Page 42 of My Brother's Best Friend

“Because nobody else does.”

I twirled back around and shoved him hard in the chest. “You’re heartless. Absolutely heartless, Oliver Weber. I can’t believe that Alec has ever seen you as a friend. You’re one of the most terrible human beings that I’ve met!”

Oliver glared at me for a couple more moments, and then his jaw twitched the way it always did when he knew he was wrong but didn’t want to admit to it. If he kept talking, he’d dig himself into a deeper and deeper hole.

“You might be my sister,” Oliver said, “but you don’t know shit about me.”

I crossed my arms. “I know you’re a terrible friend and brother.”

“A terrible brother?” Oliver repeated. “Do you remember what I did to Spencer for you?”

“Just because you did one nice thing for me, I’m suddenly expected to treat you like a god?!” I exclaimed, shaking my head and storming to my car. “No. Fuck that, Oliver.” I got in and slammed my door. “Fuck every one of your stupid, heartless asshole friends too.”

This town was going to shit, and I wanted to see it burn, just like Poison did.

CHAPTER25

ALEC

After a long day at school, listening to constant whispering about me and watching my own teammates give me looks that I couldn’t quite decipher, I exited my car and walked into the gym for practice.

While I didn’t particularly want to work out today, if Mom caught me home again, she would be even more suspicious than she already was. Honestly, I was surprised that she hadn’t found out yet with how much Redwood gossiped. And I wouldn’t hear the end of it from her.

When I walked into the building, a couple of guys nodded to me, but didn’t say a word. I awkwardly headed toward the locker rooms, spotting a couple of men in suits, talking to Coach. They made eye contact with me, smiling.

Fuck, if these were recruiters …

Stepping into the locker room, I spotted Oliver rummaging through his locker with his training shirt thrown over his bare shoulder. I placed my belongings down on the bench beside his and opened my locker.

Like the other guys, he glanced over at me, but didn’t say anything.

“Sorry about the other day during your game,” I finally said, wanting to get on with him.

I couldn’t deal with this shit alone anymore. I had Maddie, but I couldn’t talk to her about guy shit. I had known Oliver for fucking years now.

And suddenly, I had missed one game and got the cold shoulder.

“It’s fine,” he said, slamming his locker closed and walking out of the room.

I sighed to myself, changed into my hockey gear, and headed back to the main area with my stick. The two suited men from earlier sat in the stadium, watching the team run through warm-ups. I was late.

Before I could skate onto the ice, Coach cleared his throat. “Alec, my office.”

Double. Fuck.

Once I followed him into his office in the back, I shut the door behind me and hoped that he wouldn’t shout too loudly at me for missing another few hours of practice yesterday.He has to have seen the video, right? Will he even sympathize?

“There are scouts here from national teams,” Coach said. “They’re here to watch you practice, and they’ll be here throughout the week for your next game. Are you okay enough to train with us today?”

I opened my mouth, then snapped it shut because I always had an expectation to train, to practice, to learn and hone my skills. I was expected to go into the NHL, and I had wanted to since I was a kid.

But lately … that dream had felt so lost.

“I’m fine,” I said.

“You can talk to me.”

“No, it’s fine,” I said, staring down at my shoes. “I’m fine.”

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