Page 160 of Aftersome
Our story was created and built on lies and in that moment, I couldn’t look past that. I still couldn’t but that didn’t stop me from missing her.
So fucking much that every thought, every dream, every waking moment she was on my mind. When I closed my eyes all I saw was her, and when I opened them, all I wished for was for her to be here with me.
She was an endless loop in my head that I couldn’t stop even if I tried and even now as practice came to an end, all I could see was my beautiful girl on her knees on this ice. The image fuckinghaunted me and on a grunt, I continued shooting drills as all the rest of the guys left for the locker room.
My shoulder felt as good as new, but the rest of my body felt spent. My legs ached, my heart cracked—I needed this distraction right now.
Anything to keep my mind off Doe.
“You all right, man?” James asked from behind me as I smacked the puck into the net on a swoosh.
“Never better,” I grumbled.
In other words, leave me alone.
“You sure? You look a little tense.”
My teeth clenched tightly onto my molars. I couldn’t tell whether he was being obtuse or if he was trying to get a rise out of me. He had to know what was going on. There’s no way he didn’t.
I’m sure the whole fucking team knew and not once had any one of them spoken a word to me besides James.
“I’m not in the mood, James,” I gritted out, as I pulled another puck toward me.
“Understandable.” His voice caused me to pause. “But I think it’s time that someone had the courage to talk some sense into you.”
The fuck?
My whole body went rigid and I finally spun around to look at him. Helmet off, sweat permeating his flushed face, his mouth twitched in amusement.
“Whatever you’re about to say, Hendricks, don’t. You have no fucking clue what’s going on and if you know what’s best for you, you’ll stay out of it.”
Shaking his head, he chuckled.
“I know that you’ve found out about Wren, and ever since you told her to leave, you’ve been nothing but a fucking depressed lump on a log.”
My hand went for the strap on my chin and I tossed my helmet onto the ice before skating over to where he stood.
“I never once told her to leave,” I seethed as my muscles rippled with tension. “I never… I never wanted for her to leave.”
The reminder that she was gone made me wince.
“You didn’t give her much of a choice now, did you? She was living with you, where else did you expect her to go?” He threw his hands up as if her leaving was entirely my fault.
Of course I didn’t want her to fucking leave. If she wanted out of our house then I had at least expected her to move back in with James and Kate for the time being. But if I were a better man, I would have made her stay.
Regardless of everything.
But I was too fucking stubborn and too fucking heartbroken to have the strength to face her every day.
“I never wanted her to move out, but when I came home and found all her shit gone, I had assumed she moved back in with you and Kate.”
James sighed.
“She had no reason to stay in Seattle any longer, Mal. She was here for you.”
I scoffed.
“She wasn’t here for me. If she was, she wouldn’t have lied.”
