“What did you give him?” Jax growls.

“Just some ecstasy,” Damien says.

“Ecstasy,” he echoes flatly. He says it again, only this time he shouts it. “Just some fucking ecstasy? You gave Brody hard drugs?”

His voice reverberates through my head like a gong. “Cool it, Barn Owl.”

My eyes flutter open. Jaxon is standing above me. His face is screwed up and red, veins popping on his neck. He looks a bit angry. “Barn Owl?”

“Dude.” I cover both ears with my hands. That’s when I realize I’m flat out on the floor in the living room of my house. I look from Jaxon to Damien, who’s hovering on the other side of me. Damien shrugs. I tilt my head and look in front of me. Eddie’s standing at my feet. I’m surrounded by morons. I look between Jax and Damien again. “What are you both doing here?”

Jax scowls. “We’ve been here all weekend.”

I scowl. “Well how would I know? I’ve been in Seattle with Jordan.”

He shakes his head. “We were here before you left, remember?”

“Shit, you’re wasted,” is Damien’s epic contribution.

“And it’s your fault.” Jaxon jabs a finger in his chest. “I can’t believe you gave him ecstasy. What are you doing with that shit? And why the hell are you giving it to Brody? It’s going to fuck with his head and fuck with his career.” Jaxon plants both hands on Damien’s chest and shoves hard, shouting, “What the fuck were you thinking?”

I roll over and my face encounters carpet. “Ugh.” Getting up on my hands and knees, I start crawling away. It’s a slow process and I don’t know which direction I’m headed in. Hopefully it’s the kitchen. I’m thirsty. Really thirsty. Like I could drink all the water in Lake Michigan.

“I wasn’t, okay?” Damien shouts back. “He needed something and that’s all I had!”

Suddenly I’m airborne. Eddie has me in a fireman’s hold and he’s carrying me somewhere. My room, I realize, when I flop down uselessly on my bed.

“You’re an idiot!” Jaxon yells, their argument going strong from the living room.

“What the hell is going on, Madden?” Eddie asks.

“My dad’s an asshole, is what’s going on.” My teeth feel funny. I lift a hand to rub at them but my muscles are lax and my arm flops by my side. I continue talking. “I fucked up. Remember that time I beat the crap out of Davis? Well apparently that was the last straw. That and the drugs. I’m bad news, Eddie.” He lifts my legs, swinging them over the bed. They collapse down on the sheets as if they aren’t connected to my body. “Dad won’t let me see my sister anymore. Maybe he’s right. I’m no good to anyone. Not even Jordan. She’s an oak tree. Did you know that? Don’t tell her I told you.” No girl wants to be compared to a tree. It’s not sexy. “She tutored me because I’m stupid.” My eyes close, bringing blessed darkness. “I think that’s about it.”

I pass out.

The whole drug mess causes a falling out between Jaxon and Damien. Both he and Eddie ban Damien from our house and from my phone. They blocked him on my social media. I’m cut off and I hate the panic it sets off in my chest. I can’t be who everyone needs me to be without a little help.

I track down Damien on Facebook and send him a message.

Brody: Sorry bout the shit storm bud.

Damien: It’s cool dude. I fucked up.

I type my next message, my fingers shaky on the keys.

Brody: No. I did that all by myself. Do me a favor?

Damien: Sure.

Brody: Thanks bud. I need something.

It takes him a half hour to respond. The wait leaves me coiled tighter than a spring. When his message finally comes through, the coil unravels, leaving me almost buoyant. A satisfied smile forms on my face.

Damien: What do you need?

Five weeks later, following a torn ligament during game time, I’m blindsided with another drug test.

This time I fail and all hell breaks loose.

Jordan

Tucking the phone between my chin and shoulder, I rummage through the kitchen cupboards. I can’t bring myself to call them my cupboards. Or my apartment. Nor is Seattle my city. It’s a beautiful place to live, but I’m struggling to do this again. Start over. Open myself up to new friends when I’m missing the ones I’ve left behind.

“… and Hayden agreed,” Leah says in my ear. “I mean, the place has six bedrooms and it’s right on the beach. It’s perfect. So are you in?”

“What a bloody jerk,” I mutter under my breath, ignoring Leah’s question as my agitation bubbles over.

“Elliott?”

“I’m moving out,” I growl, slamming shut the last cupboard. My Milo is gone. It’s not sitting where I left it yesterday morning. It’s vanished. My last tin of beloved crunchy chocolate powder has simply ceased to exist. My eyes narrow on the rubbish bin. Dani’s taken great pains to make my stay here a living hell. One guess she’s tossed my Milo in the rubbish just because she knows I can’t live without it.

“What’s she done now?”

“What hasn’t she done?” Putting the lid on the blender, my finger jabs high speed and the blades roar to life. “She’s deliberately trying to piss me off!” I shout over the screaming noise.

“You can’t move out.”

“Why not?” I yell.

“Because that’s what she wants you to do.”

“So?” I switch the blender off and the apartment settles into stillness. “She wants me to move out. I want to move out. Something we’re actually both in complete agreement with.”

My phone beeps. “Hang on,” I tell Leah. “I have another call.”

Putting her on hold, I answer an incoming call from Jaxon.

“What are you doing awake?” I ask. Putting the phone on the bench, I hit speaker and turn, grabbing a cup from the cupboard as I speak. “You do realize it’s just after five in the morning, don’t you? I know how much you need your beauty sleep, Jax.”

“Har, har.”

“If this is about Dani, I’ve told you, I’m not giving you her number. Seriously. I’m doing you a favor,” I tell him as I pour the thick protein shake out. Emptied, I carry the blender to the sink. “She’s scary. She will sleep with you—”

“Elliott.”

“—and then she’ll rip your head off and feed it to her young. Is that what you want? Because from where I’m standing—”

“Elliott!”

Turning on the tap, I start rinsing off the blades, which is more than Dani ever does. “What?”

Charged silence follows. Flicking off the hot water, I turn back, brows drawn as I walk over to my phone. “What is it?”

“How soon can you get here?”

There’s something off in his voice. Something that makes my heart begin to pound. Thump, thump, thump. I stare at the phone. It stares back at me, a coiled snake waiting to strike. “Get where?”

“Houston.”

“Why?”

“I can’t talk about it on the phone.”

I forget about Leah waiting for me on the other line. “Is Brody okay?”

“Define okay.”

Fear makes my voice sharp. “Is he hurt, Jax?”

“No.”

“Then what’s going on?” Resting my backside against the kitchen counter, I fold my arms and stare at my feet. The left one is deep purple and green—bruised from being stomped on in training yesterday. “Why do you want me in Houston? I have a game in two days.”

“Fuck your game.” Jaxon exhales sharply. “Brody needs you.”

“Did he say that?” I ask, and immediately regret my question. If Jax says Brody needs me, then I know he means it. I should be pushing off the counter right now and heading for my room to pack a bag, but I can’t just up and walk out on the team right before a game. I’m contracted to play. It’s not that simple.

“Brody happens to think your soccer is more important than he is right now. But it’s not, is it, Jordan?”