Page 6 of Off The Ice

“Sorry!” She held her hands up in surrender. “I just knew you’d say yes, and she really didn’t have anywhere to go tonight, so I sort of let her in?”

“You’re really something, you know that?” I said through gritted teeth.

“Love you.” She grinned. “Be nice to Cassie, okay? Don’t go around muttering your insensitive comments around her, alright?”

“I won’t be mutteringanycomments around her. Remember? You said she’d give me space.”

“Right, she will. And I’m sure she’ll be sound asleep by the time you get home. Don’t worry about anything.”

Before I could say another word of protest, my sister fluttered out the door and left me with her latest mess on my hands. And this was one that wouldn’t be as easy to clean up as credit card debt or a flat tire.

I let out an exhale containing more than just the stress of the day.

Just when I thought my bad mood couldn’t possibly get worse, Brody’s voice interjected the whirlwind of negativity brewing inside my head.

“You never told me you had a hot sister.”

Chapter Three

Cassie

You think you know someone after four years. Like, for example, the girl you consider to be the closest friend you made in college.

Sure, we’d chatted about our hopes, goals, and dreams. But somehow, in all that time, she’d never mentioned that not only was her older brother super rich but apparently in desperate need of a roommate.

Thank God, because if it weren’t for him, I probably would’ve spent the night sleeping in my car outside of the elementary school.

Staying with my mom wasn’t an option, and after my big splurge of, um, paying rent that month, my checking account disagreed with the idea of spending the night in a hotel.

I’d called Maggie earlier in the day, not so much looking for a solution as for the emotional support that came with ranting toyour best friend. I should’ve known she would try to solve the trainwreck that was my life. But her suggestion of rooming with her brother caught me wildly off guard, even coming from her.

“Your brother?” I had asked skeptically.

She’d mentioned him plenty of times, of course. Vague references to their childhood and a few more recent stories, but nothing super concrete. I knew they’d been close when they were younger, but there was a lot of pain when she mentioned their relationship now. I guess they had sort of grown apart over the years.

Besides that, I knew next to nothing about the man other than the fact that he liked hockey or something and apparently needed a roommate.

Though, now that I was here, I was quickly realizing there was absolutely no way that I could afford to live here. Even for the month or two that it would take me to find somewhere more my paygrade.

Not that I would want to stay longer. It was beautiful, sure, but something about the excessive spaciousness freaked me out. I wasn’t trying to be picky, but would it kill a guy to buy a cozy throw? Light a candle? Put up some art?

The whole place felt like a stainless steel, dark mahogany cave—nice, objectively, but completely devoid of warmth, fun, or personality.

Unless that personality was hockey, which apparently Maggie had drastically underplayed. The guy didn’t justlikehockey. He was obsessed. Harbor Wolves merchandise hung all around the apartment, proudly displaying the blue and gray colors of our local NHL team. While I was pretty indifferent to sports, I wasn’t oblivious to the fact that as far as hockey teams went, they were a pretty damn good one.

My mom and dad had both loved sports, but I guess the gene didn’t get passed down to me. I would watch with them whenI was younger, in some desperate attempt to try to be included in their world, but it didn’t matter anymore. Dad was dead, and Mom was… well, I shook the thought of her out of my head. It was too much to think about the breakup, the living situation change,andher all at once.

One thing at a time.I reminded myself, taking a steadying breath.

I couldn’t bear to go back to the apartment for my stuff, so all I had were the clothes I’d worn to work, the big bag that I lugged back and forth between home and school every day, and my newly broken heart.

Maggie had brought me here and listened to me cry for a bit before looking at the clock in bewilderment and running out as fast as she could with some half-hearted excuse that she was late to get somewhere.

I thought it was odd before realizing that maybe even she couldn’t handle all the messes I had going on in my life. I needed to learn to just keep it to myself.

Not knowing which room was mine since all the doors were shut and not wanting to snoop in her brother’s space when he wasn’t there, I settled down on the couch and waited. I felt more awkward than I’d ever felt in my life, but if the guy was so desperate for a roommate that he had begged Maggie to find someone for him without even meeting them himself, then I figured I didn’t have anything to worry about. Besides, it was only a short-term rental anyway.

Across from the couch, a flat-screen hung on a brick-paneled wall, flanked by tall, arched windows spilling moonlight across the room. It was late, and my body was heavy with exhaustion, but my mind wouldn’t stop spinning.

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