Hockey With Benefits(85)

“No. That has to be her decision–”

“Mara.” The emotions about my sister, the phone call with my mom, being with Mara and not being able to touch her, and then Flynn, Angela… I sighed. “I get your loyalty is to her in this situation, but I’m telling Labrowski. I’m on his team. We live in the same house. He’s my boy. If it were you, I would never forgive the roommate and teammate who knew and didn’t tell me.”

She let out her own sigh. “Just–don’t tell him the specifics.”

“Trust me.” I didn’t wait. I hit the call button.

After three rings, he picked up, sounding groggy, “What the fuck, Styles? You better not be calling from jail. You know what time–”

“Shut up for a second.”

He went silent. Then, rustling sounds came over, and he asked, way less groggy now, “What is it? You okay?”

“Listen.” I was staring at Mara as I spoke, “Daniels and I are at a police station, but not in Grant West–” He started to talk. I said over him, “We’re fine. I’m fine, but man, Angela.”

“Angela was there?”

“Listen to me right now, I can’t be the one to tell you, but I’m letting you know, she’s probably almost back to Grant West by now. You need to go to her. Okay? You hearing me?”

“Fuck! Fuck! Yeah. Jesus. Okay. You’re okay?”

“I’m okay.”

“It’s late. Where are you?”

“Don’t worry about us. Call Angela. Okay?”

“Okay. Jesus, okay. Let me know when you’re back.”

I was so tired and sore. My body had stiffened up from waiting at the station.

Mara said, “There might be a small inn here. We could stay here and go back in the morning?”

I gave her a look. “You really think either of us could get any sleep in an inn around here?”

Her mouth flattened, and her shoulders dropped dramatically. “We’ll need coffee then.”

I drove to a nearby gas station, filling up the tank. Mara went inside, but came out and met me as I was going in. She had a bag of food hanging from her arm and her hands were filled with two coffee cups. She raised one. “For you.”

I nodded. “Thank you. I’m going to take a quick piss.”

“I got water as well. Gatorade.”

“Thanks. Here.” I turned and hit the unlock button.

“Thanks.”

I moved past but turned and walked backwards. She did the same, watching me and for a moment, both of us paused. There was no one else here, except one gas attendant inside. We were in the middle of fucking nowhere, had gone through what we went through, and she never broke down. Not once. She stayed and she fought for me. She’d been my anchor when every part of me wanted to go back and finish the job with Carrington. Then she took care of me, thinking ahead, fighting back in her way, and she was there for Angela. She stayed for Angela, the whole time when we went to the police station.

Mara was the one who talked Angela into pressing charges now, not later.

She did that, and even though Mara was saying she did that for me and for Angela, there’d been something about her, like she was too familiar with the whole process.

The thought hadn’t fully formed in my head until now, but it’d been there. In the back of my mind, ruminating. Now I couldn’t let it go.

She saw the question in my eyes. Her chin lifted. Her face cleared of all exhaustion. She knew something was coming from me, and my God, but she wasn’t even flinching. She was facing it head-on.

“That ever happen to you? What he did to Angela, or what I thought he’d done to her?”

She blinked, once. A stricken look flashed in her gaze, but then it was gone after she blinked a second time. “Once, yeah. When I was too young to know anything.”

Everything in my body clenched up. She’d been hurt, and I hadn’t known her then. It was still there. It still hung over her. She was still carrying it.

“What happened?”

She lowered her head, shaking it, slowly. Her fingers tightened around the coffee cups, but then she looked back up, and a whole different expression was there. It looked deep, tortured. “I don’t carry emotional scars from what the guy did. I went to therapy, worked that out of me, but it’s what my mom did that hurt the worst.”

“What’d she do?”

“She made it about her. It’s what she always does.” She rolled her eyes, before looking away. “Can you hit the unlock button again?”

She started walking back, and I hit the button. I waited until she got inside.

Until she got comfortable, turned to face me, and I hit the lock button back again.

People were precious and Mara, I was realizing how precious she was.

Maybe more than she wanted to know.





40





MARA





We got to Cruz’s house so late. Or hella early in the morning.

After he parked, I got out, my bag in hand and circled the truck, but he took it from me. We gave each other a long look, but no words were shared. He carried both our bags inside.

Atwater, Barclay, and a couple other guys were up, all sitting on the couch and doing nothing.