Page 156 of Undone

Liam’s grin is a broad, wonderful thing, and every pressure on my chest feels lighter. “Good.”

“Did you talk to Rhys yet?” Paloma asks Sadie suddenly. She looks off, nervous even.

Sadie shakes her head. “Nope. Only told him to win if he wanted to—” She cuts herself off. “If he wanted a kiss.”

“You didn’t give him a kiss for good luck?” Ro asks, eyes bright and face flushing.

Sadie drops her hands over Liam’s ears. “Oh, we all know you gave Fredderic more than a kiss for good luck.”

My stomach sours. Paloma looks concerned still, but it’s lightened with a smile as she checks her phone again before tucking it into her back pocket. She’s wearing Bennett’s jersey with her hair up.

Liam shouts out, “Can we go in? I wanna sit by Lily.”

Everyone smiles, and I nod before pointing my thumb over my shoulder. “Actually . . . I’m just gonna pee real quick.”

Paloma looks over then. “Want me to go with you?”

“I’m okay!”

• • •

It’s stupid, but I want to see him, desperately.

So I’m hovering by the locker room entrances like maybe someone will come out or let me in, so I can say it to him.

I love you. Good luck. I’m so proud of you.

Anything encouraging, considering all I did this morning was let him fuck me slow into the bed. It was good, amazing even, but I feel like it wasn’t the right way to do it.

Clearly, I’m not great at this whole “girlfriend” thing, let alone—

“It’s his stomach, all that abdomen space,” a voice says, before growing quieter. “ . . . saw it when he changed out. Looks rough, and . . .”

I peek around the corner, seeing my dad across from a hockey player not in Waterfell colors. One I recognize—that asshole from the hallway that I punched. He’s playing for the other team now?

Brow furrowing, I inch closer, straining my neck the other way to hear from my left side.

“If you can make it accidental . . .” Something else, but I can’t hear it. And maybe there’s a chance someone with perfect hearing wouldn’t be able to make out what they said, but it’s easy to blame my right ear. It’s so frustrating I want to cry.

They move then, my dad heading toward me, so I hightail it out of there before he can catch me listening in.

• • •

Liam isn’t the only one with a thirteen on him anymore after Ro takes the supplies from her bag and draws on all our cheeks: a 51 for Sadie, a 1 for Paloma, and a 13 for me, though I ask her for Holden’s 11 on the other side.

The other girls are in jerseys, something I didn’t have access to, but I’m in my favorite navy sweater, black miniskirt and nylons, my most comfortable heeled boots. But now with Toren’s number on my cheek, I feel the same as if his name was on my back.

I see the moment Toren spots us—Liam up in my arms so he can see, Sahara just above me with Anna Koteskiy. His body seems to freeze, before he skips the entire warm-up circle lap everyone is doing and darts straight across, like he’s in a daze.

He takes his cage off, his hair damp as he shoves it back again, a red tinge to his eyes as he slowly pushes forward. As if he’s afraid coming too close will shatter the mirage of us.

Chapter 60

Toren

They’re here.

No one’s ever been here. Not for me.