Page 20 of Into Ruin

Royal and Olivia stand over me, but they didn’t ask the question.

Camden Church is behind my brother, a few steps down. Standing, he’s even with my seated position. He’s the one who inquired, and Royal and Olivia both twist to eye him.

“No one.” Olivia’s tone dismisses him.

He bristles.

“An old teammate of mine,” Royal says on a sigh.

I lick my lips. That’s not the whole story—not even close. Maybe Royal wants to keep his best friend at a distance from this? For me? It wouldn’t help—Camden is about as close as someone can get, whether I want him here or not.

Not in an entirely bad way.

Not like Max Keegan.

“He had a thing for me.”

Camden’s gaze never leaves mine, even when his best friend is speaking, but now a muscle in his jaw spasms at my words.

Royal grimaces.

“He would leave flowers in my room,” I continue. “When we weren’t home. I’d come back from some after-school activity, or a sleepover, and find pink roses spread across my bed. He always talked about going away to school, though. I thought when he graduated with Royal, that was the end of it…”

“Was it?” Camden asks.

“No.”

He scowls. “So, what, he just showed up?”

Olivia takes over. “He was wearing Shadow Valley gear. Said he just wanted to see Royal play and didn’t expect Harper to be here.”

Max is the reason I don’t post on social media. He’s the reason I didn’t make it known to anyone outside of Olivia and Royal where I had chosen to go to school. My parents have been worried about it so much that they got the local police involved, but with no imminent threat…

Flowers don’t count, I guess. They did put in a report with the police about the breaking and entering, but that’s where it stopped. They couldn’t prove it was him. He was never on the security cameras we put up, there were no fingerprints.

I didn’t even know itwashim until he asked if I got his gift.

“Now he knows she’s here,” Camden muses. He eyes Royal and lifts a brow.

My brother seems to come to some sort of decision. About me, I would imagine. I open my mouth to argue, but he beats me to the punch.

“No,” he snaps. “Don’t. There’s an extra room in the hockey house, and it’s yours until further notice. This is not an option, Harper.”

I gape at him. Olivia even seems surprised.

“You can’t be serious.” I grip the railing and haul myself up. “I’m not moving in with you and four other guys.”

He shakes his head. “It’s that or I tell our parents.”

Ah, shit.

There’s no way they’d let me stay if they knew Max had been here.

Olivia shifts her weight, and I can read her mind. She’s thinking,well, it’s not the worst idea. The one thing Max always shied away from was fucking with Royal. They were teammates, after all.

“Come on.” Royal holds out his hand. “We can use the exit downstairs. Then we’re packing your shit.”

I heave a sigh, but what am I to do? Wait for Max to break into my dorm room? The security in that place is shy of nothing. Camden was able to get in easily. Cynthia would probably believe whatever story Max fed her about me and let him wait for me on my bed.

---