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“Audrey. Audrey.” He kept blinking as he paled. His hand was on his chest, and his eyes lost that normal mischief. A part of me felt bad for hurting him, but he was a grown man. He could handle his own emotions and needs. Not me anymore.
God, my palms sweated, and my pulse was dangerously high. I’d said my part. I did it without falling apart. My adrenaline was crazy high, but that was a problem for later, not now. “Why are you still here?”
“This is crazy.”
“No, it’s not.”
“Can we… talk about this? I can explain Mom. But the money… I don’t…”
“I honestly don’t care. I’m an afterthought for you both, and I’m sick of it.” I went to the door and opened it. “Time to go.”
“Please… please don’t.” His face looked pained, like this actually hurt him, but that was absurd.
He would miss my money. That was it.
“You have your girl-whatever, mom, the team. You have enough people in your life who can be there for you. You don’t need me.” The first urge to cry hit me, thinking about the fact that I didn’t have many other people. Really just Theo, but that was temporary.
I’d be alone, but at least I wouldn’t be disappointed.
“I’ll give you time, but we’re still friends, Auds. It was you and me for so long.” He reached out like he was gonna hug me, but I backed out of it. “I don’t know what happened for you to turn against me, but I’ll figure it out.”
“Start in the mirror. Now, goodbye.” I shut the door and leaned against it, the sobs hitting me the second he was out of view. The adrenaline had to escape now. It was overwhelming. I had never been so cruel in my entire life, and I wanted to throw up. I’d hurt my brother. The person who I used to love more than anything.
Fuck.
I was gonna be sick. I ran toward the bathroom and barely made it before throwing up. I hadn’t eaten all day, so it wasn’t much, but the shakes started, and I wet a washcloth just as someone knocked on the door. How dare he… “I told you to?—”
It was Theo.
“I couldn’t leave without making sure you were okay. Oh, honey.” His face twisted with concern as he walked in and pulled me into a hug. “I got you. It’ll be okay.”
That’s when I knew I was in trouble with Theo. He held me as I cried, and I fell completely, foolishly in love with him. The one guy I should never fall for, I did, and he owned my heart now.
20
Theo
There was an extra pep in my step as I walked toward Coach Reiner’s office the next morning. I was so damn proud of Audrey for sticking up for herself against her brother. She finally saw that he wasn’t an angel, and while I hated how much he hurt her, it was the right move.
It’s the same thing I need to do with my dad.
I didn’t mind confrontation because I didn’t have an ego, but challenging my father wouldn’t end well for me. He’d yell back that I hadn’t gone to see my mom, which was true. He’d say this was harder on him, and I had to take care of the family. He was never home, and it was rarely just the two of us, and this was something I didn’t want my siblings around for. So, instead of worrying that Coach Reiner was gonna rip into me for not mentoring Quentin enough, I thought about seeing Audrey later.
With a big sigh, I pushed into the stadium and almost ran into Cal Holt. “Holt,” I said, holding up a fist with a smile. “You’re a legend.”
He nodded and fist-bumped me back. “Sanders. Heard you signed to the Acorns. Their defense sucks.”
“Ah, your people skills haven’t improved since joining the NHL then, huh?”
He snorted and glanced down the hall. “Reiner wanted us to talk if we had time. Said you had questions about next year and how to work with difficult players.”
“Huh, I definitely don’t recall asking either of those questions, but he’s a schemer.”
“Yeah. He is.” He ran a hand through his hair before almost-smiling. “He’s a pain in the ass but a good fucking coach.”
“Want to meet at the rink later, see if you can keep up with us younger players?”
“Oh, you’re on.”
