20. Stone
STONE
Third period against Bexley University Wolves, and I cannot seem to get my shit together. When I’m checked into the boards for the fifth fucking time in as many minutes, I lose it.
I race after their captain, Brooks. He’s got the puck and is charging down the center in an all-out sprint. He’s slowed by my teammates. Grant skates to intercept, Archer prepares himself in the crease.
He passes the puck a moment before I catch him, slamming into him from behind and taking him down in a tumble of limbs and sticks. He curses me out and shoves me aside. Sully picks me up by the back of my jersey, spinning me away so I can’t do something truly stupid.
We’re losing . Badly. And while it’s mostly my fault, the rest of my team has been coming apart at the seams. Our passes aren’t connecting. No one’s fucking shooting. The BU Wolves are skating circles around us.
And now their captain is glaring at me from across the circle.
I automatically scowl back.
The ref drops the puck, and Grant, ever the faithful center, gets the puck and flicks it my way. I take it and sprint toward the Wolves’ goalie. But I fail to see the stick carefully edged into my path on time. It hooks around my skate, and I’m suddenly falling forward.
The whistle blows.
I leap to my feet and spin, finding Theo Brooks grinning at me.
“ FOSTER! ” Coach screams from the bench.
I really shouldn’t punch him in his smug face, so I ignore him and skate for the bench.
Brooks is thrown in the penalty box for two minutes, and I’m benched for the remainder of the game. I pull my helmet and gloves off, then spit out my mouth guard. I run my hands through my hair and watch the time tick down.
Two minutes, then one.
We’re 1-5. No fucking chance.
Thirty seconds.
Ten.
The horn blows, and the crowd is rightly lackluster. They just watched their home team lose by a mile.
Those of us on the bench get back on the ice, lining up to shake hands with the victors. I block most of it out.
I was awake for a long damn time after the mind-bending sex with Wren last night. One minute I was scared she was going to be permanently traumatized by her past, and the next she was writhing in pleasure on my cock. And she felt better than I could’ve ever imagined.
There’s a permanent tingling sensation left over from Wren’s body pressed to mine. Her head on my shoulder. She shifted there after she fell asleep, her hand sliding across my stomach. A lump forms in my throat just thinking about it.
I left her in that little room for too long. Let her whimper and cry, as long as it didn’t get too bad . But she was having nightmares this whole time.
“You okay?”
I jerk out of my thoughts. Evan stands over me, his brow furrowed. We made it back to the locker room before he decided to confront me, at least. He’s been weird all day, but I’ve ignored it—well, mostly just ignored him . How the hell am I supposed to explain the hold Wren has on me?
My attention moves around the room. The only ones left are my housemates, which presents the perfect opportunity. They’re all in various shades of distress, annoyance, or concern—and it’s all pointed at me.
“We need to have an emergency house meeting,” I tell them.
An hour later, they’re all seated around the kitchen table.
Except Wren.
I experience a weird déjà vu moment of walking in on her holding court in a similar fashion. Although, right now, she’s working the last hour of her shift at Shadow’s. It’s bound to be busy after the game, which should keep her occupied until we’ve come to an agreement.
“What’s all this, Foster?”
I glance at Grant, then down at the supplies I laid out on the table.
Wren told me the truth, and I feel oddly protective of it. I’ve been collecting her secrets like pennies since high school. I never told Evan about Wren’s involvement with my arrest, definitely didn’t tell him about me threatening her after.
But now’s the time to share at least some of them.
“Wren’s in trouble.”
Silence.
Evan glares at me. “Stone—”
“Shut up, E.” I take my time meeting the rest of the guys’ gazes. “Listen. I wouldn’t be coming to you guys if it wasn’t serious. You all heard Wren screaming last night. You saw how she was.”
Nods all around.
I sigh. “It’s my fault. She’s been having nightmares for weeks.”
“And you’ve been sleeping outside her door out of guilt?” Sully asks. “Is that why you’ve been playing like shit?”
“He looks like shit, too,” Taylor mutters.
I hold up my hands. “It’s not an excuse. It’s just an explanation.”
“A shit explanation,” Grant pipes up. “What are you saying?”
