Page 150 of Off The Ice

I drove to Brody’s house.

I couldn’t stomach the thought of going back home without her there. Or her stuff littering the place, even though she tried so hard to put things away.

Fuck, if I couldn’t get her to come back, I was pretty sure I’d have to just sell the place rather than be there without her. Butwhere could I go that the pain of her absence wouldn’t follow me?

What the hell happened?

I’d tried so fucking hard to play it safe. To leave things on her terms, to wait untilshewas ready.

Had she realized after kissing me that I wasn’t what she wanted? That she didn’t feel the same way about me that she had about Dave? Had seeing him ruined all the progress I thought we’d been making toward each other the last few months?

Or was I just the type of guy that wasn’t worth sticking around for?

I’d learned early that people were fleeting. Even the ones who were supposed to stay. I’d realized that if you didn’t let people close to you, it wouldn’t hurt as much when they went away.

Halfway to Brody’s, I pulled over to the side of the road, convinced I was going to vomit from nerves. When I walked into my apartment earlier, it was the same feeling I had the day I’d come home from school to see that our dad had cleared the place out of everything he owned.

He hadn’t said a word to me or to Maggie, and based on the image burned into my brain of my mother sitting at the table red-faced and sobbing, I was guessing he hadn’t filled her in on his plans, either.

But Cassie? The way this hurt was like nothing I’d experienced before. No gash, concussion, or dislocation was comparable to the pain of losing her. What made it worse was that I hadn’t seen it coming. When we kissed, I’d let myself think I’d gotten her. I’d let myself think I could keep her.

And despite everything, I wasn’t giving up. I’d thrown myself entirely into this girl, and now that her name was carved across my heart, there wasn’t any amount of time I wouldn’t wait for her on the chance that she’d change her mind.

“This might not be as bad as you think,” Brody said, cracking open a can of Coca-Cola as I stood in his kitchen.

“How the fuck do you figure that?” I shot him a look.

“I mean.” Brody sipped, considering. “Have we considered the possibility that she might’ve just been totally overwhelmed by the epicness of your perfect fairytale kiss and got freaked out?”

“Why would she get freaked out?”

“I don’t know, Liam.” Brody made a “duh” face. “Maybe because she just got out of a long-term relationship that she thought was going to be forever, and maybe she’s having a little trouble believing what’s going on between you won’t end up the same?”

“It wouldn’t,” I defended adamantly.

“But how is she supposed to know that?” Brody asked. “I’m sure the last guy told her the same thing.”

“The last guy was a dick, and I’m glad I punched him in the face.”

“Okay, let’s tone it down a notch,” Brody ordered. “I’m just saying, it sounds like this girl has been used to a lot of disappointment in her life.”

He didn’t know the half of it.

“So, just maybe, it’s harder for her to accept that something in her life might be going right as it is for you.”

Shit. Maybe he had a point.

Hadn’t everything I read about her trauma pointed to exactly that fact?

I exhaled, feeling something heavy loosen in my chest. Hope. Terrifying, stupid, idiotic hope.

“What? Are you retiring to become a therapist now?” I deflected with a laugh. “How the hell do you know all this anyway?”

“I told you before, dude. Sisters will make a guy hella self-aware.”

“Don’t say ‘hella.’ You’re twenty-five.” I shook my head with a smirk.

“Don’t nitpick all the wisdom I just bestowed on you because of word choice.” Brody winced. “So, are you going to fight for your girl or what?”

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