Page 15 of The Draft

“I bet you did, you dirty dog.” I could only imagine the pain I’d have felt if he found out it was Madison’s lip gloss coating my mouth.

Stupid, stupid mistake.

I trudged into my room, and when the door was shut, I closed my eyes, careful not to growl in annoyance as I thought about Madison because the only thing protecting me from the common room was a giant pizza box taped over the hole in my door, and I had no doubt Cade was eavesdropping.

When my phone buzzed again, after much fidgeting, I was able to pull it out of my pocket, and my chest tightened when I saw who’d messaged me.

Scotty…and Madison.

Scotty: I can’t believe you bailed because you’re “sick.” What ever happened to no man left behind? I’m now stuck talking to some Brooks-obsessed fangirl who is showing me all the compilation videos she made of the guy. As much as I like him, I don’t think I’m ever going to recover from seeing his bare chest in a near-professionally edited film montage.

I quickly responded to Scotty, telling him to try pestering Erik because I had some personal stuff to deal with. He may not have liked that answer, but at least he knew I wasn’t about to go back there and save him.

Madison: Let’s just pretend tonight never happened, m’kay? Thx.

Short and simple, and I wasn’t surprised given the content of the conversation I heard her have with Tiff. However, there was just one problem with that request. There was no way I was going to be able to forgether now.

Chapter 4

Big Bro: So, have you transferred out of Covey U or something, because I haven’t seen you in weeks. You haven’t called. You haven’t texted. What’s going on, little sis?

I growled, flicking the message off my screen before stuffing my phone in my purse because I didn’t want to answer Cade. It had been two weeks since I’d seen him, which was pretty long considering I lived a ten-minute walk away, but there was one very good reason I’d been avoiding him like the plague.

Dash.

I couldn’t face what I’d done. Not only had I kissed him and he rejected me, but he didn’t bother responding to my text where I asked him to forget about it. I glared down at the floor, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone because I was so embarrassed.

It wasn’t like I was expecting a declaration of love or anything,but I had expected a hell of a lot more than nothing. And not to mention the uncomfortable truth that it left me in limbo with Cade.

What had Dash told him? Was Cade being extra concerned about me because he wanted to lure me into a false sense of security, so I’d confide in him? Had Dash described me as a desperate stalker? The thought didn’t bear thinking about, but it did mean that I had no idea how to act around my brother. So I did the only thing I could. I avoided him and everyone that knew Cade like the plague, which brought me to the unfortunate realization that I really depended on him because I didn’t know anyone else.

Cade helped me settle in by introducing me to all his teammates, and I repaid him by kissing his best friend. That wasn’t even what hurt the most to think about because it wasn’t just a random teammate like Alex, Erik, or Brooks. It was Dash.

Big, hulking, and a little too broody for his own good, Dash. He’d been loyal to a fault with my brother, and I just went and volunteered him to test those boundaries. It was stupid of me to act on my feelings, and even more stupid to think that Dash might feel something for me too.

Having no one to talk about this mess with on campus meant I was hitting up my cousin, Tiff, constantly, and she didn’t have time for my pathetic boy issues. She was dealing with a toddler, for crying out loud. Her only advice to me was to tell Cade and get the whole incident out in the open so we could move on.

Move on? How could I even dream of doing that?

Besides, I was a chicken. Telling Cade anything other than my lunch order always seemed somewhat hard after everything that happened with Henry. He was so angry that I went behind his back and dated his teammate that he hardly spoke to me for a month after. When he finally did, it was to promise I wouldn’t go behind his back and date another teammate again. Yet here I was, doing my best to blow that whole promise out of the water.

Come to think of it, I bet the only reason Cade was so nice when I started here was because he’d told his teammates I was off-limits. He probably thought I’d never be interested in another hockey player after everything Henry did. I guess it never crossed his mind that a hockey player defendedme too.

Would he hurt Dash if he found out I kissed him? Had I ruined my brother’s longest friendship?

Dash and Cade were a package deal. Always had been. You couldn’t see one without the other on campus, and I couldn’t ignore Cade forever. They chose to go to college together and play on the same team instead of going straight to the NHL. They loved each other like brothers, and here I was putting a wedge right in the middle of that because my love for Dash was far from brotherly.

I pushed the bill of my Carolina Catfish baseball cap down and made sure I could still see the floor as I walked around with my sunglasses on. It was raining and overcast, but I was hoping this disguise would make it harder for anyone to recognize me. The only thing worse than seeing Cade on campus was seeing Dash. I was dreading that conversation even though I knew we needed to have it.

How the hell was I supposed to look him in the eyes again, let alone tell him to forget me kissing him in person? My knees knocked at the mere thought of it, and I wanted to shrivel into my sweatshirt and never come out because I’d never felt smaller in my life. Here I was, remembering how much he tasted like heaven while he viewed me as nothing more than his best friend’s little sister.

It wasn’t just heartbreaking. It was soul-destroying.

I sounded dramatic, but it was the truth. I’d never had a first kiss like that, and I knew no other experience in the world would match it. Just thinking about it made my toes curl and my fingers dance. I was almost certain my body sprung to life like it had been electrified when I managed to palm a little part of his chest.

Dash felt perfect when his big, bulky body was wrapped around mine, and for the slightest of seconds, I felt whole. Like I could see the future I’d always imagined with him in high school. The one that involved Dash and me running away just to be together.

Not that I could share those plans with anyone. Especially after seeing the shock on Dash’s face after I pulled away.