Page 67 of Zero Pucks

Stop it, I ordered myself.You’re not a middle school kid with a crush.

“Hello?” Alessia demanded.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I took a deep breath. “Tucker’s fine with everything. He was kind about it.”

“He’d fucking better be, considering he was probably the one who?—”

“No, Alessia,” I said softly. She went quiet immediately. “No. Neither of us remembers whose idea it was, but I know this happened because of me. He was in a very vulnerable place, and so was I.” Everything he told me last night was now crashing down around me. Not only had he suffered immense trauma from his accident, but his fiancée had run away with his twin.

Now he was what? Going to stand up at an altar beside his brother and watch him marry her?

What kind of monster would ask that of a sibling?

“I know you, Deo. Better than anyone. I know you wouldn’t be that reckless.”

Except I would have. Bryce had pushed me to my breaking point. And I wanted to regret that it was Tucker I took advantage of that night to self-soothe, but I couldn’t. Not when he held me while I slept. Not when he kissed me like he meant it. Not when he praised me like he believed I was worthy of it.

“It doesn’t matter,” I finally told her. “We talked everything through, and we’re both good. He’s a decent guy.”

She groaned. “Oh God, youlikehim, don’t you?”

I wasn’t going to lie to her. “There’s a reason I picked him. But don’t worry. Nothing’s going to happen.” Nothing serious, anyway. She didn’t need to know about the rest.

“If you say so. But I did need to talk to you about the apartment?—”

“I want out.”

“Deo—”

“No,” I interrupted for a second time. “I want out. I don’t care what happens. I’ll pay the fine to break the lease if it means I can start fresh. I don’t…hell, I don’t even want my stuff. I’m going to contact the office and see if he can take over the lease. If they agree, I’ll draw up a contract and sign it. If you could deliver it to Bryce, that’s all I need from you.”

“Your things are in there, Deo,” she said firmly. “Childhood things. Important things. You can’t let him have all of that.”

Oh, hell. She was right.

Assuming any of that stuff survived, I did have to get them back. And in truth, I doubted Bryce would have recognized important things to me. He’d go after clothes, shoes, hair products, the cheap dish set I got at Costco that he thought had come from Pottery Barn.

None of that stuff mattered. So maybe, if I could get there without him knowing, I could take what was important to me and go…somewhere. Anywhere he couldn’t find me again.

“Has he contacted you?”

Her question made my stomach roil. “Yeah. He, uh…he did. He knows where I am.”

“Wait.What? How?”

“I don’t know.” All I could come up with was that he must have had my credit card or bank log-in. I’d blocked him everywhere else. I made a mental note to change all the passwords the moment I was off the call with her.

“What the hell did he want?”

“To know what I was doing.”

She swore under her breath. “Do you think he’s going to show up?”

I kind of hoped he did. With the way Tucker had his friends protecting me, it wouldn’t go well for him. I kind of liked the idea of Bryce pissing his pants a little when a bunch of hockey dudes refused to take his shit. But he was also broke. He’d been living off me for years now, and I doubted his little plaything would fund a trip to Massachusetts just to get under my skin.

“I doubt it. He’s not going to fly out here just to make a point. He knows I have to come back sometime.”

Which was why I was trying to avoid it altogether. But that was impossible. Damn it, I wished Tucker was still with me. The comfort of his arms would have made this conversation feel tolerable.

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