AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Game on,” I echo.
“I want in on this,” Steele interjects. “Tomorrow. Before we fly home.”
Knox is going to kill me after the hospital scare.
“Deal,” I agree anyway. “Miles can goaltend.”
“And Knox?”
“Can fuck off.”
They laugh. Even the girls. And I smile, settling back in my chair. The teams have left the ice, their warm-up done, and the game will be starting soon. But now I have a nice, warm feeling in my chest. So maybe Icanmake friends.
Until I look at Willow and bite my lip. “Will you tell me what happened between you two? Or… the three of you, maybe?”
She meets my gaze. Steady, steady, steady. “Of course, Aurora. But it… it’s not pretty. Maybe some things are left unheard.”
“No.” I stare her down. “No, I need to know all of it. The good, bad, ugly. I don’t trust that he’ll be honest about it.”
She nods. Aspen holds her hand.
“Knox and I started dating our junior year. We went from hooking up to something more committed within a few months, and were together for a year.”
I try to control my face. He was with her for ayear?
“I have—had—issues with love. Unbeknownst to me, he was waiting for me to admit it.” Willow frowns. “He was adamant. But he never said it to me. He made me believe he did, but when I told him I loved him… he laughed in my face.”
Ouch.
“It was at a party. Everyone saw my humiliation.”
“There was also the matter of Knox choosing to save his brother over her,” Aspen interjects. “Which we’re still pissed about.”
“He—what?”
Willow takes my hand. “That’s not important. They’re still mad, but I understand his motivation. We were in danger, but there wasn’t a win-win scenario. Someone had to lose, and to Knox, nothing was more important than his brother.”
I understand that, too.
“That’s the gist of it,” Willow finishes. “Kind of a quick story for what felt like a decade of my life.”
I clutch her hand tighter before she can pull away. “Thank you for telling me, Willow.”
She manages a sad smile. “Yeah, well. It’s good to know, so he doesn’t do something similar to you.”
“What, sacrifice me for Miles?” I laugh. “He’d gladly burn me at the stake for no reason at all.”
And I’m pretty surethat’sthe truth.
I spend the majority of the first and second period explaining things to Melody. Like an announcer rapid-firing play-by-plays in her ear, but made a little more digestible to someone new to the sport.
Willow leans forward every time the Titans go on the offensive, circling Miles in the crease like sharks out for blood. Violet sits between Willow and Greyson. Steele and Aspen are on his other side, his arm wrapped around her shoulders.
I have to admit, today the Titans are a new team. They come out swinging, with an aggressiveness I haven’t seen in the past few games. They’ve gotten into a few scuffles, but nothing crazy.
Not until there’s a breakaway play, and Knox charges at his brother.
I lean forward, too, my breath caught in my chest.
