Page 83 of Revenge Puck

“Didn’t know what?” he asks, eyes skimming from me to his sister.

“We might bemoving? How could you keep this from me?” Maya exclaims, hands braced on her hips.

Preston throws his head back and curses at the ceiling before responding to his furious sister. “I didn’t want you to stress. But I’m starting to realize that secrets make everything ten times worse. I should’ve told you. I know that.” He pauses for a long moment, looking toward the door, then back to his sister. “Everything is still up in the air right now. I have to go to the team that wants me. As soon as I have more information, I’ll share it with you.”

“You better!”

“But just because I may have to move doesn’t mean you and Finley have to, you know. You could both stay here in the house. I could come visit as often as possible.”

Scoffing, she says, “I don’t want to have to decide between uprooting my son or losing my brother!”

“You’re not going to lose me.”

Maya paces away from the foyer, then right back. “Do you…do you not want us to move with you this time?”

“What? Of course, I want you and Finley to go wherever I go, but I can’t expect you to leave this place, not when Finley’s enjoying school and making friends.”

Maya’s eyes glisten when she says, “You know he would be devastated if you left us.”

I feel like I’m intruding on what should’ve been a private conversation. Since I’m still in between the two, I press my back to the wall to try to disappear as much as possible.

“You think I don’t know that? Fu…fudge,” he growls, catching himself before the f-bomb even though Finley’s at school. “None of this is what I wanted, but it’s out of my control! I hate it as much as you do.”

“When? When will you know?” Maya asks, folding her arms over her chest.

“Soon, hopefully,” he tells her. “Tommy says I would be stupid not to accept an offer in case I screw up in a game and the team changes their minds.”

“How…why…why can’t you stay in D.C. with the Warhawks?” she asks.

“Because they don’t want to keep me on the team. I don’t get along great with my teammates or the coaches. They would rather pass and move on from me.”

“Then they’re a bunch of freaking jerks!”

“Yes, they are.”

“We’ve only been here for three years. I thought…” She shakes her head and says, “I know things change often in the pros, but I thought we would stay a little longer.”

“I know. I did too. I’m sorry.”

“And I’m sorry for opening this can of worms,” I whisper to them. “Should I go?”

“No,” they both respond when they turn to toward me. Maya shakes her head and says, “It’s not your fault my brother likes to keep secrets, to put all the burden on himself instead of letting others share it.”

“She’s right,” Preston says, reaching for my hand and pressing a kiss to the top of it, as if letting me know we’re okay. “It’s for the best that Maya’s all caught up with where things stand. Now we can figure it out together.”

I’m not sure if I’m included in the together, and I don’t ask.

As much as it sucks, waiting and seeing what happens between me and Preston after the finals are over is all I feel like I can do at the moment, too.

28

Preston

When Maya brings Finley home from preschool, he’s a ball of energy like usual. Recognizing Elle from the few minutes she was at last night’s game, he instantly grabbed her hand to pull her along to see all his cool toys in his room and then out to the backyard.

She seems most impressed with the treehouse.

“You built this? Seriously?” Elle asks again as the two of us huddle up inside the small fort that’s five feet off the ground. There are three steps built into the tree as well as a rope in the middle of the floor that Finley can climb to get in or out.

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