Page 16 of Never Bet Against A Hockey Player

“What’s wrong?”

I swear I could never get away with anything anymore. He was far too observant for his own good. Definitely more than any other preteen I knew.

“I’m fine,” I lied quickly. “Just tired.”

He pressed his lips together like he wanted to argue but he knew I was far more stubborn than he was.

“What’s for dinner? I’m starving,” he grumbled instead.

“Didn’t you eat lunch?” He looked away but shrugged. “It wasn’t enough.”

There was something more going on than that. I stopped walking and crossed my arms.

“What happened? Why didn’t you eat?”

“No, it’s fine,” he said stubbornly.

“Gavin,” I argued. “Do I need to start packing you lunch?”

“No,” he growled, more forceful this time. It wasn’t often we butted heads but the older he got, the more it happened. He was still my sweet brother but he wasn’t afraid to push back now. “They just won’t give me the lunch anymore because Mom hasn’t paid.”

I let my eyes fall closed and took a deep breath. This was one of the last few things that our mother was supposed to handle and yet here she was, dropping the ball again.

It was me that filled our fridge, kept our lights on, gave her spending money, paid every fucking bill but this one.

She didn’t even have the care or decency to let me handle it.

“Come on, we’ll stop at the food trucks,” I said as I pasted a smile on my face. “I’ll handle the school tomorrow morning and pack you a lunch tomorrow while we straighten it out.”

“I don’t want you to have to handle it,” he argued. “She should be doing this. She’s my fucking mom.”

“Language,” I said half-heartedly. If anyone deserved to curse right now it was my brother who was let down yet again.

He didn’t say anything to that as we walked down the road to the food truck park. It wasn’t far from the arena, and thankfully everything we did was nearby. It made not having a car of my own a whole lot easier.

My mind was going over the mental math, wondering if this would set us back too far. Mom was always demanding the extras. I managed to squirrel enough away to get us out of here as soon as I could, but I hated dipping into it.

If she found it… there would be hell to pay.

“I made extra, don’t worry about money, just eat,” I promised Gavin as he eyed the options around us. It didn’t matter. He went for the burger and fries truck, I had to order him cheese for his fries and a drink.

I doubled what Gavin got, knowing if I didn’t he’d see right through the worries that never stopped haunting me.

When we sat at one of the picnic tables he popped a fry in his mouth and watched me as he chewed. His blue eyes were full of questions and I knew where this was going.

“Did Conrad come to see you today?” was the question he landed on. I finished my bite and took a sip of my soda before answering.

“No. It was a coincidence.”

He ate another few bites before hitting me again.

“So, why were he and his friend being weird after you helped them?” he demanded. “Don’t lie to me, Dhara.”

“Their behavior isn’t anything to do with me,” I said, lying anyway. Or at the very least, skating around the truth.

“You have scent-matches, don’t you?”

Fuck, he was way too observant.