Page 79 of Busted Dreams

Rhys dipped his head for a goodbye kiss too.

The door shut quietly behind them, and Jonah and I were left staring at each other.

“What just happened?” Sleep clogged my voice as I was trying to find my brain cells so I could have an intelligent conversation.

“Some guys are causing trouble at a hockey party.” He moved over to the other end of my couch, his features softly illuminated by the light coming from the TV. Whatever they had been watching, someone had paused it.

Wait, it was that Greek guy with the big hair. “Ancient Aliens?” I rasped, flopping back down on the arm of the chair. Naps were amazing, but when they were so late in the day, I ended up being super groggy and out of it.

Jonah barked out a short laugh. “Yeah, I guess Thatcher is rubbing off on us.”

He picked my feet up and draped them over his lap, curling his fingers around my toes. The butterflies in my stomach started to explode into rampant flight as I felt like our friendship was about to change on a fundamental level.

“Who are these punks?” Beck asked as he fastened his seatbelt.

“Two guys I play hockey against.” And Darren had been livid in his text messages and calls. At first, I’d tried to ignore him, but he was worried the cops were going to be called. Then where would we all fucking be? There was too damn much on the line for these guys to fuck around like this.

“Best friends?” he asked.

“Funny, they aren’t actually from the same town and they’re on rival teams. I don’t know how they became such good friends. Hockey is such a cutthroat, intense sport, there haven’t been a lot of friendships formed outside of a team.” I reversed out of the driveway, not ready for whatever showdown these guys had planned.

“I can think of one thing,” Beck said wryly.

“Oh, yeah? And what’s that?”

Beck propped his head up with his hand, using the window to brace his elbow. “You. I’ve seen you play, even if I missed the bigger game. You’re serious competition. Jealousy is a horrible thing, and they probably have it in spades.” His tone was light, but his face was grave. He really thought that was the reason they had banded together. Funny, I didn’t see it that way at all. To me, they were a couple of punks who were too insecure and immature to live in the real world.

“That makes zero sense. I could buy it if only one scholarship went out per year. Or even one per university. That would be stiff competition that would drive anyone to insane measures. But that’s not the way it is. Each school gives out a few scholarships based on their need and the talent of the graduating seniors. And funding too,” I added as an afterthought.

Beck shook his head like he couldn’t believe he was having this conversation with me.

“Didn’t you say these other teams were from poor districts?”

Not sure where he was going with this, I gave him the most accurate answer I could. “I wouldn’t say poor exactly. There are some scholarship players who are on the other teams, and they’re in areas where wealth isn’t as prevalent as in Silver Ranch, but not poor in the realest definition. Hell, hockey’s expensive as shit.”

“Okay, but are these two guys on scholarship?” Beck’s tone said he was trying to lead me somewhere.

“I-I don’t know.” That was confidential for the most part. I imagined it would embarrass players for the whole team to know they didn’t have the funds to play.

“I would bet at least one of them is. If not both.” He nodded to himself like it all made sense. “Just imagine this for a minute. You’re broke. You only get to play hockey because some wealthy fucker took pity on you. Otherwise, you’d be working a minimum wage job at a fast food place with no options for college. Unless they have stellar grades. Now, you’ve got talent. A lot of it. But when scouts come calling, they all gravitate toward the golden boy of Silver Ranch. And plot twist. His family has more money than God, so he doesn’t even need a scholarship. That little rich boy is potentially taking the only chance you have to go to college doing something you love. That’s why I think they’re making trouble for your team.” He pointed a finger at me.

“How would you even come up with that scenario from the few things I’ve mentioned?” I was shocked. His words hit a little too close to home, and I had to seriously consider he was right on the money. I hated it, because I didn’t want it to be about me or about my fucking father’s money, but he was probably right.

“Because,” he said as he shrugged nonchalantly, “that’s how I would feel.”

Fuck. That shot straight through my chest. There had never really been any separation between us. We’d met and come together as friends of Astrid’s, and now maybe something more?

But damn if I didn’t feel like the biggest asshole for actually having family money. Especially because I could care less about it. If I could, I’d burn it all in a big bonfire and eat popcorn while Dad went apeshit.

“Beck…” Was he feeling the same thing I was?

“Don’t worry about it. I like you. It doesn’t matter that you have money. In fact, we’re more alike than the rest of society would ever accept.” Humor colored his next tone. “I mean, look at our friend group. You, me, Jonah, Thatcher, and Astrid? We drew the fucking short straws when God assigned families. That makes you practically my blood brother.”

“Brother husband, you mean?” I laughed.

In the beginning, I hadn’t been sure what I would feel when Astrid wanted to continue dating Beck and Thatcher. I definitely thought I’d feel jealousy. Rage. Maybe even take a hit to my self-confidence.

Crazy enough, none of that happened. Okay. I did feel jealousy when they got more of her time than I did. But I genuinely liked them as people. If I knew one thing about each of them, it was that they cared about Astrid and would do what they could to keep her safe. Happy.

---