Page 28 of In the Danger Zone
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When class was over, Leena headed on over to the library to finish up some assignments she had due soon. I decided to sit down at one of the tables at the campus café to get some fresh air, treating myself to an iced chocolate. The cool liquid hit my tongue and I let out a happy hum. But that sound quickly came to an end when I saw Evan walk by. He wasn’t alone, though. There was a man with him. He was older looking, strong. I knew it wasn’t his coach. Leena had pointed him out to me a few days ago when we saw him walking around campus.
Evan slowed down suddenly, our eyes locking. My heart felt like it stopped right then and there.
“Thanks,” I said before I could control myself. My voice was quiet, especially with the talkative crowd around us. It would be a wonder if Evan heard me at all.
Evan sucked in a sharp breath, murmured something to the man he was with, and clapped him on the shoulder. The unknown man walked away – and offered me a smile – before Evan closed the small gap. He stood before me, all tall and broad. The sun hit his eyes, making them light up as he pushed a hand through his hair.
Evan’s eyebrows raised as he stared at me. “For?”
“If what I heard is true…” I said, my voice still low. “Then thank you for doing to A-Asher what I wish someone would have done a long time ago.”
Evan shrugged at me. “What’d you hear?”
“You… You had a fight with him. M-Maybe it was just a little fight. M-Maybe it’s just a rumor and nothing even happened at all. B-But I heard that A-Asher left that locker room feeling pretty humiliated…”
“I didn’t like what he said to you the other night,” Evan said seriously. “I told you that the other day in the library. And I didn’t like how he got Brie to go over to you and mess with you. I guess you don’t believe me when I tell you that I’m not like him. And that’s okay. You can feel how you want. But I wasn’t going to let him treat you like that.”
We both stayed quiet at that. Did he mean what he was saying? I couldn’t tell. Was it all a joke to make me let my guard down? It would have been a pretty elaborate prank. That wasn’t really Asher’s style. He liked to strike fast and hard.
“D-Do you wanna sit down?” I asked softly, some caution still present in my voice.
Evan tilted his head at me. “I thought you wanted me to stay away from you…”
“Just… sit. Please.”
There was some more silence. Maybe Evan felt likehecouldn’t trustme, or that I was trying to mess with his head or something. But he didn’t get how hard it was for me to be vulnerable with others. Making friends wasn’t easy and it was a miracle I had met someone like Leena. One friend was already a lot to handle. Having someone like Evan in my life just made me overthink everything. All I could focus on was how I had judged him too quick. There could be more to him than I realized.
I watched him sit down across from me, noting that the look in his eyes was one I couldn’t quite read. “Was that your dad?” I asked softly, wanting to get away from the awkward pause in conversation. “Is he v-visiting?”
Evan shook his head. “He’s not my dad. He’s my billet.”
“Your b-billet?”
“That’s a hockey thing. When you play junior hockey away from home, you get shipped off to a billet family. They look after you while you play. Most guys do it. That was Jack. My old billet. He was just checking in on me,” Evan explained. “Wanted to come see how I’m going with the new season.”
“Your parents just… let you go live with another family like that?” I asked. That soundedinsane. For me, anyway. My parents were barely okay with me leaving for college. There was no way they’d trust another family to make sure I was safe.
Evan laughed softly. “It sounds kinda weird, but that’s the way we do it in hockey. My parents were cool with it.”
“Your parents sound pretty lenient. M-Mine would n-never let m-me do that.”
“It’s basically like a sleepover. Really, really, really far away from your house.”
“I wasn’t allowed to go to sleepovers,” I murmured. It wasn’t like I was invited to sleepovers, anyway.
“You didn’t miss out on much. Just some dumb ghost stories and prank calls.”
I held back a wince. I had been on the receiving end of more than a few prank calls back in school. “Sounds exciting.”
“It’s not. Trust me.” With a small smile on Evan’s face, he leaned in a little closer. “How’s your day been?”
“Slow. Kinda b-boring.”
“Ouch.” Evan held a hand to his chest.
“I didn’t m-mean you,” I said with a little laugh. “I was talking about m-my m-morning class. B-But that was also when I found out about what happened with you and A-Asher.”
