Page 79 of The Price of Ice

Of course she knew, his father wouldn’t have kept something this big from her.

All he wanted was to roll over and suffocate himself into the duvet. He swallowed, wetting his throat. “Yeah.”

He sounded like he had been screaming, and it felt like it too. Maybe hehad.

HE GOT THROUGH THEmorning somehow, using his sore throat as an excuse to keep quiet. It wasn’t untrue, but he was all too aware that he didn’twantto talk. For some reason that made it feel like he was skipping his homework. Half to avoid his mum and half to make up for it, he went for a walk around the neighbourhood. The leaves were turning reddish already, and even this far south, the air was getting crispier.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been outside. He wanted to go back in, to Paul’s room, to bed. But he forced himself to go around twice more.

It wasn’t until that afternoon that he thought to check his phone. He was shocked to discover it was still in his coat pocket and on flight mode. Levy had sent two messages, five hoursapart. Knowing him, it was restrained. Especially when Kallen had kind of dropped off the map for over twenty-four hours.

He hadn’t even let Levy know that the plane had landed, he realised. That was undoubtedly a dick move. Maybe Levy and he weren’t... what they might have been, but they were friends.

[All good. Home safe]

[Sorry] he added. Even in writing, he didn’t have the energy to explain himself, but he could manage basic civility.

He waited with the phone on his hands for a ping back, then realised that with the time difference Levy would still be in afternoon practice. Assuming it wasn’t a game day, and Kallen actually had no idea if it was.

A couple weeks ago the team travel and games calendar had ruled his life and now... He’d forgotten all about it. Was that a good thing or was he just hiding?

Levy’s response was there the next time he touched his phone. [You okay? Call me...] he could see in the preview.

But there was also a message from Brad, who he’d forced himself to text for the first time on the plane so he couldn’t chicken out. Maybe the other omega had just been trying to be nice, sure, but Kallen hoped he’d meant it, and that they could be friends somehow, odd as it seemed with the way they’d met.

It made him feel a little weird, because Brad had been paid to help him, but he’d gone so above and beyond that it was difficult not to feel in his debt. And it wasn’t a debt Kallen could ever imagine repaying.

Brad had made it all seem so simple, not just helping him but making it feel like not such a big deal to accept that help. And it wasn’t, was it? Kallen hadn’t minded defending Benny to his brothers, had he?

Maybe it felt strange because it’d been years since he’d had a good friend. Unless he counted Levy and... Well, that was complicated to say the least.

He’d never been the life of the party, but as a child he’d had neighbours and classmates he played with regularly. Somehow, he’d lost touch with everyone as he’d progressed in his hockey dreams. It’d felt like the only way, when they couldn’t follow him as far as he intended to go. It’d been easier to be alone while he pushed himself past his limits.

What would the kids he’d played toy cars with say about his choice of career? At such a young age, it’d been a mix of all phenotypes even. In fact, he suddenly remembered Analisa from down the street. He was mostly sure she’d been an omega too, but what stood clearly in his memory was how obsessed she’d been with baseball. They’d argued a lot about what sports to play until their mothers had forced them to come up with a schedule.

When had they stopped hanging out? And where was she now? It wouldn’t have been unusual for an omega to be mated and married at her age, but... Maybe not. Maybe she was playing baseball or something.

Maybe she was happy.

He opened Brad’s text, which turned out to be spelled phonetically in ways that made him wince. Once he figured out what he meant, he laughed. The guy was outrageous, but even though they’d known each other for such a short time, it was impossible to forget his kindness and care. Even his blasé attitude seemed designed to help. Kallen could imagine how he’d have reacted to a guy his age coddling him.

Like Levy had. But it’d been different with Levy. Levy had let Kallen take care ofhim. It was supposed to be that way, wasn’t it? Even in an alpha-omega relationship, there was a balance of give and take. The fact that Levy wasn’t fussed about who was supposed to give what had made it just about perfect.

Huffing, he shook himself and started typing a response to Brad. He was going to be a good friend, as fun as he could manage under the circumstances. And he was not going toobsess about a guy he couldn’t have, even if he was sweet as fuck and still offering to listen to him now that they were miles away.

[Odd to be back. Needed the sleep] he sent Levy, not acknowledging the offer. It felt a bit mean, but hehadsaid ‘if you want’, but Kallen didn’t.

He did want to hear Levy’s voice, and he scrolled in hopes of a voice message. But since they’d basically lived and worked together until two days ago, he didn’t have anything but texts and emojis.

He huffed, more annoyed at himself than frustrated at not finding any.

It was for the best and he knew it. Maybe he was a bit addicted right now, but he knew it would just be screwing himself over long-term if he kept going. If he had called, he wouldn’t have known what to say, or he’d have said too much and ended up crying on the phone.

He didn’t want to cry, and he didn’t want Levy to listen to him cry. His friend had put up with more than enough of his moping around. And Kallen had done more than enough feeling sorry for himself.

That was over. He was hurting, but he wasn’t going to stay on the ground. Maybe his career was over, but he was still the man who always got back up when he fell down.

Chapter 30

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