Chapter 25

I threw my dorm door open in aggravation. I should have known speaking to Sienna was a waste of time. She knew nothing. Just a couple of names that she was hoping I’d accidentally let something slip about. The only good thing about interrogating her was that I now knew Cade was her target and I needed to get to the bottom of this story before she did.

When a hand grabbed my ankle, I stopped, only to find Cade sitting beside the door, looking bleary-eyed and exhausted.

“Ugh!” Sienna cried as she hit me in the back. “You’re like a brick wall.” She walked around me, rubbing her nose, but I ignored her because finding out what was going on with Cade was more important to me.

“Cade?” I bent down so we were face-to-face.

He looked up at me in surprise, as though his hand wasn’t currently clutching my ankle. “You’re back already? I guess I shouldn't be surprised. You did tell me you only last thirty seconds.”

“Is everything okay? ”

He pushed out a breath, laughing. “Everything is fine. Why? Do I seem upset?”

His hand flew up in the air for no apparent reason, and I glanced over my shoulder, noting Sienna’s judgmental gaze. Yeah, I needed to get Cade out of here before she found anything out. Cade had loose lips when he was drunk, and I didn’t want her knowing that little fact.

“Where’s Scotty?” I looked around the room, noticing how quiet it had become. There were only a few people on the couch watching tv. I didn’t know any of them. There was no Erik, no Scotty. No one. “He was supposed to be looking after you.”

Cade waved me off with a chortle. “Scotty’s gone. He left a while ago.”

“Come on.” I offered my hand to Cade, and he glared at my palm, refusing to take it.

“Did you know your lifeline is really long? Like freakishly long,” he said, completely entranced. I pulled my hand away and stuffed it in my pocket.

“I need to talk to you in there.” I used my eyebrows to point to his room. Side-eyeing Sienna, I said, “You can go now.”

“Fine,” she sighed, which surprised me since I expected her to push back. Maybe she’d had enough of the drama as I had today. Looking around me, she raised her hand to Cade. “Good seeing you again, C. I hope you don’t have a headache in the morning.”

Without looking or moving anything other than his hand to salute her, Cade said, “Goodbye, Little Miss Pop My Cherry.”

Deadpanned, she glanced at me for answers, and I shook my head. “Long story. Don’t ask.”

My phone vibrated in my jeans, but I ignored it. Cade was more important, and I was determined to make him my priority. When I reached for my door, Cade slapped my opened hand, giving me a high-five I didn’t ask for. Sighing, I slung one of his arms over my shoulder and dragged him to his bedroom.

Pushing the door open, I rolled him onto the bed and sat on the black leather office chair beside it.

Cade moved around a little before throwing an arm over his eyes and growling.

“So,” I started. “Are you going to tell me what’s wrong, or are you just going to keep growling like a bear over there?”

With no way to see me, he replied, “That’s rich coming from you. You’ve got one of the hottest girls on campus chasing after you, and you’re still the grumpiest shit I’ve ever met.”

“I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s going on.”

“Nothing. I’m fine.”

“You sure about that, because when you’re fine, you usually take your aggression out in the rink.”

“I believe your door would have other opinions on that.”

I let out a small laugh because, even in his drunk state, he had a way of being obtuse. I was getting nowhere with him tonight. He wasn’t going to tell me anything in this drunk state, but I couldn’t exactly just up and leave him. My best friend needed me, and it was high time I started acting like one myself.

“I don’t know what’s going on with you, C, but I do want you to know that I’m here and willing to help you.”

Cade lifted his arm just enough to open one eye. Surprisingly, it was less bloodshot than earlier. “You can’t help me. Not with this problem.”

“Why not? You in financial trouble or something?”

“No. Nothing like that. I’m just…”

He closed his eyes, trailing off, and I had no idea what his issue was. “Spit it out, Bright.”

“I’m in love, okay?”

Well, shit. That wasn’t where I was expecting this to go.

“You are?” I swallowed, watching as my friend’s face morphed from nonchalance to aggravation. Was this one of the girls that Sienna mentioned?

“Yes, and she hates me. It doesn’t matter who I beat up for her or how much I pay to see her, she doesn’t want anything to do with me.”

