Page 41 of Ruthless Blade

“Nothing,” I wiped a small tear from the corner of my eye, hoping he wouldn’t notice. “Can I go now?”

Why was he keeping me here? What did he want from me?

“It’s not nothing if you ran out of there upset. What did she say to you?” He said through gritted teeth. Great, now he was angry with me. Way to go.

I blew out a breath, “She compared me to you and Jake. She basically agreed with you. Said I would basically never amount to anything on the ice.” I turned towards him, “Happy now?”

He shook his head, “No. She shouldn’t have said that.”

I rolled my eyes, “Yeah, no shit.” I manually undid the lock and hopped out. I was done with the conversation, done with feeling like I didn’t matter...to anyone.

My feet moved towards the apartment, and the other car door opened and slammed shut. His steps came up behind me quickly, once again reaching for my elbow and turning me to face him.

I tried wrestling free, “Let it go, Kayden. You can’t make it go away. You can’t make the pain stop. That’s all it is anyway. Pain. I’ll be fine. I’m always fine.”

He took a dangerous step closer, and my breath caught. What are you doing to me?

“You aren’t the only one in pain. We’ve both been suffering. There’s no use in suffering alone. Let me in.”

I shook my head, a laugh escaping my lips as my feet took a step back, breaking contact. “Wow, you’re really good. For a second there, I thought you actually cared. I’m not one of the puck bunnies on campus that you can screw around with. I made a deal with you, and I’ll continue to hold up my end, but trying to play on my feelings...that’s a load of bullshit. Good night, Kayden. Leave me alone.”

I turned away, but he stopped me, once again. “When I found out, I lost it. Growing up around the two of you gave me a purpose I didn’t know I had. I felt like family. You and I have always had our differences, but in our own twisted way, we are family. Whether you want to believe it or not,” he stopped, and it made me curious what he was going to say next. I kept my back towards him, trying to control my breathing. He cleared his throat, “Our parents can’t be together. I don’t care about my dad’s money, and I sure as shit don’t care about his personal life, but this? It’s fucking disgusting, Lex. It goes against everything we believed growing up. Your dad didn’t deserve this, for his wife and best friend to...”

He trailed off and I swallowed, finally facing him. “I know why we need to do this.”

His jaw ticked, “No, you don’t know why. I have my reasons, and I can’t fucking tell you why even if I want to. I need you to trust me. I know you think I’ve tormented you and all that bullshit so you trusting me is a big ask, but I need you to do it. Until I give you a reason to go back on that, trust me.”

I’m going to regret this. I wiped a hand over my face, “Fine.”

For the first time in forever, he was being different with me, and I didn’t know how to feel about it. Suddenly, a thought popped up in my head, and my fingers snapped together. “I forgot, she wants us both there this weekend, at your dad’s house.”

He groaned, pretty much the same feeling I had. “Why?”

I shrugged, “To assert their dominance? I have no clue, but if we don’t go, she’ll send out the National Guard.”

“Fuck, you’re right. Dammit. I have training this weekend.”

I didn’t say a word, and left him to his busy thoughts.

“Fine, I’ll pick you up outside here on Friday. Be ready by three.”

I nodded, “Alright. I’m going inside, night.”

He didn’t respond, but I could feel his eyes watch me all the way to our door. Since we were on the first floor, it was easy access. I put my keys in the lock and opened the door, letting myself inside. My shoulders relaxed when I realized Hazel wasn’t back yet.

Good, that gives me time to breathe for a minute.

I unlocked the door to my room, and tossed myself on the bed, trying my best to push back the nightmares I knew would come.

Chapter Twenty-One

KAYDEN

I got back in the car and leaned my head against the headrest, hands gripping the steering wheel so tight my wrists ached. The taillights of the campus shuttle blinked out in the distance, but my mind was stuck in the quiet of the car, exactly where she had been sitting ten minutes ago.

Her cherry, vanilla scent filled the interior, a reminder that this wasn’t a good idea. In fact, it was a very, very bad idea.

My knuckles were raw from the game, my thigh was bruising from a heavy check against the boards in the second period. My chest tight, something lingering there that I couldn’t quite figure out. I hadn't planned on telling her any of that. Why did I tell her that? What the fuck is wrong with me?