Page 46 of Fate on the Ice

“She’s gone, Otto. She doesn’t want you to give up everything for her. So, she left.”

I almost laugh at that bullshit. But at the same time, my heart warms at the thought of her trying to save me. Even if it’s bullshit, it’s sweet bullshit. Clearing my throat, I run my fingers through my hair, trying to figure out what I’m going to do next.

“Do you know where she went?” I ask, shifting my gaze to meet Brooklynn’s.

She chews on her bottom lip for a moment, then looks down at her feet before she slowly lifts her eyes to meet my own. She’s avoiding answering me, likely because she does know, but she’s stalling.

“Brooklynn?” I ask with a warning tone.

She lets out a heavy sigh, then flicks her gaze to the staircase before she brings it back to meet mine.

“She went to that motel at the end of town. She texted me, and she’s in room 1-1-2.”

Instead of thanking her, I turn around and run toward my car. It doesn’t matter that I’m in sweats, that my hair is a mess, or that my face is killing me. I’m getting my woman and dragging her ass back home, even if it’s the last place she wants to be because I know it’s where she belongs.

Chapter

Twenty-Two

GRACE

I have come to the conclusion that I’m pretty sure I’m spoiled. My gaze flicks around the room. And I realize I’m not just a little spoiled. I’m a lot spoiled. Because this motel room is icky. I’ve turned my phone off, unable to handle another text from Otto. I just cannot see his questions because I want to answer him, and I want to do that by running back to him.

But I’ve scraped my cash together, I’ve packed my car, and I’m heading out of town. My father has also asked me if I could come to the first game of the season. He wants to talk to me.

Really, the only reason my father has invited me is that he wants to show me his team, his job, and how successful he is. He’s going to remind me that I need to leave Otto so he can concentrate on playing.

What my father doesn’t know is that I’ve already left. And I’m not going to placate him in any way whatsoever. I’m going to do what I have no doubt he wants me to do, what he’s always wanted me to do—I’m going to quietly vanish from his life.

I should have done that when he made it clear he wasn’t interested in being a father. When hockey became his only focus, he would just send me money to shut me up. I took it, too, trying to forge my own way with college and failed miserably.

It’s time that I just go away and attempt to figure out life on my own.

As terrifying as that is.

A knock causes my spine to straighten. Spinning around, I rush toward the door. It’s Otto. It has to be, and I know that I shouldn’t answer it, but I want to see him—I need to see him. Wrapping my fingers around the knob, I twist it and tug the door open.

Except the sight that greets me is not the welcome one of Otto.

Gasping, I stumble backward.

This is the last person I thought I would see.

But is it? He’s made it clear that he was watching me, that he knew where I was. I was living in a dreamworld to think that this moment wasn’t possible. He was waiting until I was alone, weak, and vulnerable.

The same way he did when we were in college.

This is who he is. Weak. Pathetic. Desperate.

It’s not the weak and pathetic part that scares me. It’s the desperate one. Because last time he was that way, he lied and cheated, which is how I got expelled from school. But this isn’t something so innocent.

Although, maybe innocent isn’t the right word. I don’t think innocence gets someone expelled from college. But at least I wasn’t physically in danger. Right now, I’m feeling very scared.

“Hayze?” I whisper. “What are you doing here?”

His lips curve into a grin, and he moves into the room, slamming the door behind him. The walls shake with the movement, which means that the people on either side of us could hear me if I screamed, except my car is the only one in the parking lot, so I’m not sure anyone else is staying here.

“I’ve been texting you. Don’t tell me you’re that fucking stupid that you didn’t think I’d take my chance.”

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