Constantly checking his phone, going out straight after games, throwing parties after losses. How had I not figured out sooner that there was a girl involved with all his weird behavior? I frowned because I knew why. Madison. I was focusing so much on her that I’d been completely oblivious to my friend’s needs. Even now, I’d been thinking about her all night instead of stopping my friend from getting into such an intoxicated state .

“It’s fucked up, and it pisses me off.”

“Because she doesn’t like you?”

“Because she has a boyfriend.”

“Ah, that could be a problem.”

“Yeah, and you don’t know her, but she’s a good girl. She’s not going to cheat. Not with me, at least.”

“That’s admirable. If she cheated with you, then she’d probably cheat on you in the future, and that’s not something you’d want.”

He pushed himself up, glaring at me as though I had just insulted the King of England, and he was imagining all the ways he could chop my head off. “People only cheat when they aren’t getting what they want out of their relationship. She wouldn’t cheat on me because I’d give her everything.”

“But she doesn’t want it?”

He chuckled, nodding to himself. “Oh, she wants it. She just doesn’t want to admit she wants anything to do with me.”

“Give it time. I’m sure you can wear her down.”

My phone continued to buzz in my jeans, but I kept ignoring it. The noise seemed to inspire Cade to pull his own phone out and start to swipe through messages. Ones I presumed were from the girl he was in love with.

“Maybe you should talk to her.”

“You don’t think that was the first thing I did? She doesn’t want me. It’s fine. I’ll move on.” He raised his hand, rolling over dramatically.

“Sure, seems like it.”

“Don’t act all high and mighty with me, Dash. You may think you and Reporter Girl have your shit together, but she’s fucking up your game.”

“So you keep saying,” I mumbled and ran a hand through my hair. I was fucking up because I was lying to my best friend, which had to stop. Cade had rolled over, so he was facing the wall. Since he wasn’t looking at me, I’d gained some of that courage I had earlier, and it all started to make sense. Cade had opened up to me, and it was only fair that I opened up about me and Madison. He had a right to know, and Madison deserved to be more than a secret.

“About that. Cade, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.”

I took my phone out of my pocket and pulled up the note that I’d been editing constantly for the last few weeks. Clearing my throat, I looked over at Cade, who was lying on his bed, grumbling something, and started reading off my note.

“I would appreciate it if you would let me finish everything I have to say before talking.” Taking a deep breath, I continued. “Cade. I remember the first day I met you. We were ten years old, on the ice. I was tiny back then, and some older kids pushed me, making me lose my balance. I was being laughed at, but you didn’t let it last for long. You beat the shit out of them even though they were double your size. From that moment forward, I knew you’d be like a brother to me, and over a decade later, I can say you still are. Every big life event, you’ve been there, and I don’t plan on that changing anytime soon.”

I took a break because my hand was shaking. He was finally going to learn about Madison and me, and I really wanted it to go well. “But with all that said, it wasn’t just you I built a relationship with. It was with your family. With your dad, who took me to hockey games when mine couldn’t. It was with your mom, who made me all the homemade dinners I’d missed out on. It was with Madison. The girl who was always there, trying to be just like her brother but usually failing miserably. I watched her go from gawky and awkward to heartbroken and beautiful. I don’t know when exactly it happened, but at some point, I started to fall in love with your sister. Who could blame me? She’s vivacious, caring, and sweet.”

Cade let out another grumble, but at least he was letting me finish.

“I know you hate the idea of her dating one of your teammates, and I completely understand if you don’t want me to date your sister, but know this, I can’t stop. I love you like a brother, and maybe one day we’ll get to the point where I’m the lucky bastard that gets to legally call you that, but that’s not what I wanted to tell you today. What I want to tell you is that I’m in love with your sister, and I fully intend on treating her like she’s the best goddamn thing that’s ever happened to me, because she is. I love Madison, and I’ll happily let you break my nose for it, but just know, bones can heal. My heart won’t if I can’t be with Madison.”

There. I got it out, and I had to admit that I suddenly felt lighter. I hadn’t even told Madison just how much she meant to me, but telling someone made me realize how hard I’d fallen for her. She was everything. Always would be. Cade hadn’t said anything yet, but he had moved a little in his bed, so I figured he was just taking it all in since there was a lot to process.

