Lainey and Holland share a disgusted glance before looking back at the screen.
“Tell Ashby that he needs to figure something out ASAP, or he’ll be hearing from me,” Holland threatens. Holland’s always been protective, and he’s literally always had my back. He’d take the fall for things I did when we were kids just so our dad would yell at him more than me. He’s warded off stupid boys since we were teens, and when I started dating Jamie, he threatened to kill him if he hurt me. Obviously, Jamie is still alive so that was an idle threat, but he meant well by it.
My father never conducted his business dealings around my mother and I, but he brought Holland in at a young age. I knew whatever was going on was shady, but I learned never to ask questions. Holland learned how to defend himself real quick, and he grew up unafraid of the world and what it could do to him.
Granted, my father never exactly told Holland that what he was doing was illegal, so Holland only thought he was following in dad’s footsteps. He was devastated when he found out dad had been lying to him about everything since the beginning.
I know for a fact Holland would show up here and threaten everyone involved in this misunderstanding, but it’s not necessary.
“I did. He is. He assured me he’d keep an eye out for a new location, and he’d let me know as soon as one becomes available. In the meantime, I’m stuck with—”
“A lying, conniving pussy who left you without a fucking word and broke your heart,” Holland spits, his tone hot like fire. He’s pissed, and rightfully so. So am I.
“Yeah…” is all I can say. This whole situation sucks, but at this point it’s out of my hands. I can’t do anything about it, other than leave. That’s not happening though. I’m not letting Jamie take this away from me. I’m just going to ignore him and pretend like he’s not even here. It shouldn’t be hard, right? Our schedules are probably so different, and this house is so big we’ll most likely never see each other. I just need to figure out his routine and avoid being in the same vicinity as him.
The next morning, I make my coffee and sit at the massive island in the middle of the kitchen while scrolling through videos of my friends from my theatre company back in the city. I’ve been keeping Freddie posted on what’s been happening here, and he’s told me several times how much of a ‘lucky bitch’ I am for being roommates with a hot hockey player.
He's not quite understanding the fact that this particular hockey player broke my heart.
My first class is today, and I’m starting to feel really nervous. I’m not sure if it’s imposter syndrome or what, but I’m feeling highly underqualified to even be here right now. I mean, I know what I’m talking about, and I have the experience. What I don’t have is teaching experience or director experience. However, they say the best way to learn is to do, so here I am. Taking a deep breath in, I take the last sip of my coffee and watch one more video before stuffing my things in my bag and hopping off the chair.
The alarm I set on my phone to remind me to grab food goes off and as I attempt to turn the damn thing off, I run into a hard body, causing me to stumble back. When I regain my composure, Jamie is staring at me like I’m some new species of animal he’s never seen before. My heart begins to race, and I have to mentally remind myself to breathe because I think I’ve forgotten how. His brown hair curls under the hat he’s put on, backwards might I add. His sweats and black t-shirt make his muscles pop, and my eyes land on the one spot they shouldn’t. I look away quickly, hoping he didn’t catch me staring at his dick.
“Watch where you’re going,” I say, knowing full well that I ran into him because I was trying to turn off my stupid alarm. He knows it too because a smirk grows on his face.
“You ran into me, Sweetheart.” My heart stutters at the pet name. He doesn’t get to do that. He doesn’t get to try to flirt and call me cute names and act as if everything is fine.
It’s not fine, and I won’t pretend it is. I know that might be petty, but I don’t care. What he did was way worse.
“Why are you even here?” I ask accusingly.
“Gotta get to work,” he shrugs, walking past me and into the kitchen, heading directly to the fridge. Opening it, he pulls out a protein shake, and I watch as his bicep flexes as he shakes it. God, when did he get so buff? All that time in the gym really paid off, I guess.
“Work? You have practice now? It’s nine in the morning.”
He nods, grabbing a gym bag from off the floor. “Yup. Early morning practices are the best. Gotta get the blood pumping and shit,” he explains, his velvety smooth voice like a drug. He always had a deep voice, and now it’s more manly. It’s really annoying.
“Is this going to be like, a normal thing?” I query. His brows furrow as he takes a sip of his shake, never breaking eye contact.
“Why? You wanna keep tabs on me?”
“No, I want to avoid having to see you as much as possible,” I reply, but I don’t think I even believe that.
He chuckles, the sound bringing me back to when we were sixteen and laughing together about some video we’d just watched. My heart aches at the thought.
“Whatever you say, sweetheart.” He makes his way to the front door, grabbing a hockey stick that had been leaning against the wall.
“Don’t call me that,” I call after him. He turns around with a teasing smile.
“What should I callyou then?”
“Nothing.”
Chapter 6
Ellie
I
