Page 82 of Penalty to the Heart

Like the implacable queen that she is, she takes my shit on the chin and straightens her shoulders to look impassive, but the red tinge in her eyes gives her away—it portrays that my cut is just as deep as the one she made on me.

Piper starts walking towards the door, only to stop midway to turn to face me again.

“I know you’re hurting, Caleb. I know that. I’m sorry that you feel like the world is plotting against you right now. But most of all, I’m sorry that Jack isn’t here to slap some sense into you. You’re not this person. The Caleb I knew would have never spoken to me like you have today. He might have been a pain in my ass, but he was never mean for the sake of it. My friend was kind and sweet even when he acted like a jackass. This man before me isn’t him. And I miss my friend,” she says softly, her eyes welling with tears. “I never thought I’d say this, but I miss the annoying cocky asshole you used to be. Where is that guy, huh? Where is my friend, Caleb?”

“He’s dead. Get over it.”

I should feel guilty when she flinches at my cold reply, but I don’t.

Because she’s right—I have changed.

The young, carefree man that didn’t give two shits about anything aside from hockey and partying no longer exists.

He died the day he took his brother’s life.

Just like Piper is now dead to me from trying to steal his legacy.

“When you finally see sense and are ready to apologize, you know where to find me,” she says, head held high even with the silent tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Don’t count on it.”

“For your sake, I hope you’re wrong. Goodbye, Caleb.”

And with that parting remark, she leaves.

Chapter 15

Roxanne

“Whatever you’re doing with Donovan, it’s not working,” Trent says in aggravation before plopping down on the bench seat beside me.

“Well, hello to you, too, Trent,” I retort sarcastically while putting my salad away.

When Trent gets like this, there is no way I’ll be able to finish my meal in peace.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to hijack your lunch,” he says, though I don’t hear genuine regret in his voice as he looks at me packing up my meal.

“Yes, you did,” I reply with a sigh. “Do I even want to know how you found out where I spend my lunch hour?”

“Rex.”

That’s all he had to say.

After all, it was Rex who introduced me to this spot.

For years, we would brown bag our lunch and come to this park to eat just to stare at the Charles River. Sometimes, we would talk about our past and life experiences, but more times than not, we would just sit here in solitary silence. It was a peaceful tradition, one that has been recently broken since Rex has become far too busy with getting his affairs in order for his big move back to Dallas in a couple of weeks.

Still, I’m a little ticked off that he would divulge our sacred spot to Trent.

“Remind me to call Rex and tell him what a rotten friend he is for telling you where to find me.”

“Roxeanne, please, this is serious,” he grumbles in annoyance.

“So is my lunch break. You do know that for me to do my job well, I need the occasional hour to myself? That can’t happen if my boss decides to use that hour to breathe down my neck because he’s unhappy about one of his players.”

“Are you quite done?” Trent retorts, unfazed.

“That all depends? Am I billing you for this hour?” I smile sweetly.

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