Page 67 of Break Away
He nodded toward my phone. “You get through your mom seeing the C. You keep Vivi’s night steady and Skylar’s attitude contained, if that’s even legally possible. Then, when you’re not one bad sentence away from setting the whole place on fire, you apologize for the part you owe.”
Briggs lifted a glove. “For the record, this is why I like Ryan’s advice. It allows anger and logistics.”
Rider looked at Ryan. “What part does he owe?”
Ryan didn’t look away from me. “The part where he took a shot at something he didn’t understand.”
I stared back at him. “And the rest?”
“The rest can wait until both of you stop trying to win.”
The answer was so irritatingly reasonable that I wanted to reject it on principle.
Cade nodded. “That’s what I said.”
“You said it with more support for the opposing side,” Ryan told him.
Cade shrugged. “I have Bliss now. It happens.”
Briggs made a gagging noise. “Love has ruined him.”
“Love saved him,” Rider said.
The room went quiet for half a beat before Briggs pointed at Rider. “That was dangerously sincere. Are you unwell?”
Rider looked back at him. “I read sometimes.”
Ryan’s mouth curved. “Don’t start. Cap will assign homework.”
It wasn’t much. It didn’t fix anything, take Aura’s words out of my head, make my mom less tired, or erase the money I needed to send home after my next North Cut shift. It didn’t make the C lighter, either.
But it loosened something enough for me to breathe and cut up with the guys.
Coach’s whistle sliced through the room from the hall. “Helmets. Tunnel in thirty.”
Ryan stepped toward the door. “Go play hockey.”
Briggs reached for his mask. “That was moving. Brief. Masculine. Slightly bossy.”
Ryan pointed at him. “Stop pucks.”
“I always stop pucks.”
Rider raised a brow.
“I often stop pucks.”
Cade stood, rolled his shoulders once, and grabbed his stick. “You ready?”
Everyone was watching me—freshmen, veterans, my boys, Ryan in the doorway, and Coach in the hall. The C pressed against my chest like a hand.
Somewhere above us, my mom sat with my sisters, trying not to let her exhaustion show. Somewhere behind our bench, Aura would be with Bliss and Charm, refusing to disappear even after I had given her every reason to.
I put on my helmet. “I’m ready.”
Cade looked at me for another second. “That sounded almost true.”
“It’s game night,” I said as I stepped toward the tunnel. “Almost true is enough until puck drop.”
