Page 157 of Breakaway Hearts

Trevor.

“But Owen is…”

“Doing great, as usual.” She rolls her eyes, but I’m crossing my fingers and toes that Owen doesn’t pick up on anything. Not that he should, when I never told him Trevor’s school or last name, but Jay doesn’t normally attack other players, and I haven’t missed a home game without a prior commitment I couldn’t get out of, even when I was actively trying to avoid Owen and the team.

“Good. That’s great.” I probably sound robotic, but Tab doesn’t say anything.

I spend the next minute gnawing on my bottom lip, watching Owen prevent Trevor from scoring, trying to figure out if he’s pushing a lot harder than normal or if that’s just my imagination.

I realize I’m most nervous about Owen figuring it out and committing murder, which I think is excellent progress on my part, but then Trevor Milligan looks up into the crowd.

His eyes lock on mine, like they have a hundred times before. Instead of butterflies, my blood runs cold, and all the warmth is sucked out of the room, as well as the air from my lungs.

His face breaks halfway into a smile, before he turns away, and I try to take deep breaths, to stop the panic attack, but the tears pouring down my face are hot and angry. How dare he smile at me like he doesn’t fucking know what he did?

“Are you okay?” Tab asks.

I nod, because I truly think I will be, but then the whistle blows, repeatedly.

“Oh shit,” Bree says.

I look down and see Wolves and Serpents locked in fights. There’s blood on the ice, which shouldn’t happen in college games.

Owen definitely knows.

I shouldn’t have come here.

While most of the guys join in on the fighting, a few of them try to break it up. One gets pushed back so hard he lands funny and doesn’t get up until a teammate helps him off the ice.

It's chaos, and as much as I’ve accepted that none of it was my fault, this scrum is definitely because of me.

“I have to go,” I tell the girls.

I don’t even wait to see if they hear me before I rush down the stairs, no idea what I’ll do when I reach them. Yell until Owen and Jason release my assaulters? Jump on the ice and join in?

I watch the refs practically carry Owen off the ice. I don’t know if my plan was to sneak into the locker room, but I get to the doors and stop dead when someone beats me to it.

I don’t know his name, had completely forgotten his face, but he was there that night, egging Trevor on, telling him it was tradition. That brothers share.

I try to hold on to my anger, but we’re alone in a hallway, and I’d have to walk past the visitor locker rooms before I got to the guys. And his smile isn’t like Trevor’s. It’s not a ‘happy to see you’ it’s a ‘looky what we have here’ that paralyzes me.

“You want some action too?” he asks, biting on his bottom lip and looking at me like I’m something he wants to play with.

I realize he has no idea who I am. He doesn’t remember me. I’m just a girl who’s alone so he might as well have fun.

“There you are,” Sav says, coming out of nowhere. “Jason was looking for you.”

She takes one look at the scene and plants herself firmly between us.

“Next time,” he says before going through the doors.

“Are you okay?” Sav asks me.

“Yeah, I’m—” I start, about to tell her I’m fine, like I always do, but her look is calling bullshit. “I’m not,” I admit. “But it’ll be better once we’re out of here.”

“I wasn’t lying about Jason. Tab and Bree are looking for you too.”

“That’s good,” I sigh. “There’s something I wanted to tell you.”