Chapter 23
TWENTY-THREE
ISLA
“Come on, bitch!” Haven says, dragging me by the hand toward the house. “You’re dressed all hot and a little slutty. You smell delicious. And it’s time to flirt, dance, and act your age instead of mope around over a dude you hardly knew anyway.”
“I am not moping around!” I say quickly, eyes wide. “I literally am just … being my normal self.”
“Bulllllshit,” Summer utters behind us. “Don’t get me wrong; you’re always way too serious. But you have been straight-up mopey-dopey the past few days.” She comes beside me.
“Whatever,” I grumble, tossing my head back. “Where did Harley go anyway?”
“Pretty sure she stopped to say hi to Cane and ended up jumping in his truck with him.” Haven laughs. “He’s been after her for a while now though. So, it checks out.”
I was clearly down yesterday after getting home from my depressing car ride when I left the arena, so my friends basically dressed me up and dragged me to this party. I’d rather be home, in my bed, watching Netflix, but Haven was not taking no for an answer. So, here I am.
But the men’s hockey team won their game earlier today against New Hampshire, and I know that’s only a two-hour drive.
Which means the hockey players could show up at this party since it’s at the other athletes’ house, The Lookout.
I’m just praying we’re long gone before they make it back.
With any luck, they stop for a celebratory dinner or something, and it takes hours.
And hopefully Hendrix finds a hair in his food. Or maybe gets food poisoning.
When I follow them inside the house, the smell of any NEU party immediately hits my nostrils—which is always a mix of cigarette smoke, weed, body mist, and liquor.
And with the music pulsating through my eardrums and bodies smashing into mine while they dance, I’m regretting even more that I agreed to be here.
Standing next to the fire in the backyard, I sip my second White Claw of the night slowly. We’ve been here for almost an hour, and so far, no sign of any hockey players—fortunately. But I’m not going to push my luck because, eventually, they’re bound to show up.
I don’t know what I would do if Hendrix walked in with his arm around a girl, and I’m sure after a win like the one they just had, that’s exactly the kind of celebrating he’s looking to do.
Inside, I talk myself up to plead my case to the girls as to why I need to leave soon. I know their plan tonight was to get me out of the house to have some fun and loosen up, but truth be told, I just want to get the hell out of here.
Inhaling, I let it out and clear my throat. “So … don’t be mad, but in, like, ten minutes, I’m going to head out,” I tell the girls beside me. “I’m tired. It’s been a long day, and I just want to put on my sweatpants and curl up with my blanket.”
“I think I’ll head out when you do actually.” Harley yawns. “We have to be at the field at six a.m., and I need my beauty rest.”
“You both suck,” Haven says, putting a hand on her hip. “But, fine. Summer, you’ll stay and hang, right?”
“I’ve got at least another hour in me.” Summer laughs. “After that, I may turn into a pumpkin.”
“I’ll take what I can get,” Haven says with a shrug, moving her body to the beat of the song.
Summer and Harley dive into a conversation as I take another sip from my drink, but that’s when the noise happens. They’re loud popping sounds. And they’re close, making all the girls scream.
“Are those … gunshots?” I try to force the words out, but it’s like my throat is closing on me.
My head grows fuzzy, and my body tenses up. I drop my drink before my body falls to the ground.
Everything fades to nothing, then goes black.
HENDRIX
A few of the hockey players and I walk into The Lookout—another place on our road that also houses some of the athletes here at NEU.
People clap for us, some hold their fists up, and some of the women drag their fingernails down my arm, like that’s going to get my attention.
I walk past, never giving them a second look even though feeling their touch makes my skin crawl.
Through the loud cheers, I hardly hear the voice yelling. But when I round the corner and see the door that leads to the back patio, I recognize Summer, one of Isla’s teammates.
“Where is Eden?!” she screams as she opens the door to the backyard. “I need Eden! Or another nursing student!”
There’s no mistaking the fear in her voice or the panic on her face. She’s as white as a sheet, and when another girl runs toward her and I hear Isla’s name, I’m sprinting out back to the circle of people and pushing my way into the center without hesitation.
Haven and Harley—two girls from the softball team—hold her, both crying.