Evan’s still glaring at me like I’m about to piss in his cereal. But if he had just told me the truth, even if it wasn’t his secret to share, I would never have shared that picture online.
Could I have predicted it going viral? No. But that’s unimportant.
“Wren comes from a bad family,” I say. “And the photo I posted has brought down on her some attention she was avoiding.”
“Hiding from,” Evan spits.
I nod my acceptance. “Right. Hiding from.”
“Who?”
“Well, her father in prison, for one.” I wince. “I won’t get into the details, but he’s used her for years. And when the social workers caught on, that’s when she went to Evan’s house. But she always went back to him. Until he went away.”
Archer leans forward, resting his forearms on the table. He’s directly to my right, and he searches my face. “How can he hurt her from prison?”
“He’s got people on the outside,” Evan snaps.
“Furthermore,” I hurry on before my best friend can take control of this meeting, “someone was in her room. Rifling through her stuff. It’s what triggered the most recent—”
The room breaks out into chaos.
Maybe I should’ve led with that bit of information?
I lean back in my chair and wait for their outrage to simmer down, and I tap the supplies in front of me. “That’s what the cameras are for. They can sync to all of our phones. Just in the public spaces and outside, I’m not that big of a dick.”
“And Wren?” Evan’s voice is cold. “You didn’t give her a chance to explain this to us—”
“She wasn’t going to.” I laugh. “You’re such a fucking idiot, plying her with milk and cookies like that’s going to solve anything.”
“And cameras are?”
“So we can catch the bastard trying to get to her—”
“Shut up.” Archer stands, knocking his chair back. “You two need to figure your shit out on your own time.”
I look away from Evan and refocus on the important bits.
“Someone came in here without our permission. That’s unacceptable.” I lift my chin. “But furthermore, we need to protect Wren.”
“Agreed,” Evan says.
“Yeah,” Grant chimes in. “Obviously. I think we’re all in agreement about that.”
“Okay, so let’s get these cameras installed.” I slide one of the boxes to Grant and Sully. “That’s for the front porch.” Another to Taylor and Archer. “Back door.” I keep one for me and shove the other at Evan. “That’s an interior one.”
“Let’s do this.” Archer claps.
“One more thing,” I call out. “Wren’s moving back into my room. Effective immediately.”
I already moved her stuff out of that dinky closet. While I was in there, picking up her clothes and bedding, my stomach knotted with guilt. She’s been sleeping on the floor, essentially. With nothing more than a few inches of blankets as cushion.
So, yeah. Before the game, I made sure no trace of Wren was left in that small space. She’ll just have to deal with it.
And me .
The guys don’t really balk at that, sharing some knowing smiles. I ignore them and take my camera, heading for the kitchen. Just in case the outside camera doesn’t catch someone coming in, this is basically a backup.
I bought top-of-the-line shit. This one is tiny and practically undetectable.
In less than twenty minutes, the cameras are all set up and synced to our phones. We meet back in the kitchen, learning how to use the app, when Evan nudges me.
“I need to talk to you,” he murmurs.
Great. “Okay…”
I follow him around the corner. As soon as we’re out of sight, he fists the front of my shirt and shoves me up against the wall.
“Jesus. You gonna make out with me, E?”
“You have no fucking right to steamroll her,” he growls. “You’ve hated her forever. And I get it, you didn’t sign up for a project. Your best friend suddenly gets a little sister every few months who tags along with us. But you went from verbally sparring with her to hating her. Now this?”
“What do you want me to say?”
I know what he wants. He wants me to explain the shift. As much as I tried to hide it from him, after I was arrested, I just couldn’t hold it together. Wren did a great job of avoiding me, scampering off in the hallways like I was going to eat her for breakfast.
And maybe that’s why I didn’t tell Evan—because she listened to me.
She stayed out of my way.
Telling him this, now , would just hurt him and Wren, and I won’t do that.
“I want the truth.”
I knock Evan’s hands away from me. “There’s no mysterious, all-encompassing truth. There’s no magical explanation for me not liking your little sister. But I’m… I’m over it, okay?”
“There is an explanation.”
Our heads whip around.
Wren stands at the top of the hall, wringing her hands together. Tears fill her eyes. “There is an explanation, Evan. And it’s all my fault.”