A long exhalation comes from her. “Sometimes I get so angry with my mama. I adored her, I did, but why…why did she stick with him? Why did she let him make us move?” She closes her eyes. “The worst thing is, he never ever once treated me right, like I was part of him, and she just…” A tear falls down her cheek. “By loving him, she lost me. And I hate it. I hate how I never really felt like I belonged.”
My heart wants to come out of my chest.
She shakes her head. “She loved him too much. And Bennett, what you saw today…I did love him, but…”
My hands tighten.
An angry look grows on her face. “He’s a cheater and a liar, and that’s enough for me to say goodbye. I don’t want to make the same mistakes she did. Please…” She looks at me with earnest blue eyes. “Please don’t be like Bennett.”
“I won’t.”
She nods and leans her head into my neck, and I wrap my arms around her, holding her tight.
Later, I kiss her softly, and she sighs into my mouth. Our lips cling, and in my head I’m telling myself she’s it, and I won’t let this tentative thing between us be over. I won’t be like Bennett.
I’ve never been a cheater, but…
But…
We’ve had a lie between us from the very beginning.
And somehow I’m going to have to tell her everything.
29
Zack
The hockey games keep coming, and somehow I’m managing to keep my shit together. I had some close calls when we faced off with a tough Yale team on the road, but in the end the ornery athlete in me that loves a challenge somehow got me through. At one point, when we were down by one goal with two minutes left and the puck was under my stick, I got dizzy and clammy and that dread rolled through me. I had to score. I had to keep the winning streak going. You deserve hockey. You deserve happiness. You deserve this, I told myself, and it kept me centered. It pulled me through, and I slung the puck into the net.
And Sugar…
Since the day she told me about her dad, we’ve grown closer and we’re spending time together. During the week, we meet up for late lunches after my therapy, and we’ve skipped the Kappa parties to hang out at her place or go donut shop hopping.
It’s a few days after our last win when we order in pizza and watch Game of Thrones at Sugar’s. She’s constantly clapping her hand over her mouth to keep from telling me everyone’s backstory.
“Khal Drogo kind of reminds me of you with his big muscles and I’m all that attitude,” she muses as she munches on a piece of pizza. “I think for Halloween, you should dress up as him.”
I grin. “As long as you’re Dany. They have some pretty hot sex scenes.”
She arches an eyebrow. “I know.”
“Just let me know when you’re ready to resume sex.”
Yeah, she’s making sure sex isn’t all we have. I know it isn’t, but if she needs to know…
“But don’t you want to know if there’s more to life than just sex?”
“No.” I set down my plate of pizza on her desk and grin. “Plus, it’s possible I might die from blue balls.”
“You’ll die from me hitting you upside the head.”
“It was worth a shot.” I kiss her on the lips, quickly, because I know if I linger, I’m going to be jerking off in her bathroom later just so I can drive home.
Someone knocks on the door, and she jumps up to get it wearing a pair of booty shorts and a camisole. Her ass is firm and full, and the way her tits press against that shirt…
Of course her radiator is spitting out heat like crazy and that’s her excuse for being skimpy, but I’m wondering…
I hear her exclaim loudly then a female voice speaks, and I hop up from her bed and walk to the door.
I grin.
It took several phone calls to multiple places today to make this happen, and along with some help from my dad, I was able to find what I needed.
The girl who works the lobby is standing at the door. “I don’t know the guys you date, but if you could hook me up with one of their friends, that would be super cool.”
Sugar takes the donut box and the stuffed penguin from the girl then