After a few minutes of silence, I said, “Cade? What do you think?”

Still no answer. So I stood up and walked over to the bed, grabbed his shoulder, and shook him.

“Fuck.”

He was sleeping, snoring loudly as I rolled him onto his back. Well, shit. Had he heard any of my speech? I assumed not because telling him that would be like a bucket of cold water poured over him. Unless the beginning was too long and I’d bored him into slumber. I dropped my head on a sigh because I’d worked myself up for a confession that meant nothing.

“Dash!” I heard my name being called from the common room.

“Dash? Are you here? I swear I’m going to beat your ass if you don’t get out here soon.”

Was that Scotty?

I quietly walked out of the room, only to find Scotty searching for me under the sofa cushions with a scowl. “What’s wrong?”

“You’re a fucking idiot, that’s what’s wrong.” He stomped over to me, getting all up in my face.

“What are you talking about? You’re the one that left Cade drunk on his own.”

“Oh, don’t you dare blame this mess on me.”

“What mess?”

“Madison.”

My body stilled at the mention of her name. “What happened?”

He shook his head. “She saw you.” I waited for more of an explanation, but that seemed to be all that Scotty was willing to give until I raised my brow. “With Sienna. She saw you dragging her into your room, and Cade told her that you were dating.”

“Fuck.”

“Yes. Fuck. Now, if you ever want a chance in hell with Madison again, you need to go and fix this right now.”

I didn’t have to think about my next move. I ran to the elevator, and as I pressed the call button, I said, “Watch over Cade. ”

Scotty nodded. “Good luck.”

The elevator doors shut, and I could feel it in my bones. I was going to need a lot more than luck this time.

“Pick up your phone, Madison,” I muttered to myself, cursing when my call went through to her voicemail again. I’d called her at least twenty times since leaving the dorm, but she’d ignored every single attempt, which was starting to tick me off.

How the hell was I supposed to explain anything to her when she wouldn’t let me?

I took another shot at calling, and yet again, I was ignored. She was pissed, and I’d somehow screwed up badly.

I might have inadvertently let her waltz out of the hockey dorm, but I wasn’t going to let her waltz out of my life, or my bed, for that matter. Not without forcing her to hear me out. If talking to Cade had taught me anything, it was to keep fighting for what was yours, no matter what got in the way.

Madison’s dorm may have only been a few minutes away, but it felt like I’d been walking for hours. I was going to have to explain myself but every time I walked through the conversation in my head, it sounded ridiculous. It didn’t help that I had no idea what Cade had said to make Madison believe I was dating Sienna, so trying to refute those claims would be impossible. It felt like I was standing on quicksand, and I had no idea how to get out of it.

When I was standing outside her dorm, I tried to call Madison one more time. Unsurprisingly, I got no answer. The building was shut down for the evening, and the only way in now was by using a keycard or someone letting you in. I had neither option open to me.

“Dammit!” I huffed out as cold air billowed around my face. It was getting colder now, not that I noticed or cared. I was used to cooler weather at this point.

Taking several steps back, I counted the floors, and then the windows. Third floor. Fourth window. At least that was where I thought her room was. The lights weren’t on in any of the rooms on that floor. Strange. Madison probably left my dorm about an hour or two ago. Surely, she wouldn’t be sleeping yet. Knowing her, she’d be bitching about me to Tiff.

Did Scotty walk her home or take her somewhere else?

I doubted it. But after all her escapades with football players, I wasn’t sure what she’d get up to if she was mad at me; so I decided to double check.

Dash: Did you drop Madison off at her dorm?

What a ridiculous message that I had to send my friend who acted more like Madison’s protective boyfriend than me. I was an idiot, and I needed to make it up to her, but that wouldn’t be possible if she wouldn’t let me try.

Scotty: Yes, but I doubt she’ll talk to you tonight. She was heartbroken and looked exhausted when I left her.

Heartbroken?

