Page 139 of Triple Pucked
They are focused and serious in a way that has taken the rival defensemen apart.
It seems impossible for Shay to miss every time that he gains the puck.
Since my new family came back from Merchant’s Inn, I could tell that something had shifted.
Something important.
Later, as we were alone together brushing our teeth, I noticed how slumped Shay’s shoulders were.
He smelled of beer but he wasn’t buzzing like he normally was when he came back from the pub, excitedly talking about how he was going to tongue Robyn before bed.
Instead, he was unusually quiet, spitting out toothpaste into the sink and washing it away.
I nudged him with my shoulder. “Okay, bro?”
“I’ll tell you tomorrow. It’s too late, and this shit is big, Dee.” Shay bit his lip. “You won’t ever hate me, right?”
Shocked, I grabbed his arm and turned him to face me. “Circle of Twins.”
Why would I need to say more than that?
He knew that I would die for him. I already had.
He would always be the most important man in my life.
My twin.
Why was he shaking?
“But our lives are being fucked up because of my past.” Shay’s tormented gaze met mine. “I tried to outrun Blythe and escape. I thought that us coming to America would be a fresh start. That I would be bloody free. But we’re not.”
“We are,” I insisted.
“The worse thing is that I was beginning to think that Robyn and D’Angelo were going to keep us.”
“Hmm.” I wiped a trace of white away from the edge of his lip like I always had when we were kids because he’d rush through getting ready before school.
Shay’s eyes widened with panic. “You don’t think that they will…? I can win these games. I bloody will. And I can be better. Begood. I’m trying, even if I’m a mess. I didn’t mean to breakthat jar of peanut butter all over the kitchen floor this morning. Should I ask to be disciplined?”
Fury raged through me.
Maybe my brother was still fucked up by his past. He’s not free of it. But I am going to make sure that he escapes.
I started that young and I will never stop.
I will spend my life setting my brother free.
“Never.” I fixed Shay with a stern stare. “Robyn and D’Angelo maykeepyou or not, but no one is keeping…owning…me ever again. But they doloveus. And we love them. Isn’t that enough?”
Now, I blush, running my hand through my hair. Luckily, there was no one here to see me lose my cool or my freakish smile.
Robyn says that she likes it when I smile, but I know that I never quite get it right.
How do other people do it so easily? How does Shay?
I clutch my popcorn closer to my chest.
I have spent my life trying to fit into a world that I simply don’t fit into.
