“I need to talk to you.” She shoots daggers at poor Lex. “Alone.”
Lex hesitates, then leans in and lowers his voice. “You sure you’re gonna be okay on your own with her? She looks like she wants to eat you alive. And not in a good way.”
I don’t blame him for being concerned. The way Hannah’s glaring at me, I’m a little worried for myself, too. You know that expression, if looks could kill? Her picture could be next to it in the slang dictionary.
“I’ll be fine,” I assure him, even though I’m not so sure myself. “This is Kolby’s sister, Hannah.”
Lex’s mouth forms a surprisedOthat’s as wide as his eyes. This is the first time he’s met Hannah. Hell, until two seconds ago, I don’t even think he knew Kolby had a sister, never mind one who’s here in Vermont. The plan was to introduce her to the team at the Biscuit after the Hartfield game. Which didn’t work out for obvious reasons.
I stand and meet Hannah’s glare head-on. “We can talk in my room. It’ll be more private there.”
She follows me up the stairs. I say a silent prayer my room’s not too disgusting and push open the door. It’s not half bad, but I still have to hustle to kick a stray pair of dirty socks under the bed and shove my underwear drawer closed.
I pull out my desk chair for her since my bed’s not made. “Have a seat.”
She folds her arms across her chest. “I’ll stand, thanks.”
So much for trying to be a gentleman. I flop down on my bed. “Suit yourself.”
“Don’t you want to know why I’m mad at you?”
“I have a feeling you’re going to tell me whether I want to or not.”
I also have a feeling I already know what she’s going to say.
Her glare gets even icier, if that’s possible. “You’re blaming my brother for something he didn’t do. And you won’t answer his calls or texts so he can tell you what really happened.”
Bingo.
I sit up and shove a hand through my hair, pushing it back off my forehead and out of my eyes. “Yeah, about that—”
“If you won’t listen to him, maybe you’ll listen to me,” she says, cutting me off. “I’m the one who screwed up. Kolby told me your secret. Me, his sister, someone he should have been able to trust. And I’m the one who blurted it out in the middle of the game, not him. It was just bad luck that reporter was sitting behind us and overheard me.”
She says this all in a rush, on one breath. Seriously, she should consider a career as a pearl diver. Or one of those mermaids I saw perform once at an aquarium in Florida.
“Are you done?” I ask.
She nods.
“I appreciate your confession, but it’s not necessary. If you had shown up two minutes earlier, you would have heard me admit to Lex that I was wrong to ignore your brother.”
The fight seems to seep out of her. Her shoulders drop and her fists unclench. “You did?”
Now it’s my turn to nod. “Only I don’t know how to fix things. I’m not sure he’ll even talk to me. Not that I blame him after the way I treated him.”
She flips my desk chair around and sits, straddling the seat, her folded arms resting across the back. “He is pretty mad at you.”
A thought occurs to me. “Does he know you’re here?”
“Are you kidding?” She scoffs. “No way. He’d flip if he found out I came to see you.”
Oh, well. There goes my fleeting hope that he sent her as a sort of human olive branch. I bury my head in my hands. “I am so screwed.”
I feel the bed sag beside me and a soft hand on my shoulder.
“If it’s any consolation, he looks as miserable as you do.”
I lift my head and stare straight ahead at a nail hole the previous occupant left in the wall where a picture used to hang. Beats the alternative, which is having the balls to look her in the eye. “Thanks, I think.”
