6 #2
“I don’t want someone who can treat me like shit for seven months and then get a redemption arc because he finally finds out I had a reason for being difficult.
” I pointed toward Easton without looking at him because if I did, I might break in a way I didn’t have time for.
“He doesn’t get to make me bleed in public and then be excused because my private wounds were inconveniently hidden from him. ”
“Aura,” Charm whispered.
“No.” I stepped back, my pulse hammering in my throat. “You don’t get to love me and still ask me to swallow this so he doesn’t choke on his own consequences.”
The crowd moved around us in heat, neon, bodies, and the slick smell of beer beneath my boots. Easton remained across the room with Brinley pressed too close, watching because of course he was.
He always watched when I was close to snapping. He simply never believed I would actually do it.
I looked at Bliss one last time, then Charm.
“I love you,” I said again, softer now. “But move.”
Neither of them did at first. Then Bliss’s shoulders sank, and Charm’s hand fell from my wrist.
For once, they let me walk straight into the consequence because maybe they finally understood I had been living inside one for seven months.
Gage’s grin widened when I reached the island. “Aura.”
I smiled back, all teeth and no mercy. “Gage.”
He looked over my shoulder once, then returned his eyes to mine with impressive speed. “Dangerous night to come into the kitchen.”
“I heard danger was where the drinks are.”
“You need one?”
“I need something.”
His brow lifted. “That sounded ominous.”
“Then you’re listening well.”
He reached for the bottle on the island and poured tequila into a plastic cup. I took it before he could hand it over properly, tossed it back, and let the burn slide down my throat like a bad decision with a decent aftertaste.
Gage watched my mouth. “You always drink like that?”
“Only when I’m inspired.”
“That sounds worse.”
“It is.”
His smile softened at the edges like maybe he wasn’t as stupid as I wanted him to be. “Aura, I’m going to ask this once because I value my teeth. Are you flirting with me because you want to, or because he’s watching?”
My gaze flicked past him.
Easton’s arm had dropped from around Brinley. She remained beside him, still trying to reclaim his attention, but he had gone still in a way that made the whole kitchen feel smaller.
I looked back at Gage. “Does it matter?”
“Yes,” he said, surprising me. “Mostly because I like breathing.”
A laugh slipped out, sharp and mean around the edges. “Relax. I’m not asking you to fight him.”
“Good, because I saw him hit a guy into the boards tonight hard enough that I started making better life choices.”
“You’ll survive.”
“That feels like something people say before a funeral.”
I stepped closer until the front of my jacket brushed his shirt. Gage’s eyes dropped, then lifted. He wasn’t immune, but he also wasn’t stupid enough to forget who stood across the kitchen.
“Don’t look at him,” I said.
His mouth curved. “You always this bossy?”
“Only when men need direction.”
“And do I?”
I caught the front of his shirt between two fingers and tugged him half an inch closer. “That depends on how brave you are.”
The air behind me changed.
It went quiet without becoming silent, which was worse.
Hockey House had a specific sound when people stopped minding their business but kept pretending they were.
Cups paused halfway to mouths, conversations thinned, and someone near the fridge muttered something before getting elbowed hard enough to shut up.
Gage swallowed.
I smiled. “Don’t tell me you’re scared.”
“Of you?” he asked.
“Smart answer.”
His hand lifted slowly, giving me every chance to stop him. I didn’t. His palm settled lightly at my waist, barely any pressure through my jacket, but the touch was visible, and that was the whole ugly point.
Easton laughed behind me.
Low. Humorless. Mean.
The sound cut across the kitchen and slid straight beneath my ribs.
Gage’s hand left my waist like my skin had burned him.
What a coward.
I turned.
Easton stood on the far side of the kitchen with Brinley still too close and a beer bottle held loosely in one hand. His hoodie sleeves were shoved to his forearms, a black KFU cap sat backward on his head, and one cheekbone was marked red from a hit he had skated away from like pain bored him.
His face was calm.
His eyes were not.
“Still doing dumb shit for my benefit, Clarke?”
My grip tightened in Gage’s shirt before I let go. “You think everything I do is for your benefit?”
“No.” Easton took a slow drink, lowered the bottle, and looked at the space where Gage’s hand had been before raising his eyes to my face. “I think you do everything for your ego. I just happen to be the audience you keep performing for.”
Brinley’s smile faltered.
Let her see the cost of leaning against a man who was fine using her.
“You would think it’s about you,” I said.
“Is it?”
“Yes.”
“Then say it.”
The kitchen had gone too still.
Cade had stepped into the doorway with Briggs and Rider behind him, all three reading the room fast. Ryan leaned against the island, his eyes moving between Easton and me before settling briefly on Charm.
