Page 87 of Body Checked By the Defenseman

“Look, I don’t know why they did that, but you should talk to them. You all deserve to know the truth. And you hating on themost important people in your life isn’t worth it. My family is broken. My father barely invites me for Christmas and when I do show up, he doesn’t really care I’m there because he’s focused on Christie’s kids. You’re lucky to have your sister and Mack. Don’t go fucking it up because of some ego protective shit.”

He isn’t wrong. I didn’t hear them out. I was willing to hear Abuela out when she kept a pretty damn important secret. I have a mother out there and I wonder what she is like. Why she ran off on us. I forgave Abuela because she’d basically put her life on hold for me, and we weren’t even related. I still don’t know how I could repay her. But Ruby is my blood, and Macklin was like a brother. I expected more from them than sneaking around behind my back.

I dip my head. “I should go back to Lonsdale,” I admit to Shane.

“I love having you here, bro, but yeah, go back to your family and fix this shit,” he advises.

I walk over to him and hug him, and he gets thrown off but then he hugs me back.

“You’re my family too, bro. My door is always going to be open to you when I get to Tampa.”

“Thanks.” He hugs me back and then we separate.

“I’ll go pack my things. Thanks for knocking some sense into me,” I say to him.

“Maybe Mack wants something more than what you saw last night,” Shane adds.

His words hit home. “Yeah, you may be right.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

She’s Everything

Macklin

“I can’t believe I am watching this movie,” I say, hiding my face because Ruby wanted to watchDora and the Lost City of Goldbecause she was a bigDora the Explorerfan as a little girl.

“Stop acting like you’re not enjoying this. I know you loved Diego as a little boy. It’s one of the details of your past you did share,” she retorts as she lies on the couch with her feet in my lap.

“Of everything I’ve ever said, that is what you remember?” I ask sardonically.

She laughs.

Abuela walks into the room. “You two are couple goals.”

“Please,” Ruby says, “we’ve been together for five seconds.”

“I think it’s been a little longer than that.” I feign offence.

“It’s like you’ve been together a lifetime with how well you two know each other,” she states warmly. “Rubes, I think you secretly watched Dora into your teens.”

Ruby’s eyes widen. “How do you know that? It’s so embarrassing.”

I burst into laughter.

“There are a lot of secrets I know.” Abuela winks.

“Like the fact I had a crush on you as a teenager,” I tell Ruby about Abuela’s little confession.

“No,” Ruby sits up, whipping her legs off my lap. “You knew?”

Abuela nods. “I decided to let nature take its course.”

“It took nature a heck of a long time,” I retort.

“My dorm flooding was clearly meant to be,” Ruby adds.

The key turns in the door and we all look at each other, wondering who it could be. Mario’s children and grandchildren left today and Mario is upstairs.

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