Page 43 of The Draft

“Not much. Why?” My tongue was burning with all the lies as I swallowed down the guilt of lying to Cade yet again. I was gambling here, hoping that Madison had stayed true to her pinkie promise and not told Cade, but could I really blame her? She’d just lost her virginity, which I assumed might make her feel vulnerable. Not to mention that I didn’t exactly take it easy on her at the start because I didn’t know.

“There’s something going on with her.”

I swallowed. “Is there?” Did my voice just go up three octaves? I cleared my throat. “I mean, is there?”

“Yeah, but she’s being stubborn and won’t tell me what it is.”

Losing her V-card to your best friend might have something to do with the stonewalling, I thought.

“No offense, but if I were Madison, I wouldn’t tell you anything either. You have a tendency to overreact.”

He smirked and raised his palms. “I get it. She doesn’t want to talk to me, but the only other friends she’s made here are those football guys, and I sure as hell don’t trust them. What if there’s something major going on with her and she has no one to talk to about it?”

Poor Cade. As much as he liked to believe he was all hard edges, he was a real marshmallow when it came to his sister. Or any woman that he chose to have in his life, for that matter. I patted him on the shoulder in a feeble attempt to bring him some comfort. Little did he know I was the reason he was concerned.

“You know what? I’m sure she’s fine. She’s probably got a lot of stuff going on. It’s early in the semester, and she wants to make a good impression with her professors. You know her, she overdoses on caffeinated soda when she’s studying a lot. Jitters like a chihuahua. Couldjust be that.”

“Maybe you’re right.” I felt my heart slow because at least I’d managed to get him off her back for a little while. “Will you talk to her?”

My head shot up. “Me?”

“Yeah. I’ve tried, and she completely ignores me every time, but she’ll talk to you.”

“And how do you know that?”

He sighed. “Because she’s always had a soft spot for you, and that only solidified when you beat her cheating ass boyfriend to a pulp.”

My jaw hung open as I tried to figure out what to say. Was that his way of telling me he knew his sister had a crush on me or was I reading too much into it? I was most definitely overthinking things, and I wasn’t an overthinker. As a goalie, I didn’t have time to. I had to work on instinct, and as I looked at my best friend, everything in me was telling me to stop lying. Tell him the truth and get the beatdown I deserved over with. But would Madison really want Cade to know about her sex life?

Her tiny little pinkie came to mind. We made a promise, and I wasn’t willing to break it.

“She views you as her protector now, so if there is something wrong, I bet she’d tell you.”

“I-I can try.” It came out lackluster, and I was certain he picked up on that tone, but I hoped he assumed I was nervous since it wasn’t like I was the natural choice to spill your guts to.

“If you don’t, I’m just going to have to stalk my sister to find out, because if that idiot Aiden Matthews got her pregnant, I’m going to kill him.”

Aiden Matthews? Pregnant? How the hell did he get there?

“Dude, there’s no need to do that,” I piped out quickly. “I’ll talk to her. See what I can find out.” He looked at me with a smile, completely unaware that I was only offering because I was saving myself.

Fuck. The more I thought about it, the worse it felt.

“Thanks, D. I always know I can count on you.” He slapped me on the shoulder and gave me a smile. Guilt slithered through my veins again because if only he knew what I did.

Thankfully, Cade’s phone buzzed, ruining our bro moment, and giving me an out before I gave myself away.

“Dammit,” he cursed when he saw the text on his phone.

“Anyone important?” I asked, eager to change the subject.

He shook his head. “Just a new study group for one of my classes. They all hate hockey, and I think they’re scheduling our sessions during training or games just to fuck with me.”

“Sucks, man. Could you cut them loose and work solo?”

He glanced up at me before looking down at his phone with a lazy smile. “I could, but there’s a girl I’m trying to figure out.”

“Oh, really?” I asked, happy to be talking about him.