All Chapters of My Hockey Bully Stepbrother : Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

Summer's PovTyler caught me before I even made it to the parking lot.He fell into step beside me with that easy energy he always had at the end of the school day, like the hours had cost him nothing."Lunch," he said. "Our spot. Let's go.""I can't today." I shifted my bag on my shoulder. "I have something at home."He gave me a look. "Something at home.""Something at home, Tyler.""That's very vague.""It's meant to be."He was quiet for a step or two and then he said, "You're not going to pull a Ruby on me, right? Because I cannot do that again. I refuse."I stopped walking and looked at him. "I am never going to pull a Ruby on you. I promise. Lunch tomorrow, okay? Properly. I'll be there."He studied my face for a moment the way Tyler did when he was deciding whether to push. Then he nodded. "Tomorrow. I'm holding you to it."I squeezed his arm and kept walking.James was already at the gate. I got in and leaned my head back and watched the city go past the window and thought ab

Tyler's PovOne thing I had always known about myself was that I never pushed people.I didn't ask questions people weren't ready to answer. I didn't dig where someone had clearly put up a wall. I figured if you were around someone long enough and made yourself safe enough, they would come to you when they were ready. That was how I operated. That was how I had always operated.So hearing Crew say she was hiding a lot from me hit differently than I expected.Not because it was a surprise exactly. I had felt it for weeks, that slight distance, the way Summer would answer a question and say just enough without saying anything real. I had noticed. I just hadn't pushed.And now I was standing outside the rink with my bag over my shoulder thinking about what kind of best friend notices and says nothing.I didn't go home right away. I walked to the park nearby because I needed air and space and somewhere that wasn't practice or people or noise, just somewhere I could think without anyone lo

Summer's PovI thought about it the whole way home.Which was embarrassing. Tyler had just told me he had feelings for me, which was the actual significant thing that had happened today, and instead of processing that I was sitting in the back of the car while James drove, thinking about a girl I had never seen before in my life and the way she had walked up to Tyler like she already knew exactly where he would be.It wasn't my business.Tyler didn't owe me information about every person in his life. He had friends I hadn't met. That was normal. People had lives outside of the people who knew them.I stared out the window.She had hugged him though.Gray had texted while I was still at the ice cream place saying he had gone out to handle something and would be back in the evening. I read the message and looked at the little bracelet on my wrist and felt something soft and quiet move through me.Crew's car was in the driveway when James pulled up.I registered that the way I always reg

Crew's PovThe test was not as bad as I expected.I sat in that classroom and worked through every question and I knew my answers were solid. Not perfect maybe, but solid. The kind of solid that came from actually sitting down and reading the material instead of cramming the night before, which was not something I had historically been great at.Summer's tutoring sessions were doing something whether I wanted to admit that or not.I put my pen down when time was called and leaned back and Marcus immediately leaned forward from the row behind me."Bro. You were writing like your life depended on it. When have you been studying without us?""When was he supposed to study with us?" Jason said from beside him. "We don't even live together.""That's not the point.""That is literally the point."I laughed and it felt good, easy, the kind of laugh that didn't require anything from me.Brianna was beside me gathering her things and she smiled at both of them. "My boyfriend is going to top th

Summer's Pov I stayed out longer than I planned.It started as a quick stop, just one or two things, and then I was walking through the store and the money was sitting in my account and for the first time in my life I thought, why not. I had never really shopped for myself before. Not properly. My mom had always been practical about money in a way that made me practical too, even when there wasn't a reason to be anymore.I bought things I actually wanted and it felt strange and good at the same time.By the time James dropped me back at the house the sun was already going low and the driveway was empty. No Crew's car. No Gray's car. Just the quiet house sitting there with all its lights off.I stood at the door with my bags and looked at the empty driveway for a moment.I almost called Crew.The impulse was there before I could stop it, that automatic reach, and then I remembered the cafe corridor and his hand in Brianna's and good night Summer said from across a desk with nothing be