Chapter 56: Breakaway: Chapter 56

“THIS IS A FUCKING GOOD DRINK,” I tell Seb as I throw my arm over his shoulders, pulling him into a sideways hug. He’s not expecting my weight, so we fall against the wall together, but that just makes both of us laugh. “You really designed it yourself?”

“Sharp, just like you, bro,” he says, grinning at me. “Sweet, too.”

“The first part sounded pretty badass.”

“Yeah, well. You’re so sweet on Penny, it gives me a goddamn toothache.”

I don’t even have a retaliation, and the worst—or possibly best—part is that I don’t want to retaliate. So what, I’m sweet on my girl. She’s everything to me. I’ll take being whipped if it means I can get on my knees to worship her.

So instead, I just ruffle Seb’s hair, pressing a quick kiss to his temple. “Thanks, brother.”

I’ve had plenty of memorable Cooper Days, but this tops all the rest. Having everyone I care about here, all my siblings, my friends and teammates, my girlfriend, makes my heart swell bigger than I thought it ever could. The only bad part about having everyone around is that I can’t drag Penny away and take off that little blue dress she’s wearing. If it wouldn’t be rude, I’d insist on running upstairs for a quickie.

I glance around as I sip my drink, but I don’t see her. With almost everyone piled into the living room, we’re way past capacity, but everywhere I look, I see a familiar face. I’m sure Izzy didn’t intend it this way, but it’s a nice reminder of all the connections I’ve made so far at McKee. Uncle Blake got me thinking about the draft again, but if I entered it and then a team called me up? I might never have developed such tight bonds with Evan or Remmy. I wouldn’t have gotten to live with James one more time last year. Worst of all, there’s a good chance I wouldn’t have met Penny at all, and she’s everything to me. Even the thought of that hurts. I rub my chest as I settle against the wall.

Bex took a Polaroid of the two of us just a couple minutes ago, and that picture is going in my wallet first thing in the morning. I shake my head, smiling into my plastic cup. When I found out that James had a picture of Bex in his wallet, I teased him mercilessly. Now, I’m going to be the one dying to pull it out and show everyone. Hey, want to see my girlfriend? Isn’t she the most beautiful woman in the world?

“We should get some beer pong going,” Evan says, nudging my side. “Try and beat last time’s record.”

“Definitely,” says Remmy. “I call Vic for my team.”

Evan groans. “That means he’s going to want Penny to partner up with him.”

Remmy laughs. “All my love to Pen, but if she can’t throw a dart, what makes you think she can throw a ping-pong ball?”

I shrug. “Well, yeah. But I don’t care.”

“Because you’re whipped,” Jean says, thick through a mouthful of chips. “She’s got a rope of fucking fire around your throat.”

“You some kind of secret poet?” Remmy says. “Got a touch of country in you?”

“They have cowboys in Canada too,” Jean says, exaggerating his accent so Remmy bursts out laughing.

Evan sighs, looking around the party. “What do you think my chances with Mia are?”

Seb snorts. He claps Evan on the shoulder. “Buddy, respectfully, she’d eat you alive and spit out your jock strap.”

“I could fuck with that,” Mickey says, breaking away from his conversation with a chick I vaguely recognize as a friend of Izzy’s. She gives him an outraged look and stalks off. I wince, but he doesn’t seem to notice.

I get it, Mia’s a fucking formidable force. If I was still a different sort of guy, I’d have tried to get her into bed already. I agree with Sebby, she’d walk all over Evan. Mickey could sweet-talk his way into her bed, but I doubt he’d be able to stay there if he was so inclined.

I follow Evan’s gaze. Mia is grinding up against a guy I vaguely recognize from the baseball team, and he’s got both hands low on her hips. No Penny, though.

“I need to find Penny if we’re going to play,” I tell the guys. “Be back in a second.”

“No quickies!” Remmy says, snapping his fingers at me as I push off from the wall.

“Like you didn’t already make out with Victoria in the bathroom,” Jean says.

“For like five seconds,” Remmy says mournfully. “Then she grabbed my junk and told me to watch her as she walked away.”

“Hot.”

“That’s only hot to you because you’ve never gone further than second base.”

I snort as their voices fade into the background. A Harry Styles song is playing—at least, that’s who I think it is; even if I pretend not to care for it in front of Penny, his stuff is a good vibe—so I figure I’ll find my girl on the dance floor. But I weave through the crowd twice and don’t see her. Izzy’s with some of her friends from the volleyball team, James and Bex are making out against the coat closet, Mia and that baseball player are totally eye-fucking, and a bunch of freshmen from the team have taken over the darts board. No Penny.

“Hey,” I ask Rafael as he passes by. “You see Penny anywhere?”

“I think she went into the kitchen.”

I clap his shoulder. “Thanks, man.”

