I know it.
I just don’t know what.
“What I do know is that I won’t freeze again.” My voice holds, but my hands shake. Fear and determination can live in the same breath—I’m learning that.
Brax’s gaze skims the papers quickly, making me think he’s avoiding a truth on the page. A cold shiver rolls through me. Somehow, I know that whatever we find, we’ll never be able to ignore it.
Rudy’s beenlike this for an hour, pacing back and forth. Watching him stirs the anxiousness in me, because I did that. I caused this.
“Last chance, Pretty Boy,” Rudy says.
“Everything’s fine,” I reply.
Wrong answer.
The first shove into the boards is pure frustration, hard enough to rattle my damn teeth. The second is undeniable anger. And the third… Yeah. That one’s meant to hurt.
“What the fuck did you do to him?” Oliver asks, holding his hand out for me as I stare at the ceiling, star-fished on the ice.
“Nothing,” I say through gritted teeth as I accept his hand and let him haul me up.
“Do I need Daddy Hayes to put him in a time out?” Oliver smirks.
I shake my head. “I got it handled.”
“Sure looks that way, Pretty Boy,” Oliver replies, sarcasm dripping from each word.
We continue to run the drills. I think Rudy’s given up on attacking me until the boards bite into my spine…again. I grunt as I stand and watch Rudy skate off. He’s literally carving his anger into the ice and straight into me.
It only gets worse after that. Puck after puck slams into my pads, my hips, my ribs. Every hit laced with the same fucking question.
What aren’t you telling me?
My fingers twitch around my stick as he stops short just to spray shards of ice into my face. All of a sudden, the two hundred foot rink shrinks around me.
And when the last spray of ice cracks over me, so do I.
“Fine,” I bark, throwing my hands up. “It’s her mom. She’s in Huxley Bay.”
Rudy’s stick clatters to the floor, and he curses, giving me one final shove that sends me to my ass. He skates off the ice at lightning speed. And I know—right then—that I’ve screwed up the dynamic between the brother-and-sister duo.
Rudy burns holes into my floor while I lean against the doorframe and Erin curls into herself on my sofa. Her hands disappear into her sleeves, a reflex I haven’t seen in a long time. All I want to do is wrap her up in my arms and whisk her somewhere far away from all of this.
Rudy’s rage isn’t aimed at his sister. It never has been, but thanks to him prying the truth out of me earlier, the guys overheard us in the locker room. Now they know her deadbeat mom is back, too. They don’t know the details, just that the woman who abandoned Erin is suddenly in Huxley Bay.
I haven’t told Erin the guys know. It’ll only make her spiral more. She’s already consumed by guilt for not talking to Bella yet.
What a clusterfuck.
The room holds its breath, waiting for Rudy to crack or settle.
“Griff,” Erin croaks.
His pacing stops.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about my mom being back. Or what I saw her do,” Erin’s voice wavers, pleading. “I was going to. I swear. Don’t be mad at me, Griff—please.” Her voice quivers, cutting through the quiet.
By the looks of it, Rudy’s trying to control the storm of emotions inside of him.
