Page 114 of Home Ice

The blanket twitches slightly. It's the first sign that there's something alive under it. "Like what? You're both leaving? Good."

Fuck.

"The opposite actually," Lily says. "I'm staying. I was hurting before. I thought it would be best if I left, and… But I was wrong and I hurt you and I have never wanted to hurt you, and I?—"

"You did hurt me." Christ, her voice wobbles like a six-year-old on the verge of tears, and I want so much to hug her and tell her everything will be alright.

I want to tell her she'll never hurt again. But she will. And what if things won't be alright? I always visualize things going well. It's some sports psychology BS I picked up somewhere, but it works. And I'm picturing it now. I see both of them at my games, wearing my name on their backs. I see Lily and me picking her up from school. I see myself, setting a table each night for the three of us. The images make me smile. But how do I tell a fifteen-year-old girl that it will all be okay because I visualized us together?

"I know," Lily whispers. "That's the mistake I was talking about. I thought leaving would be best for everyone. I thought…" her voice catches, and the way she pauses, I wonder if she'll be able to keep talking. "You and Brant are good things. The best things that ever happened to me. Both of you. And I'm so used to thinking everyone is better off without me that I thought leaving was the best thing for you and Brant."

"That was stupid."

"I know, and I really hope you'll forgive me someday and be able to trust that I love you."

Chloe rolls over to face us, her red eyes reflecting the light from the window behind me, and I see she wasn't alone under the blanket. Silver rests his head on her hip once she turns. A reminder to her that he's right there and a reminder to us that he's here to protect her. She absently strokes a hand over his head, smoothing back his fur. "I'm so sick of everyone else telling me what's best for me. People still think I'm just a kid, but I know what's best for me. And you leaving me…" The tears spill down her face as she pinches her eyes closed. She swallows so hard her entire head moves. And I break seeing this girl I love in tears.

"I know," Lily says. "I'll never do anything like that to you again. Can I hug you?" Chloe nods but doesn't look at us. Lily twists and tries to wrap her arms around the girl without bashing against the top bunk. I hold my hand above her head to cushion her in case she does. When she's done, she's lying on the bed with Chloe—only her feet are hanging off the side—and the two of the them have their arms wrapped around each other so tight it might take some heavy extraction tools to get them to release the other. "I'm never leaving you," Lily whispers. "I promise. I'm never leaving either of you."

"Me either. But I'm not going to get in there and join this hug because?—"

"Because you're so big you might break the bed," Chloe snickers, and it feels like the moment the rain starts to let up after a storm.

"Are you calling me fat?"

Chloe sniffs as she looks up at me, but she's smiling. "All I'm saying is I've seen how many garlic knots you can eat, and it's kinda ridiculous."

"Ouch." I clutch a hand to my heart. The girl drops one of her hands from Lily and extends it toward me. I take it and inch even closer until the tops of my thighs are digging into the side of the bed frame. I settle my other hand on the small of Lily's back. My girls. My fucking girls. "You know I love you too, right?"

She nods.

CHAPTER 67

THIS IS US NOW

LILY

I watch as Chloe and Brant work together on the other side of the room. Chloe takes down a large black and white photograph of something that looks like the rusty underside of a bridge, and Brant replaces it with Dad's painting. Silver moves to whichever one of them isn't actively doing something at the time, thinking they should be petting him, Usually they agree.

Brant and Chloe both insisted that Dad's painting had to come with me to Brant's house. Our house. I wanted it here too. I want a piece of Dad to be here with me. I want the reminder of the man who always loved me, even when I couldn't love myself.

"So this is you now." Em rests her arm over my shoulders.

I lean against her. "This is us now."

A warmth I never knew was possible spreads from the center of my ribcage. These are my people. Mine. Brant and Chloe. And Em, though staying in Salt Lake means I won't see her nearly as often as I want. Even all the guys on the team. These are the people who will always be there for me, and the people I'm promising to always stand beside.

"I still think Chloe should have made you work for it," Em says. "Held out for the biggest bedroom, negotiated a later bedtime, something. I would have."

I'm surprised Chloe didn't try to make me squirm, but I couldn't have handled it if she did. Once we finally let go of each other, the three of us walked into Michael's office. We told her what we want to do. That we want her to live with us, and that we want to be her legal guardians so she won't have to worry about her parents ever doing anything to her again. Just as importantly, we want it to be a symbol to her that we'll always be there for her.

Even without a judge's order, we will be, but today is the first day of a life proving to that girl she is worth everything she could ever dream of. I almost laughed as I held her hand there in the office of Bridges. Now I know what my dad and Brant felt about me.

Chloe listened silently as we told her our plan What the most likely steps are, and where there might be problems along the way. None of us want her to think this will be easy. For all we know, her parents might contest it and do everything they can to stop us, just to keep their daughter unhappy. But she needs to know that we're committed. The only reaction she gave while we were telling her all this was an occasional tightening of her hand around mine, but as soon as we asked her if she wanted this too, she nodded. She didn't try to hide behind sarcasm or pretend to be indifferent. She nodded so hard her upper body bobbed along. Even though I did everything I could to fight it, I broke down. Chloe just looked at me and rolled her eyes. That made me so happy there was no way I could have stopped the tears after that.

"Of course you would have held out," I tell Em. "You're a cunning and cruel woman who always uses others for her own gain without a trace of remorse." I rise on my toes to kiss the cheek of my best friend, the woman who would sacrifice anything for me. Another one of my life's goals is to make sure she knows that feeling goes both directions.

"That's me. Pure evil in the form of a smoking hot goddess. Speaking of smoking hot, who's that puck boy who obviously thinks way too much of himself?"

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