Page 130 of Breakaway Hearts

A key jiggles in the lock, and my mother opens the door. She rushes inside, her face worried and her hair pulled back into a messy ponytail.

“Callie,” she breathes when she sees me.

I burst into tears, and she wraps her arms around me.

Chapter45

Reese

The puck nearly rips a hole through the net with the force I send it flying. Sweat creases down my face and drips onto the ice.

I feel close to collapsing.

I keep skating while the rest of the guys finish up practice and file off the ice, dribbling the puck and shooting it with the same amount of force until it feels like my arms are about to fall off.

“Reese!”

I look up to see Noah, still in his skates, standing by the bench. He waves for me to come over, and I cut across the ice toward him.

“Hey,” I say once I’m close to him. “What’s up?”

“Ease up, man.” He purses his lips and looks me up and down. “I know the last few days have been rough since all that shit with Callie went down, but you can’t be blowing your muscles like that before a game. If you need to talk, I’m here. But for now, go shower and head home. Get some rest.”

I nod and thank him instead of saying that the last thing I want to do right now is go home. The house is empty. Silent. Dark without Callie’s brightness.

I miss her. So fucking much. And right now, slamming a puck into a net is the only thing I can do to take my mind off her. Maybe it’s masochistic, but the inner turmoil is replaced by the physical pain of overexercising.

Noah is right, though. It’s irresponsible of me to do this to myself before a game day. It’s probably irresponsible regardless of the situation.

But still, going back to my house makes it feel like a pit is opening up in my stomach. I head into the locker room, which is mostly empty at this point, and take my time showering and changing before throwing my bag over my shoulder.

I’m heading down the hall when I hear my name being called by the last person I want to talk to.

“Reese!”

I grimace, gripping the strap of my bag tighter. I’m tempted to pretend I didn’t hear anything and to just continue on to my car. Before I can make a decision on that, though, Sienna catches up to me, touching me on the shoulder. I turn to face her, my jaw tight.

“Hey,” she says breathlessly. “I was hoping I would run into you.”

“I don’t know why you would want that,” I say, my voice cold. “I’ve gotta run.”

“Reese.” She slips around me so that she’s standing in front of me, blocking my path. “Hang on. I just wanna talk.”

“I don’t want to talk to you.”

“Why?”

“Why?” I scoff. “You can’t be fucking serious right now. Do you really think I want to talk to you after what you said to Callie the other night?”

Sienna winces slightly. “She told you?”

“Of course she told me.” My nostrils flare, my hands curling into tight balls. “That was fucked up, Sienna. So fucked up. I said that to you because you couldn’t manage your insecurities and couldn’t accept my friendship with Callie. And then you had to go and weaponize my words, to do what? To make Callie feel like shit? To ruin my relationship? You knew I didn’t mean it like that, and you still told her.”

Defensive anger flashes in Sienna’s eyes, and she straightens her spine a little.

“This whole thing with Callie is a sham anyway. And now, what? You’re really trying to act like it was real? You don’t have to lie anymore.” She takes a half step closer to me, a plaintive note entering her voice. “What we had was real. We didn’t have to write up a contract outlining when and where we would kiss just to convince other people we were really together. We didn’t have to make up safe words for public displays of affection. Because you loved me. Youstilllove me. Why would you have done all of this otherwise?”

My muscles tighten, my entire body going stiff.

---