Chapter Twenty-Eight #2
I sit up, dragging the pillow with me so I’m propped higher against the headboard. “Since when?”
She shrugs. “Since… I don’t know. Years.” Like it should be obvious. “It’s just not something I advertise.”
I shake my head slowly. “That’s… not what I was expecting.”
She smiles, a little to herself. “Most people don’t.”
“We’ll have to play together sometime then. What else don’t I know about you?”
She shrugs. “I used to read a lot. We moved around a lot, and it was hard to make friends when you’re at a new school every year. I’d get a library card, though, and check out books all the time. Mostly fiction. Anything I could get my hands on.”
“Used to?”
“Yeah. I haven’t really made time for it lately.”
“Why not?”
She fiddles with the sleeve of the hoodie, folding it over her hand before perching her chin on her fist. “I don’t know. I guess I’ve just been busy with… life. You know, school, working, and… well, I’ve kind of been seeing this guy.”
“Ooh, have you? Do tell. What is he like?” I wag my brows at her.
“The jury is still out.”
I drop my jaw, feigning shock. “Are you kidding?”
“I’m trying not to get my hopes up about this one,” she says honestly. “I guess you can say I tend to keep my walls up. I’m still waiting to see if he proves to be one I can let in.”
“I promise, I’ll show you it’s safe to let your walls down with me.”
Her eyes get this distant look in them, like she’s struggling to hold her emotions together. She shakes it off quickly and smiles.
I’ve learned that Brinley tends to push away when the emotions get a bit much. I’ll give her a pass before I press any further.
“What do you want to do after school?” I ask.
She exhales. “Now that’s a big question.”
“You don’t know?”
“I mean, I didn’t,” she says. “For a long time. But now…”
“And now?”
She shrugs again. “I’ve been thinking about working with kids.”
“Like teaching?”
“Maybe. Or something like social work, possibly. Working with community programs, helping people who actually need it. I don’t know.”
I nod. “I think you’d be great with kids.”
“You don’t know that, though.”
“Yes, I do,” I say, with more conviction than maybe I intended. She studies me like she’s trying to figure out if I’m being honest.
“My mom did the best she could raising me,” she says after a few seconds. “But it was hard. Moving around a lot, different schools. I don’t want that for someone else. Not if I can help it, you know?”
“That’s why I think you’d be good with kids,” I say. “You’d be able to relate to them. You’d listen.”
She looks at me for a second longer, then shakes her head slightly.
“I don’t want to talk about that anymore,” she says. “What about you? What would you be doing if it wasn’t for hockey?”
I laugh softly. “I don’t know. Probably something boring.”
“Like what?”
“Helping my dad with the farm, I guess.”
She tilts her head slightly. “I know you like the animals, but would you actually want to do that as a job?”
I shake my head. “Not really. It’s not what would make me happy, that’s for sure.”
My phone vibrates again. This time with a flood of messages coming through, followed by a phone call.
“Wow, you’re popular tonight.” She chuckles.
“It’s just the guys. Ignore them.”
The phone buzzes again. I push off the headboard and move to the edge of the bed, feet planted on the floor now.
Before I can tell her to hold on while I answer it, Owen comes busting through the door.
He’s breathing hard for someone who should’ve just walked down the hallway.
“You see this?” he says, holding up his phone.
I frown. “Hold on a sec, Brinley.”
He stops when he realizes she’s on FaceTime.
“Shit, I’m sorry.” He runs his hand through his hair, his eyes flashing over to me. “You might want to—”
“What?” I ask, sitting up straighter.
He steps closer and turns his phone toward me. It’s a news article pulled up on his screen. My eyes zero in on the name in the first line, and for a second, I don’t even process what I’m seeing.
“What is it?” she asks.
I look back at her. “They—” I start, then stop.
Owen mutters under his breath. “It’s everywhere, man.”
“Cooper,” she says, snapping her voice to get my attention. “What is it?”
I haven’t told her anything about what’s going on with her father blackmailing me. This is another one of those things that I don’t want to tell her about over the phone. Not like this.
“There was an article posted online. They’re saying… someone leaked that you’re Coach Dawson’s daughter.”
Brinley’s eyes widen. The look on her face makes it clear she had nothing to do with this being released. Not that I ever thought she would’ve.
“Where would this even come from? I don’t think anyone even knows…”
There’s no way any of the guys or Atlee would say anything. The only person outside of them who knows is Wren. But she already knows what it’s like living with the disappointment of having a shitty father, so there’s no way she’d be the one behind it either.
“I don’t know.”
My phone vibrates again with another message, and I quickly hit the silence button on the side to shut the damn thing up.
Her eyes flash to me before they dart away, likely piecing together that the messages coming through are about the article.
“Brinley, look at me,” I say until her gaze connects with mine. “I’m not going anywhere, and I won’t let you go through this alone.”