Page 85 of Stick It
His lips purse, and I can tell he wants to argue, but thankfully he chooses to let it go. “I won’t,” he promises. “It’s your call.”
“She doesn’t need to know.”
He doesn’t argue, but the look on his face says he disagrees. Whatever, I know I’m making the right call. After our stare-off has dragged out for a long, tedious moment, he huffs an exhale and marches over toward the door. Throwing it open, he gestures for the trainer to come back in.
Coach takes up Ethan’s former stance beside me while the trainer runs through various exercises and we discuss a physio plan for the rest of the week. By the time Ethan returns with my coffee in hand, Bear is back to being our formidable coach.
However, before we leave, Bear steps up to Ethan, his expression hard and stance brimming with authority, and there’s an edge to him that wasn’t there before.
“It’s your responsibility to take care of her,” he barks at Ethan. I open my mouth to tell him that it’s really not. Regardless of his demeanor, Bear is not acting as our coach right now.He’s behaving like a scared parent, and even though it warms my heart, it’s unnecessary. What he is asking of Ethan is beyond captain duties. Beyond roommate duties, too.
Except before I can say any of that, Ethan agrees. “I promise, she will be well taken care of.”
Despite the pain and exhaustion pulling at me, I can’t help but roll my eyes.
“She shouldn’t be alone on campus,” Bear continues with his ludicrous demands. “Not after this. And at the house—” His jaw tightens. “You make damn sure she’s not left alone. If whoever did this comes back…”
A shiver rakes down my spine. My fingers curl tighter around the hot drink Ethan just handed me, but the warmth does nothing to chase away the ice forming in my chest.
Because my attackers weren’t just some faceless threat.
One of them was Kyle. I know it was.
And he doesn’t need tocome back.
He never left.
He sleeps under the same roof as me. He moves through the same spaces. He’s a fox in the hen house, and from here on out, I’m going to be sleeping with one eye open. Is the lock on my door enough to keep him out? Something tells me not for long.
Bear’s gaze cuts to me, sharp but unreadable. He must see something on my face, though, because his expression darkens. His next words are for Ethan, but I swear they’re meant for me too.
“She’s not alone. Not for one damn second.”
Ethan nods, stiff and solemn. “Understood.”
Bear lingers for a beat longer before exhaling sharply. I can tell he doesn’t want to leave me, but he’s got no excuse to stay. Not one that wouldn’t give away the fact that we have more than a coach-player relationship. I offer him a tight smile, the best that I can do. Without another word, he turns and stridesout the door, leaving just me and Ethan in the suddenly too quiet room.
I stare down at my coffee, my pulse thrumming hard in my throat. I hear the sound of Ethan’s footsteps before his sneakers appear in my field of vision. “Thorn?”
I force myself to look at him. His brows are drawn together, his concern unmistakable, but it’s the steadiness in his eyes that almost undoes me. He’s waiting—patient, unwavering—for whatever I have to say.
I swallow hard. “What are we going to do about Kyle?”
His jaw flexes, but he doesn’t answer right away.
I keep going. “Helivesin the same house. Under the same roof, and I—Iknowit was him.” My voice shakes, but I don’t care. “I haven’t seen him since, and I…” I exhale shakily, my fingers tightening around the cup to the point that I have to force the muscles to relax or spill the hot liquid all over myself. “I can’t— I don’t know how to face him.”
Ethan swears under his breath before carefully extracting the cup from my trembling grip. Setting it aside, he clasps my hands in his, engulfing my smaller ones in his large, strong grip. “You’re not going to be left alone with him for a second, okay? Not in the house, not in the locker room, not anywhere. I’ll sleep in that chair right beside your bed every night if I have to. If it means you’re safe.”
“Now you’re starting to sound like Griffin,” I tease, before the weight of the moment settles over me once more. “You can’t keep that up long term.”
“No,” he agrees. “But if Kyle wants you incapacitated so badly, then he’ll make another move. And this time, we’ll catch him.” Ethan’s eyes darken with the depth of his promise.
“And then what?”
When he speaks, his voice is low and lethal. “Then he’s done. Hockey. School. All of it.”
I wake groggily, my limbs heavy, my head swimming from the lingering effects of the painkillers I took earlier. The dull ache in my ribs is still there, a persistent throb under my skin, but it’s more manageable than it was this morning.
