Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
MADELINE
Kory stands next to me with her arms crossed, leaning against the boards.
The rest of the Ice Crew gathers at the far end of the rink.
Behind us, the hockey team runs drills, the sounds of pucks hitting the cross bar and skates cutting into the ice, reverberating throughout the building.
We’re all waiting for Coach Murphy, but no one else but me knows she isn’t coming.
I wonder when people will find out she’s missing.
“Did you see Caleb’s face?” Kory mutters, low enough for just me to hear.
I nod. My eyes were on Luke the second he hit the ice. I saw everything. Luke went straight for him when he spotted Caleb, making me wonder what their issue is. Caleb is an asshole. I enjoyed watching him get his ass beat.
“Word is he lost it completely,” says Jenna, hugging her clipboard. “Just snapped.”
“Over what?” someone asks.
Jenna shrugs. “Nobody knows. Some girl, maybe?”
“He would have to care about said girl, and that’s not Luke,” Kory responds. I force my face to stay straight.
“Is he that mean to girls?” I ask.
“He snaps back more, but when he does—” Kory shakes her head, not finishing, letting my mind fill in the blank.
Lana pushes through the crowd that’s still hanging around after the fight.
She looks right at me, sneering. “Careful who you hang out with, Maddie. He’s got a fuse as short as your pinky.” Lana wiggles her finger.
“It’s hockey. They fight,” I remind her. I half expect her to bring up seeing us kissing at the boathouse, but she doesn’t.
“So you two are a thing?” Lana asks loudly.
“Not really your business.”
“He walked her to practice and kissed her a couple of times,” one of Lana’s friends says.
“Everything is everyone’s business at Kingmakers Prep,” Lana informs me. “I’d get tested if I were you.”
“You were talking about hooking up with him the other night,” I remind her.
“But sure.” I look her up and down, even though I believe Luke when he says they never did anything.
The rest of the Ice Crew seems to think otherwise.
I guess Luke never bothered to set the record straight, or maybe he never heard the rumors. “He really should.”
I hear a few small, muffled laughs. Lana’s eyes narrow on me murderously. She proceeds to step toward me. I don’t retreat.
“Lana,” I warn, “your nose is still pretty new. I’d be careful.”
“Is that a threat?” Lana doesn’t deny the nose job. Honestly, I just guessed, but her surgeon did a great job.
“It’s a warning.” I’m not letting her push me around. If you give an inch, people will take a mile.
“Ladies,” Dean Locke calls out. Everyone turns to look at him. I cringe inside, worried about what he might have overheard. He looks at me for a moment before speaking again.
“Coach Murphy isn’t coming today,” he says without explaining why. I realize now why he looked at me earlier. He wants me to keep quiet since I already know she’s missing. “I’m sure you can handle practice yourselves.”
“I can lead it.” Lana gives the dean a sweet, fake-ass smile. Great, now Lana gets to boss everyone around, but that’s pretty normal. “Everyone on the ice!” She claps at us. Kory and I share a look.
I never told her about Coach Murphy lying about the votes. I debated it, but I’m sure as hell not telling her now.
We warm up, and then I run routines on autopilot, my head not in it today. When the whistle blows, I’m ready to get the hell out of here. Both my mind and body are exhausted.
That’s when I spot Luke up toward the top of the stands, watching us. How long has he been up there? Kory slides over next to me and follows my line of sight.
“So it’s true.”
“I don’t know.” Which is the truth.
“Be careful, Maddie. He’s one of the boys we were warned about.”
“No,” I say quickly, defending Luke before I even realize it. “Luke is honest about who he is. It’s the ones who pretend to be good guys that we should really worry about.”
“Good point, but I just had to say it once at least.” I nod in understanding, and she skates off. I do the same, heading for the locker room to change. Thankfully, I don’t see Lana again.
When I leave the locker room, Luke is waiting for me. He’s changed into black sweats that fit him just right and a hoodie. His right hand is taped, and a small bruise is starting to show on his cheek. Somehow, that just makes him look even better.
“You going to kiss me, Buttercup?”
