Page 28 of The Comeback

“Really.”

“So you expect me to believe you’ve developed better taste in friends since high school?” Right. I hung out with a lot of shit heads in high school and while I never participated in their cruelty, I also never stopped it. I may have had my reasons for keeping her away from me and my family, but that’s a poor excuse.

“Yes. Those assholes were never my friends. They were just there. Acquaintances by proximity.” I rub my hands up and down the rough fabric of my jeans. Man that sounds lame even to me.

She pushes off the wall and a flash of heat raced up my side when she brushed past me. “Whatever. I’m gonna grab a ride and head home. Feel free to stay and hang out with your friends. I can get myself home.”

My hand closes over her upper arm to swing her around before I can stop myself. I release her as soon as her eyes trailed down to where we were connected. “Sorry. Let me give you a ride home, please. I wasn’t planning on going out with the guys.”

“Why not? You did your job. Got me to sing in front of people. Plus you’ve got your first game next week. You’re going to be busy. I’m going to be busy. Let’s call it a lost cause and move on.”

“But…”

“Don’t worry, I’ll still help you with music class. We don’t have any assignments this week, though, so there’s no need to get together.” Her eyes frost over hiding her emotions behind a wall of ice. Is that really what she thinks of me? That I’m only in this for the homework help.

“That’s not why I did this.”

She tilts her head with a skeptical expression before tapping away on her phone. “My car will be here in a few. I’m gonna go wait out front.”

I follow her to the slit of sunshine casting a angular shadow across the mouth of the alley and wait until a dark blue Corolla pulls up in front. She slips into the backseat without a backward glance. She’s right. Life is going to get even busier with the hockey season starting, but I’m not leaving things like this. I promised I’d help her get past her stage fright and I intend to keep that promise. Like I always told her I’d be there for her and keep her safe when we were in elementary school. Turned out I couldn’t keep both of those promises at the same time, so I had to break one. I’d do it again, though. To keep her safe. I’d do anything to keep her safe.

Chapter 21

Abby

Ipulloffmyjacket and tie it around my waist letting the sun warm my skin as Aura and I make the trek across campus from her parking spot. September blessed us with one final gorgeous day before October creeps in with chillier days.

“How’d you do on McConnell’s pop quiz yesterday?” she asks.

“Good. I got a 90. It was a tough one, though. How about you? How did rehearsal go?” Ree came home super late last night after a rehearsal for the production of Chicago the theater department is putting on this semester, so we haven’t had a chance to catch up.”

Her whole face lights up when her lips curve up in a huge smile. “Fantastic. Zayne is A plus to work with. Not to mention yummy to look at.”

I turn my head to give her a look. “Don’t tell me you’re crushing on your co star. Haven’t you learned that’s never a good idea?”

She flicks her long black hair over her shoulder. “Don’t be such a spoil sport. I can admire from afar.”

“Uh huh.” She laughs at my exaggerated eye roll.

I whip around thrusting a hand out when someone touches my shoulder. As if I’m going to take anyone down with my Smaug coffee tumbler.

The blond-haired god behind me backs up a step with his hands in the air and an apologetic look gracing his boyish face. The boyishness ends at the face. The rest of him is a solid six feet plus of chiseled muscle. It only takes a moment for the connection to snap into place and I recognize him as one of Sebastian’s team mates. One of the ones who saw my stellar escape the other night. Humiliation burns through me and I take a few backward steps to put a little more distance between us.

“Hey, sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you. You’re Abby, right?” His bright blue eyes sweep over me widening for a split second with a hint of interest.

“Yeah.” My eyes narrow in suspicion as I take in the gorgeous guy. I can assess his looks in a purely surface way, but my errant thoughts keep comparing him to another hockey god. Bad brain. Or maybe it’s not my brain responsible for those thoughts.

“I’m Jackson, one of Seb’s roommates. I just wanted to let you know I enjoyed your performance the other night. You’re really good.”

I pause waiting for the punchline. Guys like him aren’t nice to me. Exhibit A all of high school. Exhibit B: Connor. Sure he pretended to be nice for a while, but he had no problem dropping me like I had a contagious disease once he found someone more worthy of him.

He tilts his head after the uncomfortable length of my silence. “Seriously. You were great. Seb said you wrote some of those songs yourself, which is pretty awesome.”

I let him hang for another brief moment before responding. “Thanks.” It comes out as more of a question than a statement.

“Anyway. I gotta head to class. Me and the guys will come watch you sing any time though.”

Without another word he throws a wave at me tosses the golden waves off his forehead and heads off with a bright smile.

---