“What the fuck happened?” I bark out, kneeling down beside her. “Did someone hurt her?”
“She passed out,” Summer cries. “I was looking for Eden. She’s a nursing student, but she left already. I don’t know what to do. What do we do?”
“I missed when she first fell because the firecrackers distracted me,” Harley sobs. “I don’t know what happened.” Pulling her phone out, her free hand is shaky. “We need to call an ambulance.”
The second I hear the word firecrackers, I think back to the conversation when she talked about the few panic attacks she had, and they were when she heard something that sounded like a gunshot.
Instantly, I’m fucking irate that someone was dumb enough to light them off next to her.
I don’t give a fuck if they are clueless.
“Firecrackers?” I growl, pushing her phone down. “Don’t call the ambulance. I’m taking her home.”
“No, asshole! She’s right; we need to call an ambulance,” another girl chimes in, but I ignore her.
When I move myself between them, gently pushing the girls to the side and putting my arms under her, Harley glares at me.
“Why are you taking her? She needs to go to the hospital, Hunt!”
“No, she doesn’t,” I hiss. “The firecrackers gave her a fucking panic attack, Harley. Because she thought they were gunshots.” I slide my arms under her, lifting her body against me just as her eyes begin to flutter open.
With everyone’s eyes on us, I shift a threatening glare at anyone looking her way.
“If I ever hear of anyone using firecrackers around here, I’ll fucking kill someone.” I growl the threat out loudly, lifting her tighter to my chest. “I’m not fucking kidding either.”
I glance back at her friends when her eyes open up and she looks at me, confused and then mortified.
I know they are only worried and just trying to help.
I’m glad she has friends like that, but I know Isla is going to hate that this happened.
I need to get her the hell out of this place, but I also want them to believe me that she’s all right.
“I promise you, she’s okay. If I thought she needed to go to the hospital, I would take her myself, but that won’t help.” I look from them to her. “I’m getting her out of here though. Now.”
Before they can say anything back to keep me here longer, I turn away from them. Rushing through the crowd, I shield her face as best I can, making sure no one snaps a picture or records a video.
“You’re okay, Nineteen,” I murmur, looking down at her once we’re outside. “Just breathe for me, all right?”
“There were gunshots,” she sobs. “And before I knew what was happening … everything just went dark.” Her eyes grow wide with panic. “Is everyone okay? My friends—”
“Shh, baby,” I murmur, standing on the sidewalk between The Lookout and The Tower. “They were just firecrackers, okay? Everyone is safe. You’re safe.”
“Firecrackers?” she whispers, her lips quivering. “Are you sure?”
I nod slowly. “Yeah, Isla, I’m sure.” Craning my neck down, I press my lips to her forehead. “I’m so sorry that happened. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there sooner.”
Even though anger is burning inside of me and I’m pissed at those motherfuckers for scaring her, the only thing I care about in this minute is Isla and taking care of her.
So, moving quickly, I stride up the walkway to The Tower.
But the more reality hits her, the more she begins to move around in my arms, and by the time I reach the bottom step, she’s full-on thrashing.
“Put me down,” she grumbles, wiggling around. “I want to go home, Hendrix. Put me down.”
Ignoring her, I take the steps two at a time until my hand is reaching for the door, and that’s when she fucking loses it.
“Put me down!” she screams, kicking her feet and flailing her arms. “I am humiliated about what just happened, and the last thing I want to do is be near you!”
I drop my hand from the door to secure her and hold her tightly while looking down into her angry yet beautiful face. Tears stream down her red cheeks, and her lips tremble.
“If I put you down, you can’t run away from me,” I whisper. “If you do, I’ll just chase you and throw you over my shoulder.”
Her eyes roam my face as her brows pull together.
“If I’m running from you, you should take the hint and stop chasing me,” she whispers, more tears falling from her eyes.
“You aren’t my Prince Charming, Hendrix.
You made that clear yesterday,” she squeaks.
“Let me go. I can’t … I can’t do this back-and-forth shit with you anymore.
So, whatever this thing was between us, it’s over. It isn’t healthy for either of us.”
“Isla, I’m—” I rasp, only for her to cut me off.
“Put me down, Hendrix.” She’s begging me now, like it’s torturing her to be this close to me. “I don’t want to be near you right now.”