I glance around. “No one is here.”
We don’t need to pretend, but clearly Luke doesn’t care because he clears the space between us, his hand cupping the back of my neck to pull me into him as his mouth comes down onto mine.
When he pulls away, he gives me one of his lazy smiles. “Caleb was the one who started that bet shit about hooking up with the new girls.”
“Oh.” Shit, he went after Caleb because of me. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“You’re my girl, so yeah, I do.”
“You’re really selling this.” I laugh, but he just shrugs and doesn’t answer. It’s a little disappointing. What did I expect him to say? That he isn’t pretending? I know he likes me, but is he just acting, or is this how he’d be if it were real?
“Come on.” He throws his arm over my shoulder and starts to walk. I have no choice but to go with him.
“You walking me home now?”
“I plan to, but not yet. I was thinking,” he says, glancing down at me. “Should we check out Murphy’s office?”
“Like break in again? Want double blackmail on me?”
“I never blackmailed you, Buttercup, not that I didn’t try.” He lets out a low chuckle, and I elbow him in the side. “I’m not a snitch. I was poking at you to get your attention.”
“Oh my God, like a boy on the playground pulling a girl’s pigtail.”
“I’d never pull out this hair.” He tugs on a piece of mine. I have noticed that anytime we kiss, his fingers are always in my hair. “Also, we don’t have to break in.” He pulls out a key.
“You sneaky bastard.” I smile, surprised he’s actually helping me. It hits me—he’s doing this for me. Luke isn’t the type to help someone without a reason.
“Perks of my brother being the dean.” He leads us to the coach’s office. Luckily, it’s empty outside. Luke opens the door fast, and we slip inside.
Coach Murphy’s office smells like peppermint and stale coffee, the kind of scent that lingers. Luke closes the door behind us, the clicking sound as soft as a secret.
“Let’s search,” he says. “Before anyone sees us.”
I start with the desk, opening drawers filled with schedules and attendance sheets but nothing useful. I snap a few photos of the pages, just in case.
Luke checks the filing cabinet, then moves to the small closet. My fingers find an edge under the bottom drawer—a board that moves when I press the corner. It lifts up, revealing a hollow space about the size of a shoebox.
A leather journal sits inside, dark red and worn at the edges.
“Jackpot.” Luke looks over and sees the journal in my hand.
“Nice.” I don’t read it. I shove it into my bag, zipping it up just as the door opens. My stomach drops to the floor.
Bennett stands in the doorway, his tie loose, eyes moving from Luke to me to the half-open drawer I quickly kick shut. Nice move, Madeline.
“Well,” he says. “This is interesting.”
“We were worried,” I say quickly. “About Coach Murphy. Thought maybe there was a clue.”
“Clue.” Bennett’s mouth twitches. “You two are quite the detectives.”
Luke steps closer, not touching me but present. “Any news? When are they going to tell people she’s missing?”
Bennett studies us both, something calculating behind his glasses. “Police have leads. They’re handling it.” A pause. “Which means you don’t have to. Go home. Let the professionals work.”
“Sure,” Luke says. “We’re leaving.”
Bennett steps back out of our way so that we can pass by. “We didn’t find anything in here.” He gives us that much. “And we need to speak tonight.” He says so to Luke, who only gives him a nod. Their interactions are very curt, and I can’t help but wonder what the backstory is between them.
Luke and I don’t speak until we’re past the athletic building, the dorms visible through trees that are still clinging to their leaves.
Luke stops at the foot of one of the benches, a squirrel darting past us.
I look up at him. The bruise on his cheek is already getting darker. He hit his teammate because of me, and when I realized that, it felt like the ground shifted under me.
Letting people in isn’t easy for me. But when I do, I’m all in. That’s why I keep most people at an arm’s length. When I care, there’s no safety net and no way to go back. Luke feels like someone who could really hurt me.
He doesn’t move. A solid, steady force. Neither do I. We stand there, the silence between us louder than the wind in the trees. I know that whatever happens next, I might already be in too deep to stop it, but I have to try.