Page 15 of Zero Pucks

Tucker. It was definitely Tucker. He was upset about something, but I couldn’t remember what. He’d laughed—it had been a nice laugh. He asked me if I’d ever had a chocolate cake shot and then giggled like a little kid when I was surprised that the shot didn’t have any chocolate liquor in it.

“Who the fuck drinks chocolate liquor?”

“Who the fuck drinks a shot called chocolate cake that doesn’t have chocolate in it?” I’d fired back.

His smile had me weak in the knees.

We did three in a row, and then he leaned in. His breath smelled like the sugar rim on the shot glass. “I know something fun we could do. And it would really piss off my brother. He always wanted to go first.”

His brother…he was angry at his brother. I couldn’t remember why. But whatever it was, it had seemed like the most genius idea. And he was the most amazing man I had ever known, even if it had been less than an hour.

Everything was a foggy blur after that. I’d woken up in his arms feeling safe and warm, and then everything had come crashing down.

I’d turned my life upside down, and I had no idea why.

* * *

“Well, I’ll give you credit,” Alessia said, staring at me over her wineglass.

The smell of booze was still making me sick, so I’d gotten a passion fruit tea and a salad while she dug into a massive plate of carbonara. We were at the little hole-in-the-wall Italian place that actually got the cuisine right.

“For what? Being a jackass?”

She laughed, snorting cheese down the back of her throat. “That too, but for going big when you decide to torch something.”

“I wasn’t trying to go big! I was…” I didn’t know what I’d been thinking. That I wanted out? That I needed a way to make sure I could never come back from this? Except I had a sinking feeling in my gut that Bryce would forgive me for this just so he could use it against me for the rest of our lives.

I couldn’t live like that.

“Are you going to cry?” She used to say that to me when we were kids to mock me. I was a crier up until high school. But right now, she sounded genuine.

I realized my eyes were hot and blurry with tears. “What if this isn’t enough to get away from him?”

“You don’t need a reason to leave, Deo. You can just go. You can pack your shit and sleep in my guest room.Andget a fucking restraining order against him because the dude has bull-sized balls full of audacity that he has not earned, and I don’t trust him with you when you finally tell him it’s over.”

I felt sick. My phone began to buzz in my pocket, and I immediately knew who was calling. I’d been avoiding talking to Bryce since I’d gotten back into the city, which had been easy because he was out of town. But his flight had landed two hours ago, and he was probably wondering why I wasn’t at the airport picking him up.

I didn’t want to see him, but I also knew I had no choice. I had to end this, and I needed to do it in person. I wanted him to see my face so he knew that I meant it this time when I said it was over.

“I can’t go back to the apartment after I tell him. He has a key, and I know he’s not going to give it back.”

“So don’t.” Alessia set her fork down and reached for my hand. “Answer the phone and tell him you need to talk. Pick somewhere public. End this misery circus, Amedeo. Please.”

My heart was in my throat. The call went to voicemail, but instead of leaving one, he called back. It wouldn’t stop until I answered. My hands shook so violently I could barely hold my phone, but I managed to answer the call.

“Bryce.”

“What the fuck is this shit, Deo? Where are you right now, and who the fuck are you with?”

I flinched. “What are you talking about?” There was no way he could know what I’d been up to.

“Jacques Aspey, family attorney?”

My heart sank to my feet so fast my head began to spin. “How…are you logged into my Venmo?”

“You know I’m keeping track of your expenses, babe. You’re a chronic overspender. What is this almost six hundred bucks? What is going on?”

I swallowed heavily. “That’s…personal.”

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