Every fucked-up part of me wants to carry her inside and lock her in my bedroom, forcing her to hear me out until she forgives me.
I want to confess that I was a little bitch yesterday and sabotaged us before we had a true chance to even start.
But the way she’s looking at me in this moment tells me that she’s made her mind up.
She doesn’t want me anymore.
She finally sees me for who I am, and I can’t fault her for it; I pushed her to do it.
Gently, I set her down just as her friends run down the sidewalk toward us. She stumbles back away from me, like she can’t stand to be this close before looking up at me briefly.
“I’m sorry,” I utter. “I’m so fucking sorry, Isla.”
Her lips part, like she might say something, but instead, she sighs and turns away from me. And as she heads toward her friends and they walk her home … she never looks back.
Not once.
ISLA
I lie in my bed with absolutely no music, no television, and no sound, and even though I try to stop replaying what happened an hour ago at the party, I can’t.
My friends have come in multiple times to check on me, all looking for some sort of explanation without actually asking for one, but I just keep brushing them off.
I can see the concern in their eyes, but right now, I just want to pretend it never happened.
Damn the trauma from when I was a little kid, coming back to bite me in the ass.
I hate most of all that when I came to, Hendrix was the one holding me.
For a moment, I relaxed. I relaxed because despite what he’d done, I knew I was safe.
Then reality hit. And my mind traveled back to not many days ago when he was a heartless prick, looking at me with cold, dead eyes, and I needed to get the hell away from him.
“Knock, knock,” Harley says instead of actually banging on the door seconds before she cracks it wider. “Mind if I come in?”
“All right.” I sigh. “Come in.”
Pushing the door further open, she sneaks inside and closes it behind her. Making her way to my bed, she climbs into the vacant side and flips onto her side to look at me.
“How are you doing?” she whispers, her red hair spilling onto my pillow.
I’m always so jealous of her hair because it’s different. It makes her stand out, especially paired with her bright green eyes.
“I’m fine,” I say, half telling the truth because I could certainly be a lot worse—that’s for sure.
Her green eyes roam my face, and she lifts a brow. “Girl, the sooner you just get it all out there, the better. Why are you trying to be so tough right now? It’s just us.”
Harley and I hit it off right away, but it’s not like we’ve known each other that long. And seeing as we’re on different teams here at NEU, it’s not like we’ve bonded during games. She’s a softballer. I’m a hockey player. And yet she cares enough to be in here right now.
“I mean, I’m embarrassed.” I cringe. “Obviously.”
“You have nothing—”
“To be embarrassed about,” I cut her off, finishing her sentence. “Yes, I know. You all keep telling me that, but guess what. I still am.”
A long exhale falls from her lips. “Fair enough.” She looks at me curiously. “So, Hendrix Hunt kind of went all, like, superhero tonight. What was that about?”
I shrug my shoulders under the covers. “I don’t know. I guess he just was hoping to help—that’s all.”
Her gaze narrows. “Bullshit, Hardy. I know a man in love when I see one.” She stares thoughtfully at me.
“You should have seen the sheer panic on his face when he ran in and saw that it was you. I have never seen him crack, but I’ll tell you, tonight …
he freaking broke altogether.” She pauses.
“I know you guys spent some time together. What happened with that?”
The image of him staring down at me, holding me in his arms after carrying me out of that party, assaults my brain, and my heart squeezes inside my chest.
“We hung out a few times, and now it’s over,” I state. “So, whatever you thought you saw on his face? Well, it wasn’t real, Harley.”
“Could have fooled me,” she whispers, her eyes shifting around my face. “You gonna be okay?”
I bob my head up and down. “Yeah. I’m just tired.”
I love Harley, but right now, I just want to be alone, and right away, I see understanding flash in her eyes.
“Okay, babe.” She gives me a tiny, sad smile before patting my back. “If you need me, I’m right down the hall.”
“Thank you, Harley.” I barely get the words out before she stands up and heads out of my room, closing the door behind her.
I roll over onto my other side and face the wall. Closing my eyes, I beg my mind to just let me sleep so that I can escape this day altogether. Knowing that my brain … usually doesn’t like to cooperate.