Page 28 of Sticks and Stones (Shadow Valley U)
I round the corner and stop dead.
Wren.
Archer.
The first thing I notice is their embrace. The way he’s cupping the back of her head and holding her to his chest.
The second thing is her panic. Her mouth is open, her chest heaving. There are freakingtearsin her eyes.
And the thing about Wren is that I’ve never seen that girl shed a tear. Not when the social worker dropped her back off at Evan’s house for the thousandth time. Not when people picked on her at school. Not whenIpicked on her at school.
But she’s crying now, and Archer seems caught between confused and mortified. Our goalie is a big dude. And usually, the last person you want to pick a fight with is the fucking goaltender. But he looksguilty, stroking her hair like he has any fucking right to touch her.
Why is he touching her?
Why is she crying?
For some reason, that just spikes my anger. I drop my bag and rush them, ripping Wren away from him. She stumbles to the side, but I’m too focused on Archer. He belatedly realizes what has happened, which means he isn’t prepared for my fist in his face.
Something pops in my hand, but the blood that comes pouring out of his nose is worth the sting of pain. He yells and pushes me away, but it isn’t hard.
Fuck, I want a fight. I lunge for him again. He grips my shoulders and basically throws me into the wall, but I come back and get in a quick punch to his ribs. My hand is fucking killing me, but I hit him again in the stomach. He bends over, wheezing droplets of blood everywhere.
Archer runs his fingers under his nose. “What the fuck?”
“Don’t you fucking touch her,” I seethe. “You made her cry?”
“You’re batshit insane.”
I shove him, and he laughs as he goes backward. Only a goalie would be laughing and bleeding at the same time.
“Stay away from her.” I point at him. My heart is going a million miles a second, the adrenaline bleeding into post-practice exhaustion.
“Stone!” Evan puts himself between us. His hand on my chest is the only thing stopping me from taking Archer’s head off. “What’s going on?”
“He made her cry.”
“No, I fucking didn’t,” Archer snaps. “I wascomfortingher.”
I glare at him. “You can comfort her from a distance, asshole. You don’t need to molest her to do it.”
“You’re a real piece of work, Foster—”
“Enough,” Even snaps. “Archer, go. Please.”
I raise my eyebrows at him, and the big dude finally stomps away.Good riddance. But when I turn back toward Wren, she’s not crying anymore.
She’s just as pissed as I was.
Am.
Fucking hell, she’s got me all mixed up.
“Go to hell, Stone,” she says in an even voice.
My eyebrows rise. “What?”
She grabs Evan’s hand and drags him past me. “You should get familiar with Hell. You welcomed me there when we started sharing the room—but you’re the one who’s gonna be living there for the next few months.”