Page 21 of Into Ruin

I wrinkle my nose at that thought.

But in the end, I take my brother’s hand.

“This is it.”Royal gestures.

One of the other guys in the house, Lucas, is kneeling next to a half-inflated air mattress in my new room. The whir of the motor pumping it almost overtakes Royal’s words. Other than the air mattress, the room is empty.

No dresser, no lighting except the glaring overhead one. That’ll need to be changed immediately. Well, tomorrow. It’s late now, and there are less people filling the downstairs of the hockey house than I was expecting.

Maybe the party is elsewhere?

“Why do you guys call it the hockey house when there’s only four of you living here?”

Lucas snorts. He’s a defenseman like Royal, I think. I don’t know much else about him; beyond that he has the vibe of a Canadian hockey player. I can’t explain it.

“It became the hangout spot for the starters. Hosted a few parties here, then the name stuck,” he explains. “A lot of the other guys either live in dorms or apartments around Framingham, but this is the biggest.”

Huh.

Well, that’s dumb.

Once the air mattress is finished inflating, he shuts off the motor, caps it, and scoots past us. “Welcome to the house, roomie.”

Royal glares at his back, then tows me farther into the room. He shakes out a fitted sheet and spreads it across the mattress. I have a laundry basket full of blankets and pillows, and we make the bed in silence.

Lucas comes up a minute later with my two suitcases.

“You pack bricks in here, Lawson?” he grunts.

“Shay,” I correct. “Harper Shay.”

“Right.Shay.”

“And, as a matter of fact… no. It’s just a lot of clothing.” And shoes. And my textbooks, notebooks, and pen case. They wouldn’t all fit in my backpack, so…

The textbooks are probably the problem.

“Thanks for your help.”

He waves me off and heads out again. Royal plants his hands on his hips, staring around at the not-quite-so-empty room.

“Shopping tomorrow,” he says. “We’ll get everything you need.”

“You have a game tomorrow,” I point out. “You leave early. You should already be asleep?—”

“I’ll sleep on the bus,” he interrupts. “I’ll leave you a credit card, yeah? Don’t make that face. It’s fine. I just want to make sure you’re settled.”

“I just need sleep,” I say quietly. “The rest… Olivia and I will figure it out tomorrow.”

He nods, then pauses. Carefully, he shuts the door and faces me. He seems a lot more tired than he did a minute ago, like a mask has dropped. “I’m just worried about you. I know you wanted to go farther away for school, and FSU wasn’t exactly your idea. But Olivia is close, and I’m here, so…”

“I know.”

A lump forms in my throat. Iwasplanning on going farther away. But after everything with Max last year, even whenhewas supposedly off at college, it began to feel dangerous going somewhere new. Somewhere I’d be all alone.

“I’m glad you’re here. Playing kick-ass hockey with your friends.” I make a shooing motion. “Now go away so I can get some sleep.”

He chuckles, but he does leave me. I hesitate for a second, then lock the door behind him. I kick off my shoes and flop onto the bed. My phone vibrates against my ass. I roll and pull it from my jeans, and I freeze.

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