The Hockey Star’s Remorse

Chapter 38

As soon as I stepped into the apartment, a shard of glass shattered beneath my shoe. I looked down and saw that it had belonged to the large lamp that had been on the small table near the door.

“What on Earth!” I stumbled inside, almost tripping over the debris on the floor. I heard a set of keys jingling behind me and whipped around, my senses on high

alert.

Aria was standing in the doorway, gawking at the display. Her eyes met mine, wide and perplexed.

“I just got back from work…” she said softly, taking it all in. Her eyes scanned the room and her face twisted up. “What the hell happened here?”

“Someone broke in!” I shouted, rushing toward her. There was broken glass everywhere. The photos on the wall had been knocked down, leaving trails of wood chips and torn paper.

The couch had been slashed and the cotton was spilling from every own slit. Like everything else, the kitchen was in shambles. There wasn’t a piece of dishware that didn’t look shattered.

Aria took hold of my arms and clung to my side, fortunately more alert than before. Her wide eyes darted across the room. “Who could’ve done this?”

I already knew the answer to that. “He just won’t give up.”

Aria narrowed her eyes. “Who’s ‘he? You know who did this?”

I bit

my lip and looked to the side. “I just assumed it was a man that did this,” I said, and she looked far from convinced.

“You said he won’t give up,” Aria pointed out. “Which implies that there have been other instances. Who is he?”

When it looked like she wasn’t giving up any time soon, I sighed and plopped down on my bed. Aria sat beside me. I didn’t catch her being serious all too often, but she was at her scariest when she was.

“I think it might have been Bruce,” I said carefully, unable to meet her gaze. “He’d been sending me texts for a while, but I didn’t think he’d

go this far.

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Chapter 38

Aria stood abruptly, her hands clenched into fists. “Bruce? As in the Bruce, the scum bag that calls himself your family!?!”

I nodded weakly and she slapped a hand on her forehead, turning away.

“How could I not have known?? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t want you to freak out!” I said, my voice cracking with the onset of tears. “Hell, I was freaking out so much, and I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t even

to hear

room with a wave of her arm.

evident in the most destructive way possible. It felt like sanity kept slipping away

her phone and I grabbed her wrist

“What are you doing?”

at me. “Calling the police, obviously. Whatever you two have going on, it doesn’t

the number and held the phone to her ear. It took a few rings before the operator was

like to report a break in.” Aria stepped out of the room, leaving me to curl into a ball and sob on top of

just from leaving a letter. I guess he figured

into the room and stopped with. her

wiped my nose.

her harsh stance weakened. After a moment, she sighed and

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Chapter 38

started running her fingers through my hair. My sobs grew louder, as I didn’t have the strength to

out into the living room and sat me down on the couch before answering the door. There was a male and female officer on the other side, both looking too exhausted to be on

“I’m officer Brody, and this is Officer Hills. We got a

nodded. “Yes, that was

showed them around the apartment. They took note

person was after something?”

looked over at me and shrugged. “Evie,

couch, wishing I could just disappear. I pulled my knees to my chest and shook my head. “Nothing valuable. Just…an upset

this before?” asked Brody. “If so, this may become a

is the first time he’s done this,”

officers exchanged glances with one another, then looked around the room. Hills offered me a look

be in your best interest to consider moving somewhere safer anyway. This part of town’s pretty sketchy,” she told

but scoff at

you can stay for now? Somewhere safe?”

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Chapter 38

“We have a friend near here.

tucked away his notepad and motioned for Hills to follow. He opened the front door and looked back at Aria and me. “We’ll bring this info down to the station, see if we can get

bitterly, flicking a tuft of

her room. She pulled out a suitcase and slammed it onto the

she said, practically out of breath. “We

really have the motivation to move, but staying in that apartment at that point was out of the question. At a sloth’s pace, I removed myself from the couch and

our things, I’helped Aria move our bags into the car. Since she was still far from sobriety, she let me

as

he