Page 134 of Unsteady

He holds his hands up in surrender but I can hear my heartbeat in my ears, anxiety and frustration starting to ratchet higher.

“Calm down, Rhys. Please. Sadie really needs you right now. Do your exercises.”

I start counting immediately, desperate to bring myself down from it. When I can breathe normally again, my dad beckons me up the stairs and towards my room.

The door opens and my mom comes out, leaving it lightly cracked behind her.

“Rhys,” she whispers, eyes red like she’s been crying. She tries to stop me from entering the room, but I move around her.

I open the door gently, stepping in quietly as I take note of her sleeping form.

Except, I’ve slept next to the girl for months, seen exactly how she sleeps. And this isn’t it. She’s pretending.

Her eyes look swollen shut, face pink and her ankle is elevated with ice and a wrap around it.

I leave quietly, trying desperately to hold into the shredded threads of my current temper.

"I'm gonna kill him,” I rasp, but there's a catch in my throat as I look towards my room, where I know Sadie's pretending to sleep. Tears burn in my eyes as I turn back towards my mom and reach for her.

“Oh Rhys, honey.” She envelops me in her arms. “No, it’s okay. She twisted her ankle skating and she couldn’t get home. Toren followed her here to make sure she didn’t crash. She was… upset.”

“About what? If he so much as—”

“She wouldn’t say,” my mom says, her eyes closed flickering to my father in the same way they have been almost constantly.

My dad steps forwards. “How much do you know about the figure skating coach she trains under?”

I shrug, a little uncomfortably. Is this something I should’ve paid attention to? Why are they asking me that?

“Sadie’s never complained or anything. But… I saw him get physical with her at the competition.”

My dad nods as if this is something he expected, then shares a knowing look with my mom. I comb and pull at my hair again, because I’m still shaking and if I don’t do something with my hands, I’m scared my whole body will start shaking.

“Know anything about him as a skater? Alexan Kelchevsky?”

“Kelchevsky? He goes by Kelley. Is he Russian?” My dad nods. I shake my head, but I’m starting to feel sick. “What is this about? You’re freaking me out—both of you.”

“You need to see this, then.”

FORTY-SEVEN

SADIE

When I wake up, I have no concept of what time it is, barely realizing where I am.

“Hey.”

My head spins.

Rhys is there, sitting in the plush loveseat catty cornered to the bed. His hair is messy, like he’s been messing with it for hours, dressed in gray joggers and his Waterfell Hockey shirt.

“What time is it?” My voice sounds groggy and foreign.

He hands me a water bottle, opening it for me as he does.

“Six a.m. You managed to sleep through the night.”

Yet he doesn’t look like he slept a wink. He looks exhausted, like he got back from his game already tired and still didn’t sleep. Like he’s been sitting there, watching over me all night.

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