Page 101 of You Had Me at Hockey

“Yeah.”

“I didn’t fucking desert you,” Easton says. “I tried to text you and call you.”

“When?”

Easton closes his eyes. “I don’t remember.” Then he opens his eyes and they flare with anger. “I was going through my own shit, you know.”

“You were fine! You walked away without a scratch, I heard. So did Hunter. Meanwhile, I was in the hospital for months.”

Easton narrows his eyes and slowly moves his head from side to side. “You think that’s what happened?”

“That’s what the news stories all said.”

I bite my lip and meet Lilly’s eyes. They’re talking, yeah, but they’re both pissed. I suck in a breath and let it out slowly.

“Okay, yeah, physically I was fine. But Bryce died in that crash too. I held him in my arms, trying to tell him he was going to be okay.”

Josh’s face shifts, his mouth slackening, his eyes shadowing.

“I kept telling him Dad would find us. I didn’t know my dad was lying twenty feet away in the ditch…dead.” Easton swallows. “And Bryce died on the way to the hospital. I found out when I got there. I found out about Dad”—his voice cracks and he shakes his head—“and everyone else who died. I saw you there. In the hospital. I talked to you.”

Josh blinks slowly. “I don’t remember.”

I slide my hand into his because he keeps clenching it into a fist. I squeeze gently.

“I don’t remember much of that,” he admits. “I had a concussion.”

“I wasn’t in great shape myself,” Easton says. “A lot of it is a blur. Then my mom came…and she totally fell apart. She ended up in the hospital herself.”

Josh focuses on Easton, his mouth pulled down at the corners. “I didn’t know that.”

“She’s never really gotten better. I mean, she’s a bit better, but she still lives in a home. She needs help. I lost my whole fucking family that day, man.” The anguish in his voice spears into my heart. “I had to plan their funerals. I didn’t know what I was doing. There was so much shit to take care of and my mom couldn’t do it. So I’m sorry if I was kind of busy.”

Josh stares.

Lilly makes a small sound in her throat. She glances at me and her eyes are wet.

Easton swallows and looks away. “Yeah, I got drafted in June. And then I had to go to Vancouver for their prospect camp. Then training camp in the fall. I was focusing on hockey because that…was all I had left.” He returns his gaze to Josh. “You didn’t even know what I was going through, asshole.”

Josh makes a noise. His jaw clenches. I squeeze his hand again, but he shakes it free. He turns to me and his lip curls.

I take a step back at the fury in his eyes.

“What the hell was this?” he demands. “You set us up for this?”

My eyes dart around, taking in Lilly’s dismayed expression, the sullen set of Easton’s mouth, then back to Josh. I lift my chin. “Yes. Your own coach told you two you need to talk. But you won’t.”

“How the hell do you know that?” he snarls.

“Not becauseyoutold me,” I retort. “We’ve talked about a lot of things, but you never told me about Easton. You hinted at it. Lilly and I figured things out.”

Josh’s expression turns even darker. “You two talked about this? About us?”

I sense Lilly’s alarm.

“Yes.” I hold his gaze steadily. “Because we care about you. Because we want to support you.”

“Support me? This is what you call support? Jesus Christ.” He rubs his forehead. “This is none of your goddamn business.”

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