Page 122 of Off The Ice

“So I’ve heard,” I muttered under my breath, still stroking his cheek.

“Hey!” Liam’s teammate called. “Get a room!”

Liam scowled at him as he passed by.

“He’s just mad because he doesn’t have a beautiful girlfriend here to worry about him,” another chimed in.

“You’re right,” The first one sighed dramatically. “That’s exactly it. Hey, Cassie. When you’re sick of him, want to give me a call?”

“Get the hell out of here.” Liam swatted the air where his teammate had been a second before.

Then he turned back to me, face relaxing when he saw the way I was still scanning him for bodily harm.

“Relax,” he said, shaking my shoulders. “I’m fine.”

“Do you promise,” I asked, reaching up just once more to trace the injury.

“I promise,” he responded absolutely. “Are you ready to go home?”

Liam always referred to it as home, which made my chest ache as a reminder that I didn’t have one of those. At least not a permanent one. But what I did have was a mother who needed to be picked up from the hospital.

She’d called before the game, but I’d risked the wrath she might have for me by not coming the second she called, tellingher that I was at a hockey game and would be there when it was over.

Still, the entire time the clock ticked, I panicked, worried about the reaction I would get showing up late to pick her up. For my whole life, we’d run things on her timeline, but now? I figured I needed some things on my own terms if I was going to hold onto any semblance of a normal life.

“Actually, I, uh.” I looked around nervously, trying to make sure no one was listening. “I’m not coming to the apartment.”

He stilled immediately, face going slack.

“Where are you going?” he asked off-handedly.

I looked around once more before answering. “I have to pick my mom up. She’s getting discharged today.”

“That’s great.” For some reason, he let out a breath of air, relaxing his posture. “I’ll drive you.”

My body tensed at those words.

“No, thank you. It’s okay.” I shook my head violently.

There was absolutely no way I was letting Liam anywhere near my mother. Her behaviors were unpredictable, and her moods were tumultuous at best.

I knew that after going through withdrawal, she’d at least not be slobbering drunk, but the fear of what she might do was always with me.

“Why?” he asked.

“Because I don’t want to put you out.”

“Nothing you could do would ever put me out. I want to take you.”

“She lives far out of the way. It might take time for them to finish her discharge papers…”

“I don’t mind. I can drive you.”

“I don’t want you to,” I blurted out.

He flinched, and I immediately felt like the biggest jerk in the world.

“Oh,” he said, “Okay, then.”

---