In the kitchen, though, there’s only one person there—Brandon. Honestly, I’m surprised he showed up. Grateful, because we need as much team unity as we can get, this late in the season and this close to clinching Hockey East, but still. We haven’t spoken outside of necessity since I told him to apologize to Penny, and I don’t think he’s done it.

I lean against the doorway, crossing my arms over my chest. “You see Penny around anywhere?”

“She was just here.”

“You talk to her? I’m still waiting for that apology, you know. Call it a birthday present.”

He walks around the counter, rubbing at his chin. “That’s what I was trying to do.”

“Trying?”

“I don’t know, man. She totally freaked out, she just bolted—”

My stomach clenches. “Which way?”

He holds up his hands placatingly. “I didn’t mean—”

“Which. Fucking. Way?”

“I don’t know. I think maybe she went upstairs.”

I shove through the crowd. At the base of the stairs, I slam into some girl I hardly recognize; she shrieks as her drink splashes on us both, but I ignore it. I take the stairs two at a time and shove open my door. My heart is smashing against my ribcage with every beat. Whatever Brandon did, whatever happened, I’ll handle the moment I know my girl’s okay.

“Red? Baby, where’d you go?”

I don’t see her. I turn in a circle, just in case I missed her, but my room isn’t all that big. My bed is still made, and no one is sitting at my desk. I peek under the bed just in case she’s trying to play some weird form of hide-and-seek, but there’s nothing but dust. She wouldn’t have gone to Seb’s room, but maybe she’s in Izzy’s with Tangerine? Or the upstairs bathroom?

I’m just about to leave when I see that my closet door is ajar.

I crouch down, pushing it the rest of the way open. “Penny?”

My heart thuds so hard I feel it like a bruise. Penny is curled up on the floor of my closet in the tiniest ball she can manage, her face buried in one of my knit sweaters. Her shoulders shake as she sobs, the big gulping kind that comes from deep in your chest. She’s trembling so badly I can see it, even a foot away from her.

Everything freezes. I can’t hear for a moment, the rage coursing through me is so strong, but I shake my head, blinking back the haze on the edges of my vision, and that helps. Forget beating hard. My heart is about to shatter. I say her name again, quieter, but either she doesn’t hear me, or she ignores me, because she doesn’t pick her head up.

I need to see her eyes.

I crawl into the closet with her. It’s a tight fit, considering it’s just a regular-sized closet and I’m twice her size, but I manage. I reach out, laying my hand on her knee, and she jerks it away.

“Red,” I murmur. I have a hard time keeping my voice down, but she’s clearly terrified, and if I yell—even if that’s what I really want to do—I’ll just scare her more. “Hey, gummy bear. Can you look at me?”

She lifts her head.

I bite back a curse. What I’d really like to do is slam my fist against the wall, but I manage not to. Barely.

Her big blue eyes are bloodshot. Her face is flushed, shiny with tears. But all that pales in comparison to the cut on her forehead. It’s already bruising, a trickle of blood making its way down the side of her face.

Everything in the whole goddamn world falls away.

I work my jaw until I can talk semi-normally. “Who did this to you?”

Her voice is a raw whisper. “What?”

“Was it Brandon?” I’m shaking nearly as bad as her. “What the fuck did he do to you?”

Her brows draw together. She shakes her head. “It was the smell.”

I rip a strip of fabric off the hem of my t-shirt and hold it to her bloodied temple. Is she concussed? Her eyes look clear enough. “What smell?”

“His—I didn’t—” Her face twists up as she sobs again. She bats at my hand, but when she sees the blood, she shudders.

“What? Baby, breathe, tell me what’s wrong.”

“His cologne!” she says, her voice flayed raw. “Tropic Blue. The same. The exact fucking same as Preston’s. He always wore it; he was wearing it when he…”

She trails off, shaking her head, and wraps her arms around her knees.

My blood runs cold. I haven’t heard her ex’s name many times, but I figured that was because of an ugly history. This doesn’t sound like your usual shitty breakup. I shut my eyes briefly. I almost don’t want to ask, but now that the door is open, I need to walk through. She needs me. “When he what?”

She sobs again. Her voice feels like knives piercing my skin. I gather her close, rocking her. “When he what, Penelope? Tell me.”

She shakes her head. “Cooper, I can’t. I can’t stand to lose you.”

I’m shaking my head right back before she even finishes talking. “You’re not going to lose me. Whatever it is, you’re not going to lose me.”

She sniffles. “How can you know?”

My breath catches in my throat. I’ve never said these words before, but they’re truer than anything else in the world, and there’s no use holding back when Penny needs to know once and for all that for as long as she lets me, I’ll be hers. I can’t recall the moment I realized; it could have been a thousand different ones, brief moments coming together to create a constellation that’s imprinted on the fabric of my soul. Every time she smiles at me, I fall in love all over again.

“Because I love you.”