oe

adoptive mother. My heart tightened again, bu

want to talk to anyone from the Hayes f

for dinner tonight

place was never my home. It was a gild

up on my bed, pulling my knees to

es and Babette Franco. Xavier, the boy I'd loved for ten years, my nomin

e," she'd whispered, her voice dripping with venom only I could hear. "If you weren't so

d, but silent. He let her humiliate me.

e thing they valued most: their obsession with climbing the social ladder. Babette had spent her entire

t close to the one man in the league famous for being untouchable, f

an by Beckett Sterling's side. Even if it was only for one n

ntal" run-ins. I played the part of a bold, flirty, carefree puck bunn

noticed me. And th

ists and laughed, a bitter, hollow sound. I thought I wa

n like Beckett. He was a predator. Unpredictab

wanted out. But now, it felt like t

der of last night's violence. I struggled out of be

decision. This had to end. I couldn't kee

ransfer the money back, but the text f

didn't go tonight, Eleanor would fin

" to control every aspect of my life. It had been

be there," I

terrifying Beckett. On the other, the predatory Hayes

Hayes house, there was on

the nearest pharmacy. I had to ge

to hide the bruises, adding a hat an

harsh. I felt like a vam

screen. He was giving a post-game interview, his answers short and clipped, the same impenetrable

ed down the street, desperate t

ad down, and found what I needed

ke it weighed a thous

rmacist's sympathetic gl

wall, tore open the package, and swallowed t

e back of my tongue, just like

yes and took