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“Danny and I both played in the USHL our senior year of high school. Things were going really well, I’d been drafted by Dallas, and had plans to attend University of Ohio, then our parents died.”
Eva leaned into me, resting her head on my chest, as we slowly circled the rink.
“Danny didn’t take it well. He spiraled, making one bad decision after another while I was trying to deal with lawyers and estate shit. Our team made the championship, and before the game, he came running up to me, begging me for help. Apparently, he’d been fucking around with this girl, and she was threatening to cause problems at the game. Danny’s never been good with the aftermath of hookups. I’d been randomly selected for a drug test, but he offered to pee in a cup for me if I got this girl off his back.”
When I paused, she lifted her head, her brow furrowed. “He failed the drug test?”
I nodded. “I could have told them the truth, but I still would have been in deep shit for cheating the test. Danny didn’t know until our coach announced I’d been disqualified from the game. Ohio found out and revoked my scholarship. Luckily, Dallas still wanted me, and the coach there had an in at TU. Danny came with me to Texas.”
“Why would he volunteer knowing he was going to fail?”
“He didn’t know he was going to fail. The drugs were supposed to be out of his system, or so he thought. It’s never been the same between us. I lost my parents, but I feel like I lost my brother too. I miss him. Most of the time. I like TU though, even if Danny resents me for moving across the country.”
“I’m glad you’re here,” she said quietly.
We circled the rink again, and the warmth in my chest grew. The events around the championship game had changed the course of my life. I hadn’t admitted to anyone else—not even myself—how much I regretted the split in my relationship with Danny. We’d both fucked up, but we were here.
With Eva’s breath soft against my neck, I couldn’t find it in me to regret anything else.
Eva, though, had reached her limit. “I need a drink,” she announced before veering off to the door.
Stephen had warned me breaking down her walls wouldn’t be easy, and I’d gotten farther than I’d expected before she pulled back. He’d also said not to let her retreat too far. I followed her and dug through my bag while she frowned down the tunnel.
“Here.” I handed her a full water bottle and watched her take a long swig. “I met your friend, Stephen, at the football game.”
Her brows rose. “That must have been interesting. He didn’t tell me you were there.”
“He told me to ask about Kayleigh.” The request still felt strange because I had no context for it, but the way Eva’s eyes narrowed told me Stephen was probably going to regret interfering.
“Do you remember a drunk cheerleader coming into Wildcat a couple of years ago?”
I didn’t have to search my memory too hard to bring up an image of a short brunette in a cheer uniform. “Yes…” I wasn’tsure where she was going with this, but I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like the direction.
“Why did you send her away then call the cops on her?”
I frowned. “I didn’t send her away. Wildcat policy said we couldn’t serve visibly drunk patrons. When I refused to give her coffee, she got belligerent and stormed out.”
“And the cops?”
I ran a hand through my hair, remembering the punch of panic when I’d realized she was getting into a car. “She couldn’t even walk straight. I didn’t consider she might have driven there until she’d already pulled out into traffic. So I called the police.”
Eva’s lips pressed together, and she looked away. “Her name is Kayleigh, and she was on my squad. They arrested her. She lost her scholarship and her spot on the team.”
The reality of her dislike suddenly became very clear. “You thought I sent her into a trap? I know your first instinct is to protect the people around you, but that girl could have killed someone.”
Eva stared down at her hands wrapped around the water bottle. “I believed you could have kept her there and called one of her friends or her coach to come get her.”
I shook my head, stunned. “That’swhy you’ve hated me for the last two years?”
“It seemed like a good reason at the time. Kayleigh asked me to let it go, so I spent the next two years avoiding you and trying not to think about how the callous actions of one person could ruin the future of another.” She held up her hand when I went to speak. “I know how that sounds. I hear it.”
We sat in silence, with the echo of the empty arena around us, and something shifted. The edge of sharp distance Eva carried around her like armor softened.
She looked up at me, her blue eyes sincere. “I’m sorry. I’ve been struggling to reconcile this version of you with the one Ithought I understood. After you told me about your parents, and Stephen assaulted me with logic, I can see how I was wrong. But it doesn’t change anything between us.”
I tipped her chin up. “Do you trust me?”
“Yes.” She didn’t hesitate, and she didn’t look away.
