Page 61 of The Obvious Check

“Is everything okay?”

“We’ve got to go,” Adley whispers, barely looking at her phone when she says, “I love you so much.”

Panic claws at my throat because I have no idea what the hell is going on. “Adley—”

The screen goes black before I can finish the sentence and I stare at the empty screen, my heart hammering. This can’t be the end. I press the call button, but there’s no answer.

No. No. No.

A lump rises in my throat, thick and suffocating. Stanley nudges my arm, his big, warm eyes watching me like he knows something’s wrong. I sink back into the couch, my fingers still clutching the iPad, the ache in my chest spreading, raw and relentless.

“I miss her so much,” I whisper, my voice barely a breath as I hold back my tears because yet again, I feel helpless. I’ve been trying for two years to get her out of that place, and all my efforts have amounted to absolutely nothing.

I place the iPad on the table, pick up my phone in the process, and send a quick text to Adley.

Savannah:I’m sorry we got cut off. I’m so lucky to have seen you, though. I miss you, Ads.

I don’t know when she’ll see it, but I needed her to know that. Stanley presses closer to me, keeping me grounded, when all I want to do is leave this apartment and get my sister back.

My phone buzzes again and I click the screen on, hoping to see a message from my sister. My stomach drops when I see who it’s from.

Luke:Daniel called and said you haven’t called him about the apartment he has. Where are you staying? If you need a little more cash, maybe we could squeeze in a few extra dances for you.

All the warmth from breakfast, from Cade’s teasing, and his offer to stay vanishes in an instant, replaced with cool bile, settling in my stomach.

This isn’t my life. I’m only here because Cade feels sorry for me.

The thought is sharp and bitter, but it’s true. I don’t belong in Cade’s world. Not really. He has hockey, friends, and a future.

I have Luke. A pile of debt, and a never-ending battle to prove I’m capable of taking care of my sister.

Why would someone like Cade make room for that?

I stare at the message for a long moment, my fingers tightening around the phone until my knuckles turn white. I want to pretend I didn’t see it. Just one time and have just one minute of pretending Luke doesn’t hold power over me, but I can’t. That’s not how things work with him. Ignoring Luke never makes him disappear. It will only make him come looking.

A tremor runs through me as I set the phone down with a shaky breath, and I lean back against the couch, my heart pounding as a wave of anxiety swells so fast it nearly knocks the air from my lungs.

Stanley nudges my leg, sensing my unease. I reach down and grab him, harder than I mean to as I wrap my arms around his warm body, pulling him closer.

“Thanks, buddy,” I whisper, my voice catching in my throat as I bury my face into his fur, clinging to him like he’s the only thing keeping me from splintering.

And maybe he is.

I stare blankly past the coffee table, fighting back the sting behind my eyes.

If everything is so hopeless, if this life is already carved out in stone, then why is there still that whisper in the back of my mind? Why does some small, reckless part of me believe Cade might actually mean what he says? That he doesn’t just pity me. That maybe he wants me here.

I shake my head, pushing that thought away. That’s too hopeful. Hope is dangerous. Hope gets people hurt. But hope might be just what I need to get my sister back.

Chapter 15

Practice isn’t going to plan.

I might’ve saved my teammates extra drills, but I haven’t been able to save them from my subpar performance today. My passes are sloppy, my movements are sluggish and it doesn’t matter how many sprints on the ice I do, I can’t get my head into this. My mind feels like it’s vibrating, stuck on one thing and one thing only. Or one person, more specifically.

Savannah.

That kiss this morning has fucking wrecked me. I grip my stick tighter, only to think about how soft Savannah’s skin felt in my palms earlier. My mind drifts to all the possibilities of what might’ve happened if I didn’t have practice to go to. Maybe I would’ve slipped my hand under her shorts, or gotten rid of them entirely.

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