“Yes. They have his plates and won’t allow him back on campus.”
“Good.” The tension ebbs from him and he caresses my spine. “I feel better knowing you’re safe from him.”
I sigh. “He’s a total egotistical dickhead who’s obsessed with himself, but I wasn’t in danger. He hasn’t tried to contact me again.”
“Doesn’t make me want to make sure you’re protected any less.”
I toy with the ring he gave me, nudging the balls along the loop. “Johnny’s the one who made me hate hockey players. I wanted nothing to do with any of them ever again after we broke up.”
Easton lifts my chin with a crooked finger. His jaw is set, eyes blazing fiercely.
“He hurt you, didn’t he? What did he do to you?”
I swallow, gathering my courage. “At first, nothing. Johnny had a big personality, and since I was close with Ryan in high school we were around each other a lot. At the end of their season in mine and Ryan’s sophomore year, he came onto me at a party. I thought it was cool an upperclassmen was flirting with me.”
The memory makes me frown. Looking back, I now have the clarity to see how much he flirted with other girls at the same party. I was simply the first one to say yes when he wanted me to go with him.
Frustration at my naivety burns in my chest. I rub at it, flashing Easton a thin smile when he soothes me with his own touches while he listens.
“I guess he knew my brother wouldn’t stand for one of his teammates sleeping with me then ditching me, so he asked me out. It seemed fine enough through the summer. I mean, other than the fact he would pressure me into sex and never cared if I came or not.” A dry laugh leaves me and he narrows his eyes in disapproval. “I don’t know if it was happening during the off season, but probably when it started back up, especially when the team traveled for away games.”
Easton’s brows wrinkle. “If what was happening?”
I give him a resigned look, aware that he’s already guessed by his brittle tone.
“Cheating on me. We dated all through his senior year and long distance his first year at Elmwood, but it wasn’t until I was touring colleges that I caught him.”
Easton goes still, breathing heavily. He clears his throat and twines our fingers together.
“Sorry. Go on,” he says gruffly.
I squeeze his hand, grateful for his fixation with tracing patterns on the inside of my wrist as I go on.
“I was such an idiot. I thought it would be cute to surprise him, so I showed up for the tour early. When I found him, he was screwing a sorority girl.”
“You weren’t,” he grumbles. “He was the fucking idiot.”
“Well, yeah, I know that now. In the moment, I was a wreck. The betrayal cut me deep, but that wasn’t the worst of it. He was consumed by the glory of being a hockey player and the attention that brought him. He made me believe the entire team knew he was cheating on me regularly the entire time we dated.” I close my eyes. “Even Ryan. So I didn’t have the guts to tell him. I was too afraid to know if he knew the truth or not.”
A growl tears from Easton, but he holds my hand gently. He works his jaw, scrubbing a hand over his mouth.
“I think if you told your brother, he would’ve killed this guy. There’s no way anyone would be able to play alongside a teammate that did that.”
My shoulder lifts. “Johnny was a champion gaslighter to the end, even as I broke up with him.”
I sigh. It feels great to get this out, but it does make the pain of his betrayal resurface.
“I hated what he did to me. That he lied and twisted my emotions around to suit his narrative like he wasowedthe chance to get with other girls whenever he wanted.”
My voice wavers. I pause for a moment to collect myself, throat sore with tightness to keep myself from falling apart.
“And because I was so torn up over the thought of being around him, I stayed away from hockey, which I loved before he did a number on me. After that, I drifted from Ryan and I couldn’t stomach going to a game.” I chew the corner of my lip. “I didn’t want to give myself over to any kind of serious relationship again.”
He remains quiet through the rest of my story other than the dangerous rumbles of outrage and a hard glint in his eyes. His jaw clenches, a muscle jumping in his cheek, and he flexes his fist.
“If I ever catch him alone, I’m making him pay for that,” he grits through his teeth.
My breath hitches. His fierce protectiveness is tinged with the promise of violence. It shouldn’t turn me on so much, but I can’t help the way it makes my heart race with excitement.
