Page 14 of Your Biggest Downfall (Ravens Hockey #3)

nova

“Two nights in one week? Is the world ending? Do we need to get our anti-zombie gear on because the apocalypse is upon us?” Luna joked when I finally came home and told her to quickly get dressed.

“Iris ran me dry today, and I had no chance to visit Mami, and Austin told me they were getting there at nine.” I paused my frantic pacing around my “bedroom” and glanced up at the clock on the oven.

“I’m going to be late. I don’t have anything to wear.

It’s freaking ten thirty, and the bar is at least half an hour away. ”

“Babe.” Luna came over and wrapped me in a hug. “It’s a bar. It doesn’t close until two. Is this about going out or the fact that you weren’t able to see your mom tonight?”

I let out a deep sigh. My jaw hurt from how hard I’d been clenching it.

I wasn’t going to tell Luna that not only was all that happening, but going out tonight and spending money on drinks meant that I might not have enough to make rent.

It meant that I was going to have to eat ramen for a few days or maybe skip a couple meals.

I was so much more than just an intern. I was doing the job of three people but was paid the absolute minimum.

But now that the season was over, I’d need to find a temporary job in hopes that I could get through the summer.

I also wasn’t going to tell Luna that I was kind of relieved and happy there’d been no time to visit Mami.

I loved my mother, but being there and watching her get treatments every day made me fucking sad, and I was already selfishly sad in my own way.

I needed that little taste of freedom that Austin provided.

An escape. Going tonight meant I could find that.

“You’re right. The bar will be there,” I said as I sighed and plopped on the bed in the corner of the room.

Luna stared at me. “That didn’t answer my question. I asked if this has anything to do with Mami?”

I wished I could tell her. I wished I could tell her it had everything to do with it without sounding selfish. “No. I wanna go out with the team. They lost. They deserve someone to build up morale.”

A grin formed on Luna’s face as she walked toward her bedroom.

“Okay, bitch. I guess this has absolutely nothing to do with that hottie Austin Hart, whose bed you slept in last week. Hmmmm.” She tsk ed, and I chucked an empty bottle of water in her direction as she chuckled. “Let me pick your outfit out.”

“Fine,” I said. So, sue me for wanting to look good tonight.

“You may regret those words when you see what I picked out,” she shouted from her bedroom.

“Nothing highlighter colored, please.”

There was a pause. “Fine,” she huffed. “I’ll pick something Sharpie colored.”

Ugh. I rolled my eyes and flopped onto the bed, glancing over at the clock again.

We needed to leave soon. Although the bar wouldn’t close, I didn’t want Austin to lose interest. Selfishly, I wanted his attention on me again.

I wanted to be the one who made him feel better.

When I saw him after the game, he looked so down.

His words came rushing back to me, how he wanted to escape.

Even the way he tried to sidestep me in front of Iris lingered in my mind.

I desperately wanted to reach out to him, to bridge the growing chasm between us.

I could picture Austin’s easy smile. But after watching him lose the game, seeing the defeat etched on his face during the press conference, that excitement had turned into something bittersweet.

I understood how much this game meant to him, how every loss felt like a personal failure.

The pain and rawness in his eyes were hard to witness.

It made me want to look away. Yet, I forced myself to hold his gaze, to be there for him, to let him know he wasn’t alone in his struggle.

“Found the perfect dress in my reject pile,” Luna shouted.

“Oh, goody. The rejects.”

She huffed out a chuckle.

“I promise. This is your style.” She appeared in the doorframe and held out a simple black spaghetti-strap dress. It was formfitting and had a long V-neck. “Because you have small boobies, you’ll be able to fit in this perfectly.”

I rolled my eyes. “Shut it.” I got up, snatched the dress from her hands, and walked into the bathroom.

It was actually perfectly my style. I slipped it on, and it fit amazingly, hugging every one of my curves.

I pulled out a long gold necklace from the cabinet where I kept my jewelry and snaked it onto my chest. It looked like a body chain was almost attached to the dress the way it draped down to my navel.