Charm stood beside Bliss, pale, furious, and bothered in a way that told me she wasn’t coming to rescue me this time.
That was all I had asked for—the chance to fight back because this had to come to a head, and I refused to let it happen at the expense of my soul.
“You’re cruel,” I said.
Something shifted across Easton’s face.
It almost looked like relief.
“Cruel,” he repeated.
“Yes.”
Gage moved beside me. “I’m going to step—”
“Stay,” I said.
Easton’s eyes flashed, and I held on to it like a prize because he had spent seven months being untouchable and looking through me.
Maybe I wanted proof he could still bleed.
Maybe I wanted him to stop making me the only one drowning.
“Bad idea,” Ryan said from the island, his voice even.
I didn’t look at him.
Easton did. “Switzerland has an opinion?”
Ryan’s mouth flattened. “Switzerland knows when both armies are about to be idiots.”
Briggs stepped farther into the kitchen, uncharacteristically serious. “Easton, take a walk.”
“No.”
Cade’s attention sharpened. “Don’t make me agree with Briggs this early in the night.”
Easton ignored them and looked at Gage. “Move.”
Gage lifted both hands. “I’m not trying to get in the middle of anything.”
“You put your hand on her in front of me. That put you in the middle.”
“She let me.”
Easton’s jaw flexed once.
I smiled because I was sick enough to enjoy it. “Funny how consent works when men listen.”
The words hit him wrong.
I knew it the moment his face changed.
Bliss whispered, “Aura, stop.”
Easton stepped toward me. “You want to talk about listening?”
I lifted my chin. “I want to talk about you acting like you own the air around me.”
His laugh was quiet and brutal. “I don’t own anything around you. I learned that lesson.”
“Then why are you staring at his hand like you want to break it?”
“Because he’s stupid enough to touch a loaded gun and not have the balls to pull the trigger.”
Gage muttered, “I am seriously reconsidering my involvement.”
“Then leave,” Charm said, her voice sweet and poisonous without her eyes leaving mine.
Gage looked at her and then at Ryan, and for some baffling reason, Ryan’s expression darkened when Charm spoke to Gage like that.
It was the smallest shift, a tightening around his mouth and a flicker of attention sharp enough to cut through the mess for half a second.
Charm noticed. Bliss caught her noticing, and somehow I clocked all of it without taking my eyes off Easton because apparently emotional carnage could multitask.
“You’ve had Brinley hanging off you all night,” I said. “But Gage touches my waist and suddenly we’re discussing loaded guns?”
Brinley straightened. “Excuse me?”
Easton didn’t look at her. “Go to the living room.”
Her mouth opened.
“Now.”
The command landed cold enough that even I felt it.
Brinley’s face flushed, but she left, pushing past two freshmen who instantly found the floor fascinating.
I laughed, sharp and ugly. “Wow. Look at you. Captain on and off the ice.”
Easton’s eyes cut toward mine. “You wanted her gone. Don’t pretend you didn’t.”
“I wanted you to stop using women like props.”
“And you used Gage for what? Personal growth?”
Gage backed away. “I have a name and a will to live.”
What a coward.
“Enough,” Cade said, warning threaded through his low voice. “Everyone who isn’t part of this team or this family can get out.”
People moved quickly after that. Freshmen grabbed drinks and vanished into the living room, two girls slipped through the side door, and Gage hesitated, looking at me without the easy flirtation.
“Aura?”
I hated that he sounded concerned, but I hated more that Easton heard it. “I’m fine.”
I looked toward Charm.
She stood beside Bliss at the edge of the kitchen, her face pale beneath the neon spilling through the hallway and her fingers curled around her purse strap like she had reached for something sturdy and found nothing in the room strong enough.
Bliss looked worse. Her eyes were glossy, her mouth pressed tight, and her body angled toward me while Cade stood a few feet from Easton, waiting for the first real reason to put his hands on him.
Charm’s gaze flicked toward Ryan.
Bliss’s flicked toward Cade.
Everyone had chosen a person.
No one had chosen only me.
I smiled at Charm because smiling was easier than admitting I suddenly felt very fucking alone. “I’m not?”
Her throat moved. “You’re using him.”
Gage made a strangled sound. “Again, name and pulse over here.”
Ryan leaned against the island with his arms crossed and his face unreadable. “Gage, I would stop volunteering for dialogue.”
“Gladly.”
Easton’s mouth tilted without humor. “Listen to your friends, Clarke. They can tell when you’re full of shit.”
The room flinched around the edges, not enough for anyone to call it out but enough for me to know everyone felt the hit.