“Oh, my gosh,” I gasped, pressing my fingers to my lips as tears welled in my eyes. “Did they actually convict him? And sent him to jail? Even though he had just seen your mom die right next to him and didn’t intend to kill the guy responsible for the accident?”
“Yeah, the guy’s brother pulled all of the strings he could to make sure my dad paid for his death. He got ten years, and the earliest he’ll get out is still four years away. Just in time to see me play professional hockey if I finish my bachelor’s degree first.” His lips curved up in a rueful grin as he shook his head.
“Is that why none of the hockey families took you in?” I hadn’t intended for the question to slip out, but there was no taking it back. “They were worried you inherited your dad's temper, and something might happen when you were living with them?”
Corby considered my question for a moment before nodding. “I never thought of it that way, but now that you mention it, that could be it.”
“Have you at least been able to visit him?” I couldn’t imagine how difficult the ordeal must have been for them. Dealing with the grief while being apart from each other had to have made a bad situation even worse.
My heart broke more when Corby shook his head. “The prison they sent him to is a five-hour drive, and I never had a way to get up there before.”
“Maybe we should go after the hockey season is over?” I thought the suggestion would help, but it seemed to make him sadder.
“I don’t know. I just”—he scrubbed his hands over his face—“I’ve been so fucking pissed at him for the past four years because he left when I needed him most. But for the first time ever, I finally get where his mind was at back then. If anything happened to you, I don’t know what I’d do.”
I was so angry over what had been taken from him, but I couldn’t do anything to fix the situation. His concern about my safety was different, though. I could help him feel better about all the rumors flying around because of the body they’d found at the bluff. It would take a huge leap of faith and defying my mother, though. But now that I understood the root of his fear, I knew what I had to do. “If it’s okay with the Whitneys, I’ll move in with you.”
16
Corby
If someone had tried to tell me a year ago that I’d be living with my girlfriend before I graduated from high school, I would’ve thought they’d lost their mind. Before I transferred to Black Mountain Academy, the last time I’d had a girlfriend was in middle school. Back when I’d had some control over my life, and before my mom died and my dad went to jail. Once I’d entered the foster system, getting into a relationship seemed like the wrong way to go. I never knew how long I’d stay in one place or if I’d be stuck going to a different school. I hadn’t met anyone worth taking the risk of getting my heart involved until Emme. When it came to her, there hadn’t been much of a choice. Her pull was too strong to resist, and I was so fucking glad I hadn’t really tried.
William had been surprised when I’d asked if Emme could move into my room, but he’d been willing to go along with the plan without asking too many questions. His only real concern had been how I would play in the upcoming playoffs. When I’d explained that my concentration would be shit while I was worried about Emme’s safety, he’d offered to move us both into the pool house so we’d have privacy.
Only three days later, Emme and I were loading a bunch of her stuff into our vehicles to drive it down the street. Grunting with exertion, I placed a heavy box in the back of my Jeep. “What’s in here? Dead bodies?”
“No, silly. They’re books,” Emme giggled as she hung a garment bag in the back of her car. “I didn’t bring them all, just some of my favorites.”
“I guess I could’ve held on to your gift a little longer so we didn’t need to haul them back,” I teased with a grin.
She leaned past me and patted the box. “Yup, the pretties you gave me were the first books I packed.”
Knowing my present was that special to her made me feel so damn proud, but the smile I flashed her was wiped clean from my face when a man with the same color hair and eyes as Emme marched out of the house and headed straight for us. I would have preferred to meet him before I was moving his eighteen-year-old daughter in with me while we were still in high school. Unfortunately, he’d only spent about half an hour at Emme’s birthday party, and I’d missed out on being introduced to him then.
“Emmeline, please tell me that what your mother said isn’t true.” He flicked an angry glare in my direction before pleading with his daughter. “You can’t really be planning to move in with some boy we’ve never even met. You’re still in high school, for goodness’ sakes.”
Emme settled her hands on her hips and jutted out her chin. “Mother has met Corby. She just likes to pretend she hasn’t because she’d prefer me to pick out my boyfriend purely based on the size of his trust fund. And if you’d stuck around my party for more than a brief appearance, then you would have met him, too.”
“I’m sorry, Emmeline.” He ran his hand through his hair and sighed. “I should have stayed longer, but you know how much I dislike the get-togethers your mother hosts.”
I clenched my fists in frustration, pissed as fuck that he’d ducked out of his own daughter’s party instead of manning up and getting his wife in line so Emme could’ve celebrated her birthday the way she wanted. I was doubly glad I’d talked Emme into moving in with me. He clearly couldn’t be trusted with her safety.
“If that was the only time you were missing around here, then I wouldn’t mind so much. But you’ve barely been home the past few days, which is why you didn’t know about me moving out. Instead, I was stuck talking to Mom about what was going on, and she never listens to anything she doesn’t want to hear.”
“I’m here now, Emmeline. Please, talk to me,” her dad begged.
Emme gave him a quick rundown of the crap her mom had pulled and why I was so freaked out about the rumors going around school about the dead body found on the bluff. By the time she finished, he seemed resigned to his daughter living with me. “I’m not happy about your decision, but I suppose there isn’t much I can do to change your mind at this point.”
“It won’t be too bad. I’ll just be down the street. Maybe with me out of the house, we’ll actually see more of each other because we’ll need to find time to spend together,” she suggested with a hopeful gleam in her pretty brown eyes.
I didn’t like how her dad’s inattention had hurt Emme, but I was willing to give the guy a chance if rebuilding their relationship was what she really wanted. Stepping forward, I held out my hand. “Mr. Cushing, I’m sorry we’re meeting like this, but I promise to take good care of Emme.”
“You’d better,” he growled, a muscle jumping in his jaw as he gripped my hand and gave it a brief shake. Then he turned to Emme and pulled her close for a hug. “You can come home tomorrow if you don’t like it at the Whitney’s. Tonight, even.”