My stomach lurched because that was the last thing I wanted her to feel when it came to our relationship. I tried to call her again, and this time, when I was forwarded to her voicemail, I decided to leave a message. “Madison. We need to talk. I don’t know what you saw, but it’s not what it looked like. I was trying to figure out what Sienna knew about Cade. You can’t let something as trivial as this stop what’s going on between us. Madison, I can’t let you go. I-I—”

God, I wanted to tell her that I loved her so badly. That the day I broke Henry’s nose was the day I vowed to myself that I’d never let anyone upset her again, but she’d probably delete the message before listening to the entire thing. No. It wasn’t the right time to grovel. The right time to do it would be just after I’d given her the best orgasm of her life to make up for it, only for her to realize that no one could make her feel as good as me.

“I need to talk to you. I’m outside your dorm, and I’m not leaving until you let me up.” I was well aware that it was past visiting hours for this place, but I’d sneak in if I had to .

When I heard some high-pitched voices laughing in the distance, I rolled to the side of the door and waited for the girls to approach because I assumed they lived in the dorm.

When they got close enough, I stepped out and raised my hand. “Excuse me.” The girls were startled by my presence but seemed to relax when I smiled—something I only did with strangers when I was desperate. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. My girlfriend is on the third floor. I was supposed to meet her tonight, but she’s fallen asleep on me and left me no way to get up there.” I pointed to the third floor, and the two girls followed my finger as though that would help check out my story. It didn’t help that none of the lights were on in any of the rooms. “Would you mind letting me in?”

One of the girls glared at me while the other elbowed her friend. “Sorry, I’m not sure I believe you.”

I ground my teeth because it would have been better if I could just sneak in behind them, but I wasn’t small enough for that. I’d make a scene, and the girls would no doubt scream, thus, I’d get banned from this dorm for life, and I needed access here.

“Come on, Ati. Let’s get inside.”

Okay, they thought I was a creep, and I couldn’t blame them. It was dark, and I looked shady as fuck popping out of the darkness asking to be let in. As the girls shifted away, I closed my eyes and took a breath because I was about to do something that I vowed I never would.

“Do either of you know Scotty Hendricks?”

Yup. I just name-dropped my teammate.

The shorter girl laughed. “You’re joking, right? Who doesn’t know him on this campus? Wasn’t he voted the most eligible athlete at Covey U or something?”

“Do either of you like him?” I asked with raised brows.

“Yes. I think he’s a good guy.” The shorter one smiled, trying to act cool. I wasn’t surprised that I’d managed to find a hockey fan between them because when Scotty committed to Covey U, the female applications apparently increased by twenty percent.

“That’s an understatement,” the other one, Ati, I think, mumbled.

Thinking fast, I pulled out my phone, unlocked it, and swiped through my gallery until I found a picture of him. I flipped my phone over, showing the girls Scotty and me at The Draft. Okay, it wasn’t my best shot. I looked angry as hell and like I wanted to kill someone, but that wasn’t far from the truth.

“Scotty is one of my best friends.” They were still studying the picture. “And my teammate.”

“You’re on the hockey team? I don’t recognize you.”

“That’s because I’m the goaltender. I don’t like to take my helmet off.”

“Wait a minute, are you the one that does all those fancy warm-ups?” Her lips curled, and I wanted to roll my eyes because Scotty did say that would come back to haunt me.

“Yes,” I answered curtly, which seemed to be enough to warm them up to me. “How about this? I will invite you to the next party at the hockey dorm if you let me in.”

Okay, maybe I’d made that offer too quickly because both of their smiles turned, and they looked at each other wearily.

“Look, I’m sure you’re a nice guy and everything, but really, I’ve seen far too many slasher movies to think that it would be okay to let you into a dorm full of girls when I don’t actually know you. Besides, you might have just photoshopped those pictures with Scotty.”

Fuck. Why was the universe conspiring against me on this? Name-dropping Scotty didn’t work, and they were backing away. I was losing them, so I needed to take a different tactic.

Glancing back at my phone, I flicked through my gallery and showed them a picture of Madison. It was from the other day. I was kissing her on the cheek, and she was smiling.

“This is the girl I need to see. Do you know her?”

The taller girl examined the picture. “I think I’ve seen her in here before.”

