Todos los capítulos de EIGHT DATES TO MAKE MY EX JEALOUS: Capítulo 21 - Capítulo 30

(Ivy)I didn't sleep.I read the envelope twice. Then a third time, to be sure I wasn't making it up. By dawn, my eyes felt like sandpaper and my hands wouldn't stop shaking.At 6:40 a.m., I put on my boots, shoved the printed pages into my bag, and walked to the rink.The sun wasn't up. The campus was grey and silent. A janitor mopped the lobby. I walked past him without a word, pushed through the double doors, and found the stands empty and the ice glowing under half the lights.East was alone on the ice.He was skating slow circles, no stick, no puck, hands loose at his sides. He looked small in all that white. He looked tired.He saw me, and his skates hissed to a stop.I walked down the steps to the boards and stood there with my arms crossed. He glided over. He didn't smile. He stopped about six feet away, like he was afraid to get too close."Ivy."I pulled the stack out of my bag, flipped to the last page, and held it up."'Fine. I won't tell her.'"His face crumpled. "I read

(Ivy)I gave myself exactly one evening to feel sorry for myself.I ate ice cream. I watched half a documentary about penguins. I yelled at a pillow. Juno sat on the floor beside me and offered no advice, which is the best thing a person can do.At 9 p.m., I wiped my face and opened my laptop."Okay," I said. "Time to be a professional.""That's my girl.""I need a list.""Of what?""Everything I can prove." I opened a blank document. "Dates I downloaded the deck. Timestamps on the site. Emails showing I applied before East and I ever spoke. Screenshots of Dom's account contacting Okafor. Every receipt.""Receipts," Juno said, grinning. "My favorite.""Dom made a mistake.""What's that?""He wrote it all down."---By midnight, I had a folder.By two a.m., I had a spreadsheet.By four, I had a timeline so clean it looked like a legal brief. I even included the timestamp of Dom's first email to Okafor. It came two days after he saw me and East at the coffee shop.Not a coincidence.At

(East)"I'm going to lose it," I said.Theo looked up from the couch. "Lose what?""The pros. The Wolves. All of it."It was Sunday night. The hockey house was quiet. Half the team was at a movie, the other half was studying, and I was pacing the living room like a man waiting for a verdict."East.""I'm serious.""Sit down.""I can't.""You're wearing a hole in the carpet.""It's already ugly.""That's not the point."I stopped. I dragged both hands through my hair. My chest felt tight and strange, like I'd swallowed a stone."I've been thinking," I said. "Dom's going to file a complaint. I can feel it. He's been cooking something up for weeks.""Probably.""And if I tell the truth about what he threatened me with, the whole thing blows up.""Yeah.""So I might as well say it. All of it. To the committee. To Okafor. To everyone.""East.""I'm ready to lose it, Theo. If that's what it takes to keep her safe."Theo stared at me for a long moment. He picked up the remote, turned off the

(Ivy)I almost deleted it.That's the truth. My finger hovered over the trash icon for a solid minute while Juno's kettle whistled in the background and my heart tried to climb out of my throat.An anonymous email. A video. A line that sounded like a movie trailer.If you want to know who East really is, watch until the end.It had Dom written all over it. Or Sloane. Or somebody who liked watching me squirm.But then I thought of the man on the ice with his hands open and his eyes wet, saying I wasn't asking for another chance. And I thought: if there's something worse than what I already know, I'd rather hear it from a camera than from a stranger.I pressed play.---The video was silent and grainy, black and white. A hallway. The time in the corner said 11:42.Dom walked in.I knew his walk before I saw his face. That easy, rolling confidence of a boy who'd never been told no. He slipped into a room. He came out holding a clipboard. He wrote something, crossed it out, wrote again.I

(Ivy)It started raining while we were still in the diner parking lot.Not the dramatic kind with thunder and violins. Just a soft, steady drizzle that turned the asphalt into a mirror and made the streetlights look like they were melting.I stood under the awning with my arms wrapped around myself. East stood a respectful three feet away, hands in his pockets, watching the sky like it owed him an explanation."You should go home," he said. "You'll get soaked.""I'm not made of sugar.""I know.""My car's across the lot.""I'll walk you.""I don't need an escort.""I know that too.""Then why are you offering?"He glanced at me. A small, crooked smile. "Habit."I rolled my eyes, but I was smiling too. We walked out from under the awning together, and the rain hit my face, cold and light. East pulled off his jacket and held it over my head without a word."Easton.""It's just a jacket.""It's your only jacket.""I have three.""Name them.""This one. The other one. And the one that sme