Page 69 of Don't Leave
For the rest of our ninety-minute practice, I channel all my energy into the drills. When I get home tonight, I want to be so exhausted that I fall straight into bed and sleep without dreaming about Cole.
Once I’m showered, I wait for Sammy to grab her athletic bag before we walk out of the arena together. Neither of us say much as we slide into her crappy little Toyota. When she pulls into traffic at breakneck speed, I’m reminded as to why I scramble for alternative rides to the rink.
Her car should come with a warning label—not intended for people with heart conditions, high blood pressure, or nervous stomachs.
The girl drives like she’s qualifying for the Indy 500.
Bits and pieces of my life flash before my eyes as she squeals around another turn. Not wanting to encourage her, because I’ve realized my frantic pointing and high-pitched yelps will do that, I gnash my teeth together to stifle the screams gathering in my throat.
“Dawson’s Diner, okay?” She doesn’t bother to glance in my direction, instead keeping her gaze focused on the ribbon of dark road beyond the windshield.
Lips pressed tightly together, I reply, “Yup.”
Thankfully, it’s not far.
No more than two minutes pass by before she pulls abruptly into a parking space in front of the restaurant. Woozy from the manic drive over, my legs shake as I exit the vehicle.
Once we’re seated at a small table and my stomach begins to settle, I glance at the menu. The waitress delivers two glasses of water before taking our order and disappearing again.
Now that there’s nothing else to focus our attention on, Sammy and I glance warily at each other. She drums her fingertips on the table as I shift uncomfortably in my seat.
With a sigh, she breaks the brewing tension. “Look, Cassidy, I like you.”
I tilt my head at her opening line. “I’d hate to see what you do to people you don’t like.”
One side of her mouth hitches as she smirks. “Actually, you don’t want to see that.”
She’s right about that.
“But,” she continues, “my point is that I like you. And I really liked you with Cole.”
Thick emotion gathers in my throat as I nod.
“The fact that you were into Luke Wellington the entire time you were seeing my cousin seriously chafes my ass.” Fire leaps into her eyes as she leans toward me. “I warned you in thebeginning not to hurt him.” Her expression fills with disgust as she sits back again. “You’re no better than that bitch Jackie.”
“Luke and I have never been anything other than friends.”
Her eyes narrow. “I thought you two didn’t even know each other.”
There are three people at Western who know what happened to me last year and Sammy isn’t one of them. Flunking out of college, getting kicked off the hockey team, drowning my sorrows in alcohol, and sleeping around isn’t something I’m proud of. Frankly, it’s humiliating that I made such a colossal mess out of my life.
As much as I like Sammy, she’s Cole’s cousin first and foremost. Her allegiance will always be to him, and I wouldn’t expect anything less. But her automatically jumping to conclusions without talking to me hurts. I’d thought we were more than just teammates, I’d assumed we were on our way to being friends.
We have a lot in common, hockey being the most obvious.
Her mad driving skills, not so much.
That friendship stalled when Cole and I broke up. And that really sucks. I’d been hoping we could have a relationship independent of him. Obviously, that’s not possible.
I spent all my teenage years focused on hockey to the exclusion of everything else and it had been necessary to sacrifice my friendships along the way. Brooklyn, a neighbor while growing up, was more of an acquaintance than anything else. When I first arrived at Western, I kept to myself, needing to get my life back under control. Making friends hadn’t been high on the priority list. Slowly, I’ve come out of my shell. The tentative relationships I’m now developing feel important and I don’t want to lose them.
A long silence stretches between us as I debate how much to tell Sammy, if anything. There’s no way I’m ready to completelyspill my guts to her. Honestly, she hasn’t earned my trust. But maybe if I give her some of the truth, she’ll better understand my relationship with Luke.
At this point, that’s all I want.
“Luke and I actually attended the same college last year and both played hockey.”
Sammy’s dark blonde brows knit together but I don’t give her a chance to fire off questions at me.
