Page 141 of Unloved

And then, Kane lets it go.

I’m an instigator—a great chirper—but I’m not a fighter. I’ve gotten into a few scrapes, but I’m too good of a player to really fight, to risk a suspension or the penalty for it. But this time I want it—to distract from the pain.

But it doesn’t work.

“You get these fantasies in your head, and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

I hit him again, clipping his jaw.

“I begged her to get rid of you.”

Another one, but it feels slow already, sluggish. I’m panting, sweat pouring down my face.

“Of course I like you. There’s no part of you I wouldn’t like.”

Flashes of her last night, beautiful and hurting, barrel through my mind. In the backseat of my car, laid out beneath me, streetlightsshining over the tanned length of her legs. Her face crumbling, eyes wide like she doesn’t recognize me…

“Matt, no. Stop.”

“You said you wouldn’t push me out.”

I’m distracted, so much so that Toren hits me hard enough to knock me down, jumping on me quickly like he’ll follow through.

But he stops.

“Whatever you did,” Kane snaps, all the enjoyment from the fight rapidly fading. “Fix it.”

He leaves me lying there, the dark threat of his words hovering over me.

CHAPTER 50Ro

I know it’s Freddy before he even knocks.

Opening the door slowly, like I’m afraid to truly rip the Band-Aid off, only hurts worse. Revealing him inch by inch—head ducked, eyes to the floor. He looks so small standing in my doorway, a cut on his lip and eyebrow, red around his eye—which I was expecting, considering the text Bennett sent me ten minutes ago.

I was expecting him—but not like this. He’s sweaty, hair damp, and not from a shower. It looks like he shucked his skates and hockey pants, threw on sweats, and sprinted across campus to the dorms.

“Hey,” I say, gentle and quiet. He doesn’t look up.

The dorm is empty the day before Thanksgiving break officially begins, and Sadie is gone with her brothers for the holidays—staying at the Koteskiys’, which fills me with an overflowing bittersweet feeling. Endlessly happy for Sadie, Oliver, and Liam having afamilyto call home. But a little bit lonely in our empty dorm apartment.

Now I’m thankful for it as I step back to let the dreary figure of Matt Fredderic into the room.

“Come in,” I say, like a light command. He follows me, shuffling, but stops just inside the threshold, holding his bag up on his shoulder with a white-knuckled fist.

“I—” He stops short, voice thick as he clears his throat. “I’m sorry.”

He still won’t look at me.

“Are you okay, Matty?”

A nod, slow and trembling.

He needs someone to care for him, to look after him. So I take his tightened fist in my hand and slowly uncurl it, pulling the bag off his shoulder. I prop it by the door to my room.

“Come with me.”

I keep my voice whisper-quiet, pulling him through my room and into the bathroom. Turning the water on hot, I grab a fluffy towel from beneath my bathroom sink and lay it out on the counter.

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