”
He wraps his arm around me, pulling me into his side a little stiffly. I almost ask if he’s hurt, but then he wraps me in both arms, holding me so tightly, there’s almost a desperation to it.
I peer up at him. “Hey, are you—”
“Tired,” he volunteers shortly, already stepping away.
I follow him back to our room where he starts stripping off his suit.