“Her name is Madison Bright. She’s the love of my life, and I screwed things up earlier. I need to talk to her and let her know just how much she means to me.”

“Aww,” the short one cooed, giving me a far more sympathetic look. Was this going to work?

“Come on, Ati. Maybe we should let him up.”

“No,” she replied quickly. “We are not going to be responsible for a death on campus. Sorry, dude. You’re just going to have to wait until the morning.” She opened the door, letting her shorter friend through, before shutting it and locking me out of the building.

Well, shit. I was out of ideas, so I called Madison again. When there was no answer, I scoured the ground, grabbed a few pebbles and tried to throw them at her window. Or, at least, the one I thought was her window.

After six attempts, I threw the rest of the pebbles at the ground because I’d missed every single shot.

“Fuck!” I yelled so loudly that I knew the entire dorm block heard me. I didn’t care. Maybe it would wake her up. Trudging over to the door, I leaned against the window and slid down until I was sitting next to it. She’d have to walk out of her building eventually, and I was going to be here when she did.

Bringing my knees up, I relaxed my head against the glass and closed my eyes. I could feel myself drifting to sleep, but I wasn’t doing anything to stop it. It’d been a long day and I was exhausted. Just as my eyes shut, there was a loud banging against the window, causing me to jump.

When I looked around and saw Aster pointing at me from behind the glass, I knew I was in trouble. Pushing the door open, she had no qualms about walking out here in her bathrobe. “This is the guy, Todd. He won’t leave the dorm, he’s throwing rocks at windows, and constantly swearing like a drunk.”

I held back from laughing upon seeing the look Aster was giving Todd. Glad it wasn’t just me who she thought was an imbecile. “Can’t you see him?”

Todd rolled his eyes before looking at me. “Yes, I see him, Aster. He’s the only person out here.”

“Well, then you need to do your thing.” She flailed her hands in his direction. “Because, frankly, I’m tired of doing your job for you. Why haven’t you gotten rid of him already?”

I tipped my chin as I stood, recognizing Todd as one of the more motivated Crusher fans at this college. He’d always sit in the first row, banging on the plexiglass, wearing a polar bear’s head with purple body paint. “Todd.”

“Dash, what are you doing here?” Todd gave me an uneasy look, but I could tell that he wanted to give me the benefit of the doubt. He glanced at Aster, who clearly didn’t believe or trust me at this point. For a small thing, she was pretty damn feisty.

“He needs to leave, Todd. It’s past visiting hours, Madison’s not here, and I’ve got a ton of work I need to do, which is impossible with him screaming at the windows.”

Todd sucked in a breath and looked at me with unease. “There’s not much I can do, Aster. He’s not in the building. He’s not currently shouting, and he’s standing on campus. Something he’s allowed to do because he’s a student here.”

“Are you serious? But he’s stalking a resident.”

Todd rolled his neck so he was looking at me. “Are you stalking Madison Bright?” Maybe it was because he was a sucker for the Crushers, but man, Todd made a weak security guard.

“No. She’s my teammate’s sister, and I need to talk to her.”

“Can it wait until morning?”

“Not really. Can you let me up to speak to her?”

Aster tipped on her toes, piping up, “I already told you, she’s not in there.” She flailed her arms in Todd’s face. “Do something.”

“Sorry, Dash, but I think you’ll need to try again in the morning.”

“Sure,” I drawled out, taking a few steps back. They might not have wanted me here, but I wasn’t leaving. I strolled over to the bench across the path and took a seat.

“Todd! Look, he’s sitting there.”

“It’s a bench on campus, Aster. I can’t force him to move. Unless he starts acting up, then there’s nothing I can do.”

“Well, then you better stand right there and watch him,” Aster huffed out before stomping her way back into the dorm. Todd sighed, but followed behind her, nonetheless.

I wasn’t going to leave. Madison was too important for that.

Standing outside of the dorm, I looked at the window that I thought was her room one last time and decided to call her again. I could have sworn I saw the flicker of a light, but it could have just been my wishful thinking.

“Madison. This isn’t over between us.”

I left my message at that. Yes, it was mildly threatening, but it was the truth. If she thought she could be done with me over a misunderstanding, then she was about to be very disappointed.