Page 30 of Crazy Pucking Love
Running into Jazmine over Christmas break and seeing how far she’d fallen only drove the point home that she meant it when she told me I’d broken her.
Megan was young and sweet, and more than that, I genuinely liked her. Our connection ran deeper than friendship, but I couldn’t do more than that. I didn’t want to break her.
So I’d have to work harder at being her friend while holding her at least a good arm’s-distance away. I wasn’t sure how I was going to pull that off, but the price of failing was too high, so I’d do whatever it took to figure it out.
…
“She’s getting worse,” Cassidy said the second I answered the phone on Monday afternoon, and I didn’t have to ask who. My sixteen-year-old sister was going to make Cass, and in turn me, go prematurely gray. “Last night she didn’t even come home, Dane. But Mom and Dad were both working so late that I’m sure they just crashed without realizing Lissa wasn’t in her bed. They were asleep when I left for school, and I’m not sure if I should tell them.”
Thanks to our parents’ busy work schedules, we’d never had much supervision at home, but so far there hadn’t been a big need for curfews and strictly enforced rules. Not that Hudson and I hadn’t occasionally gotten into trouble, but we’d steered clear of the type of trouble that Jazmine—and now Lissa apparently—were getting into.
“Did you talk to Jazmine yet?” Cassidy asked.
I’d conveniently ignored my sister’s last text asking that question and sent a vague “call you later” one, because I didn’t want to confess how much my ex hated me now, or that she might actually get Lissa into more trouble to spite me. “I did. It…didn’t go so well. I think you better loop in Mom and Dad.”
“I worry that’ll only push her away more. And they already have so much to deal with.”
“Well, there’s not much I can do from here, Cass. I know things are tough right now, and I wish I could do more, but the only way I can think of to help is to get through school and be able to contribute financially.”
“I’m afraid that by then, it’ll be too late.”
A knock sounded on my bedroom door, followed by Hudson pushing it open. “If we don’t leave now, we’re going to be late.”
I finished shoving my hockey gear into my bag and zipped it closed, the noise loud compared to the quiet that’d fallen on the other end of the line. My sister was probably near tears, which made me feel like shit, but again, what could I do about it from here? “I gotta go to practice. I’ll call you later.”
No answer.
“Cass?”
Her sniff carried over the line. “Yeah. Do what you’ve got to do.” Yep. There were definitely tears.
Dammit.Helpless to do much else, I hung up.
“What’s going on at home?” Hudson asked as we walked toward the living room.
“Sister drama,” I said.
“Regular, or worse?”
“I’m about to leave both your asses.” Ox stood by the door, duffle bag slung over his shoulder and an impatient expression on his face. The guy wasn’t much of a talker, and since I was, I’d tried most everything to get him to. For a while, all I knew was that he was into hockey with a side of training for hockey. The math genius thing had been revealed near the end of last semester, when he found out that Hudson was struggling with a psychology statistics class and asked why he hadn’t come to him for help, like we’d somehow just know he could solve equations in his sleep.
My suspicions over his interest in Whitney’s editor were through observations, not conversation. I was hoping he’d find another girl before I had to break the news that that was never going to happen.
The second we closed the doors of Ox’s car, he spun out of the parking lot—he insisted on driving, because he always got us to the rink several minutes faster. I was sure he’d get a speeding ticket one day, but then again, if I were a cop and I pulled him over, at one angry scowl, I’d let him go.
Hudson twisted in the passenger seat and looked back at me. “You never answered my question.”
“It’s nothing,” I automatically said, wishing it were true.
“Is it the same nothing that made you get into a fight at the last home game? I knew something was off, I just didn’t put it together till now.”
Hiding stuff from Hudson would be a lot easier if he didn’t know me so well. I rotated my hat to face forward, hoping between the bill and the dark, the extent of my worry wouldn’t be quite as apparent. “Lissa’s getting into trouble. She’s been hanging out with Jazmine and her crew.”
“That’ll do it.”
I pinned him with a look.
Hudson shrugged. “Hey, I call them how I see them. You’re better off without that girl.”
