It takes all my strength not to pick up my phone and order more DoorDash to Pitstop’s room.
Maybe I’ll wait for her to get back in the shower before I do.
Or maybe tomorrow.
If she’d given me the chance to explain, or get a word out, or even breathe I wouldn’t be contemplating it. But her shitty attitude stinks, and I’ve been on the receiving end of it now for far too long. And I don’t even know why. The only thing worse than her fury is her indifference, and I broke through that today by accidentally sending her my dinner.
I’mdefinitelyordering more food. Hell, I’ll bring it to the hockey house with me and share it with the team if I have to, but I want her all pissy and mad again.
I’m tired of being her punching bag.
Maybe she should be mine for a damn change.
CHAPTER 6
Penelope
The fucking audacity of that guy.
The privilege. He thinks he can just, what? Have his dinner delivered to me, and I’ll bring it to him? Service with a smile?
Ugh. Why does he make my blood boil like this? It’s not a rational reaction, and I know it, but I also can’t help the zero to one hundred response that erupts from deep inside. The very sight of him is enough to trigger me.
He wasn’t the one who hit Dad, who set off a chain reaction of cards falling the way they have in my life, but he’s got the same face of the man who did, and I can’t get past it, even if I might want to because he smells like heaven.
I want him to hurt, to suffer like Dad suffered, his family suffer like we suffered. The urge to make him pay is so strong it’s hard to shake some days, even though Iknowhis father is to blame and not Tate.
I take a steadying breath, but it does little to salve the simmer in my veins. Is there a chance the DoorDash person messed up the drop off? Sure. I guess. But do I want to believe that?
Fuck no. Staying mad at him means I stay in check and don’t cross that line. I couldn’t do that to Dad. I couldn’t betray him by falling for the son of the man who destroyed us.
Dad was right, the Myers men are all the damn same.
Arrogant. Presumptive. And without a care in the damn world for how their actions impact anyone else.
I rub at the knot in my chest.
It’s been years since Dad got hurt on the ice, more than two years since my parents got divorced after a long, hard battle through my Dad’s recovery, addiction, and their eventual bankruptcy. And it’s been six months since Mom got remarried to Mike. He’s a great guy, but I’m still coming around to the idea that my stereotypical American family got demolished.
And that asshole next door’s Dad is the root cause.
My heart’s hammering so hard I almost miss the familiar strum of a guitar playing in the next room. No. I’m a strong, independent woman, but I will turn to a puddle of goo for that beautiful man and his guitar.
I shake my head and start humming something, anything, the first damn thing that comes into my head to block out the melodic notes meandering through the dividing wall separating me and the man whose kiss I still dream about.
After a moment of humming, it hits me. He’s changed what he’s playing to match what I’m humming.
Shit. I’m in trouble. A text flashes on the screen of my cell from my twin brother, Oliver. But I don’t have the mental bandwidth to deal with him and his drama twin today, so I swipe left.
No, thank you.
I shoot off a text to my cousin, and best friend, Karlya asking when she’s next coming to town. She’s a free spirit, the kind of person you might not hear from for months but when you hear from her it’s like no time has passed at all.
When I put my phone down and it starts ringing, I can’t help but roll my eyes. Oli’s so damn needy. But when Tate strums another chord on his guitar, suddenly talking to my brother doesn’t seem like a bad idea. It would keep me busy enough that I don’t burst into song with the enemy next door. I need to hold the line.
I pick up my phone, but it’s not Oliver’s name on the screen, it’s Dad’s.
“Hey Dad.” I flop down on my bed with a sigh. My roommate isn’t home, she’s rarely home. She got herself a boyfriend on the football team, and she spends most of her nights over at the frat house with him. Not that I mind, it gives me a little more space to decompress after classes.
