Page 56 of Unloved

You’re just like her. You and Sadie. If she doesn’t deserve Rhys, why do you deserve—

No.I shake my head and stare back up at my captain.

Rhys looks like he wants to protest, but at my hard glare from behind her, he nods.

“I won’t.”

I point to the empty row two seats behind Rhys, letting Ro go first and slide in.

Before I can follow her, Rhys grabs my bicep and lowers his voice, mouth nearly at my ear to whisper, “I wouldn’t classify this as hands-off.”

There’s a bitterness to the smile I grant him. “I’m not sleeping with her, Rhysie. No need to issue me a citation for getting too close to your bratty figure skater’s roommate.”

He lets the barb slide, but his grip on my arm tightens.

“Ro is Sadie’s best friend. I’m just watching out for her.”

“And who exactly is watching out for you?” I ask, a little miffed.Or me, I want to add. Instead, I swallow down the words like sand, grating as I smother them. “Someone needs to. You’re gonna get hurt by her.”

“Watch it,” he snaps, fierce in his protectiveness over the girl he “isn’t” dating.

“Ro’s tutoring me. That’s it,” I sigh, ducking my head closer to him. “And she got left here—hours outside of town—by her asshole boyfriend, okay?”

Rhys bites his lip and relaxes his grip. “That Donaldson kid was an asshole to her in front of me the one time I met him. Sorry, Freddy. I think I’m just…”

I wait for him to finish.I’m just… not okay. I’m trying to make everyone smile but I look like I’d rather be anywhere else when I’m playing. I faked an ankle pain to not play, something I’d never do…I wait for anything to show me that my friend needs me.

That he trusts me enough to need me.

But he smiles and shrugs, patting me on the back and settling into his seat again, slamming his headphones back into his ears aggressively.

CHAPTER 21Ro

Breathe in. Breathe out.

My entire body feels like an open wound, my arms tightly wrapped around my waist the only thing keeping me from tearing open and bleeding out on the scratchy fabric seat of the Waterfell hockey team charter bus.

Freddy isn’t even looking at me. Part of me believes he’s giving me privacy, but the frayed edges of my heart are screaming out how annoying, how childish and embarrassing I must be to him.

I turn to speak to him, to say what, I’m not sure. Perhaps beg him to let me call an Uber or offer to study with him on the ride, to make myself useful, needed somehow. But I pause at the tense set of his shoulders.

Freddy grows in size, like a living human shield over me. I look up to see what caused this reaction in him, only to be greeted by the same terrifying gold eyes of the man from earlier.

Maybe not greeted, but startled by, frightened.

Even armed with the knowledge that this man defended me, nearly fought Tyler, I find myself petrified at the sight of him. Freddy’s obvious reaction to him only validates my feelings.

He flicks his eyes over me briefly, whether to assess me as a friend or enemy, I’m unsure. But there is no malice, only cool indifference as he lumbers to the back of the bus to sit alone.

The overhead lights flick off, comforting darkness swathing over me as the rumbling of the bus smooths out. Subdued conversations float from somewhere in the back, muffled music playing in different pairs of headphones.

“Are you okay?” Freddy asks.

I force myself to meet his gaze now.

Tyler’s voice echoes in my ear like a continuously pounding drum, the backing track to the collapsing of my chest.

I don’t know how I even tolerate you at this point.You’reembarrassing.

---