Page 46 of My Brother's Best Friend

“There he is!” Vera shouted once the rest of Redwood Academy and the hockey team spilled out into the Redwood hallways.

Vera looped her arm around mine and jumped up and down excitedly for me as Blaise stood off to the side, leaning against the exit door, crossing his arms, and raising a suspicious brow at his girlfriend.

I glanced over my shoulder to see Alec walk through the crowd, giving people small smiles. But his eyes didn’t really light up until he saw me standing across from him in the packed corridor.

Before I even had a chance to turn around and run far away—because everyone was around—Sandra curled her arm around his and smirked.

“I can’t believe you scored the winning goal in overtime, Alec!” She touched him like she owned him, and I hated it. “You were so awesome tonight.”

Alec stiffened, an uncomfortable expression crossing his face. Everyone at school watched him like a hawk, wondering how he would react to Sandra after they had seen the video.

“What are you waiting for, Maddie?” Vera whisper-yelled at me.

After swallowing hard, I shook my head. “Vera …”

“Why can’t you forget about what people think for once?” Vera pushed.

“I … I can’t,” I whispered, glancing at Alec.

Oliver was right there with him, watching me watch him. After the other night, he probably had his suspicions about my feelings toward Alec, but I didn’t think Oliver knew that Alec liked me too.

When Sandra pulled him closer, he stiffened even more and pulled himself out of her hold. Sandra wrapped her arm around his again—that bitchloathedrejection—and tried to tug him closer to her.

“Get off me, Sandra,” he said, his voice weak. “I have somewhere to be.”

“Somewhere to be?” she asked, hands on her hips.

Oliver slung his arm around Alec’s shoulders. “The party at my place.”

I gritted my teeth together, wanting to grab Oliver by his big ears, throw him out into the cold, and stomp on his little pea brain. All day today, he had barelylookedat Alec during school, and now, he was inviting him to another party after what had happened last time!

Sure, Alec could go if he wanted, but come on!

Oliver and the team didn’t give a fuck about Alec unless Alec helped them win games against other teams, show off to recruiters, and secure their victories on and off the ice. And I fucking hated it.

Alec walked backward down the hallway in the opposite direction as the exit, hurling his thumb back. “Actually, I have something else to do,” he said, his face turning white with fear as he nearly tripped backward over his own two feet.

“I’ll catch up with you later,” Alec said, taking one quick look at me.

I stared at the back of Alec’s head as he walked down the hallway. Right before he turned the corner, he looked back at me again, as if he wanted me to follow him. But I couldn’t do that with Oliver still here. No way in hell.

“You should stay at Vera’s tonight, Maddie,” Oliver said, shrugging on his winter coat and staring out the glass door windows at Redwood going insane outside. “The guys are going to go crazy. I don’t want any of them coming on to you.”

Vera slung an arm over my shoulders. “Don’t worry about that.”

I cut my gaze to Vera, who snickered to herself.

Oliver raised a brow. “What is it? Did one of them already?—”

“No!” I shouted too quickly. “Vera was just kidding. She, uh, thinks I like someone in my Stats class, but I don’t.”

“Who?” Oliver asked.

“Jace Harbor,” I said, nearly puking in my mouth at the sound of his name on my tongue.

I’d never liked him, but Jace’s name got the job done because Oliver scrunched his nose.

“Jace Harbor? Isn’t he dating his stepsister or something? They were a thing a couple of months ago. Why would you like?—”

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