I swiped on some mascara and left my hair curly because of what Austin had said about it.

“Wow.” I blew out a breath when I saw myself.

I looked good. I felt good. Even with the residing guilt of missing Mami, I needed this.

“Babe, you look?—”

My phone rang with an incoming call.

“Hold on.” I ran over to my bed and grabbed it. I didn’t recognize the number, so answering it, I said, “Nova Thatcher?”

“Nova, where are you?” a woman asked.

The moment the person spoke, I knew who it was. It was Iris—the same voice that constantly bothered me every single day, and now she was calling on my night off.

“What do you mean?” I frantically put her on speakerphone and held up my finger to silence Luna. I checked my calendar on my phone but couldn’t find a scheduled event before I opened the mail app.

“You need to come pick me up,” Iris slurred.

I paused and looked at the phone as if I could see her reaction. Was she drunk?

“Iris? Are you okay?” I asked, and she laughed manically.

“No. Nova, come get me.”

I sighed, and Luna tapped my shoulder. I turned around, and she was shaking her head.

“Do not get her,” Luna whisper-yelled at me.

I shook my head. “Is there anyone else you can call? I am out with the?—”

Luna shook her head again. “No, do not tell her where we are going or who we are going with. She’s going to use it against you.”

Right. Yes. She probably would. Iris was a pretty shitty boss, but when she dismissed me, work was over. This was new, and I’d be remiss if I said I wasn’t slightly a chismosa and wanted to know what she’d gotten herself into.

“Fine,” Iris huffed. “Can you send me a car?” she asked, her voice so soft it made me feel bad for her.

I put my hand over the phone and turned to Luna. “I should get her.”

“No the fuck you shouldn’t, not without a raise.”

I hated this. I hated that my work was bleeding into all of this.

“The bar closes in a few hours.” Luna pointed to the clock.

She didn’t mean that, but she was reminding me of our plans.

“Iris, listen to me.” There was silence on the line. “Are you there?”

“I’m listening,” she barked.

“Okay. Text me the address of where you are. I’ll send a car while we’re on the phone. I just need you to confirm you’re safe.”

“I’m safe,” Iris slurred. “Send the car.”

“Okay.”

I looked at the phone as a text came in with an address, which was all the way on the south side of the city. Why was she out so far from her apartment? I’d picked things up for her many times, and she was at least an hour away from home.

I pulled up the rideshare app from Iris’ account and selected the best luxe car service. “It’ll be there in three minutes. Do you need me to stay on the phone with you?”

There was a pause, and Luna popped her head out from her room, where she was doing her makeup. She had chosen a highlighter-green tube top and a pair of Daisy Duke shorts. Her hair was styled in a very Brigitte Bardot fashion, with a few pieces hanging in the front.

“Yes,” Iris finally said in a voice I barely recognized. It was soft, scared, and demure.

“Okay,” I whispered.

That place she was in felt all too familiar. The tension of feeling safe yet still wanting to escape as quickly as possible. It mirrored the way I felt about my own life. For me, it wasn’t just about one situation—I wanted to escape every single damned day.

“I think the car is pulling up,” Iris said, and I waited until I heard the door open and shut. “I’m inside.”

“Perfect,” I said. “Sorry I couldn’t come get you, but you’re on your way home now.”

“Thank you,” she whispered. I was about to say goodbye when she started talking again. “Listen, if we could keep this between us. There is... The team man?—”

“It’s fine,” I said. “I don’t need an explanation. I get it.”

“Thank you. Bye, Nova. Have a nice break.”

I said my goodbyes and hung up. I just sat there, staring at the phone like somehow I’d be teleported back in time.

“Whoa,” Luna said. “When did she get nice?”

I shook my head in disbelief. “No fucking kidding.”

Luna swung the small bag she had on a chain across her body. “Anyway, bitch, you ready to go?”

I chuckled, but I couldn’t shake the worry about Iris and the demons she was fighting. As I stared at my best friend and slipped into my black Keds, I realized we were all battling our own demons. It was just a matter of how much fight we had left in us.