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I hated yellow jackets.
Mostly, I really fucking hated that when I’d peeked into Wy’s room again, he still wasn’t home, but neither was anyone else. He was probably still at the hospital, which was exactly where I planned to go as soon as it was late enough that I could call Boss and beg him for a ride. I’d gone outside to check, and Elissa’s car was in the driveway, but I had no idea where she kept her keys. Stupid as it sounded, I didn’t want to irritate Dad by taking one of his cars without permission. Sighing, I sipped the bitter coffee and closed my eyes.
The front door opened, and since the house was so quiet the sound seemed to echo. I sat up and my shoulders tensed because if it was Elissa along with Dad she would be talking, and Wy was probably stuck at the hospital for now, so that only left one person. I let out a long breath. Dad would be in a shitty mood with Wy injured and me still sitting out. I ran a hand over my face.
“Is that coffee I smell?” Dad called.
Sighing, I tried to gauge his tone. It didn’t sound too bad. “Yeah,” I yelled back.
Dad walked into the kitchen, and I wasn’t exactly shocked when he stopped to cross his arms and glare at me. What had I done wrong now? I slurped my coffee and attempted to ignore him, but there wasn’t any way to do that—not really.
The tension built between us. I pretended not to notice and drank my coffee.
“Is Wy okay?” I finally asked. I couldn’t stand the silence dragging out between us anymore.
He walked over until he was standing near the table, and I began to feel hemmed in, so I stood up and took my coffee with me over to the counter. I leaned against the edge and watched him.
“What did you do?” he asked. Dad’s tone was cold but not furious—yet. His mouth pursed and he stared at me as if he was seriously trying to figure me out. There were times I thought I confused him, and maybe half of our problems were that we were too different. Maybe it was just the fact that I’d actually seen him enraged at me recently, but I wasn’t scared right now. I set my mug down on the counter, trying to mentally prepare for anything.
“What do you mean?” I bit the inside of my bottom lip.
“I know you wanted Elissa and Wystan out of here, but this was a low way to do that.” His nostrils flared and he shook his head. He almost looked hurt. “Did you think it would make me kick her out?”
Unease ate at me and I crossed my arms. “Are you talking about Wy’s injury? I had nothing to do with that! I was on the bench.”
Dad rolled his eyes and went over to the coffee maker. He said nothing while he poured himself a mug, but my face burned when he glanced at me because he was clearly pissed off aboutsomething. I was so tired of the twenty questions and accusations whenever anything went wrong. My heart hammered out a rhythm that was faster than blades cutting across ice, and I rubbed my hand over my chest.
“Since when do you fuck guys?” he asked, holding his mug in front of himself. He looked at his hand like he didn’t know how the coffee had gotten there.
My vision grayed out a bit and I stared at him until I was able to drag a deep breath into my lungs. “Who told you?”
We glared at each other for a while, and the prolonged silence played hell on my nerves. I was feeling all my emotions in capital letters right now because of the meds I was on, and I really didn’t fucking need this.
“It doesn’t matter how I know. I do. And I know you fucked Wystan. There is no way he instigated this bullshit. That kid has drive, but he isn’t that sort of person. I repeat—what the fuck were you thinking?”
My brain shut down, and all I could focus on was the fact that he wasn’t shouting. Even though this was a living nightmare, that was nice. Yelling hurt my ears. I felt trapped, despite the fact that Dad was probably about ten feet from me. I could leave out the back door if I wanted or go around him. None of that felt truly possible.
His face contorted into something awful, nearly unrecognizable. “Were you hoping to chase off Elissa?”
Anger pelted through me. This couldn’t be because I liked someone. Because I wanted someone. Because Ineededsomeone. Right, I was the person who tried to mess everything up. I shook my head. I couldn’t form words. My hands squeezed into fists.
Dad sipped his coffee, then swore and slammed the mug down on the counter. The coffee sloshed everywhere, but he spun toward me, not paying attention to the mess. “You can’t do this. You have a hockey career,” he roared.
I wanted to laugh because I’d sat on the bench yesterday. “I didn’t tell anyone!”
He growled and gestured at me with both hands as if he wanted to choke me. “Do you want a team to consider you?”
I rolled my eyes. “Declan Greenwood-North on the Blizzards is out with two guys. No one really gave a fuck.”
Dad pointed at me. “At your age he’d already been drafted. That’s so typical. You think you’re going to be the exception to every rule.”
“No, that’s you, Dad.”
He bared his teeth. “Greenwood and the men who fuck him are a clickbait story. Plus, he was established in the league before he tried to ruin his own life.”
It took me a few seconds for my head to stop spinning so I could think about what I wanted to say, and finally, everything fell into place for me. “You don’t care as much about Elissa being mad and leaving as the hockey?” I raised both eyebrows at him. “Wow.”
Pink spread over Dad’s face, and he hung his head. “I.... No! Don’t put words in my mouth.”
