Rush the Edge: A Brother’s Best Friend Hockey Romance (Blue Devils Hockey Book 3)

What the fuck just happened?

One second, I’m holding a ripped piece of paper in my hand from my own personal devil, and the next, I’m jogging to the elevator because the little culprit crumples to the floor right in front of me.

I shove my finger onto the elevator button over and over again and watch the number drop to the floor beneath me before seeing an up arrow. If I use the stairs, it’ll take twice as long.

“Come on.” I press the button again.

My mind is racing.

Is she toying with me to see if I’ll come to her rescue? At this point, it wouldn’t surprise me. We’re clearly at war with one another, and up until now, I thought I’d win. But with the way my pulse is rising from watching her collapse, I’m not so sure.

I’m ready when the door opens.

I rush into it with adrenaline backing my every move, but she’s nowhere to be found.

She is fucking with me.

I grip the note in my fingers and read it.

You don’t own me, Kane. But maybe this will suffice.

Xo

Nothing would suffice.

I crumple the note and throw it off to the side as soon as the door slides open on her floor, revealing her standing there with her back to me. I stalk toward her and snake my arm around her waist to spin her so she’s facing me.

“You think you’re so clever…” My words fade.

What I expected to see was Daisy’s bright blue eyes burning with fire inside of them, ready to go toe to toe with me. But instead of seeing her flushed cheeks, I’m met with a pale face and cloudy gaze. There’s a little worry line etched in between her eyebrows that has my own worry rising.

“Daisy?” I snap. “Stop fucking around.”

Her legs give out, and I’m forced to pull her flush against my body. When her forehead hits my shoulder, I realize she’s in a cold sweat.

I’m good under pressure, but seeing her like this has made me less agile and more jerky. I give her a little shake with my fingers digging into her biceps. Her head flops to the side, and I panic. My palm cups her cheek, and my fingers disappear into her hair.

“Daisy.” I blurt her name again, this time less angry and more worried.

She seems to come to, her eyelashes fluttering. “I need…” Her hands weakly grab onto my shoulders like they’re a lifeline. “To…”

I open her door and pull us inside.

“River?” I shout, hoping he’s home.

“Not here,” she mumbles, eyes still closed.

“What do you need? What is wrong with you?” I ask.

“Lay me down,” she slurs.

I pick her up and cradle her to my chest. My heart pounds, and there’s a ringing in my ears.

Without her consent, I sit down with her still in my arms to keep her steady. Slow, shaky breaths escape her mouth as she buries her head farther into the crook of my neck. One of her arms wraps around her stomach, like she’s sick, and little sweat droplets dot her neck.

Instead of pestering her with questions, I remain quiet and try to wrap my head around the adrenaline rush I just got from seeing her in distress.noveldrama

It feels so right to have her in my arms and so wrong to see her suffering.

Several minutes pass, and the sweat has finally dried on her smooth skin. Her breathing is less labored, and the pounding of her pulse has slowed.

“Do you need water?” My tone makes me sound bored, which is exactly what I planned. There is absolutely no way I am letting her know that her little show just affected me so much I can’t even think correctly.

She shakes her head and exhales slowly.

“What do you need?” By asking her this, I’m forfeiting.

I might as well wave the white fucking flag.

You win, Daisy.

You fucking win.

“To stay still,” she croaks.

I nod, more to myself than her, and lean farther back onto the couch. I wish it irritated me to know I’m going to have her draped over me for a while, but it doesn’t.

Eventually, Daisy seems to fall asleep.

I know this because she’s managed to pin me like she’s afraid I’m going to disappear. One of her arms wraps around my waist, and her bent leg gives me no other option but to rest my arm along it, trapping her just like she’s trapping me.

At some point, I doze off.

I wake to the orange sun slowly rising over the skyscrapers that stand tall outside of Daisy’s floor-to-ceiling windows. Her plants are lined up nicely against the glass, and I can’t help but grin at the few clumps of soil on the floor between the pots, like she was messing with them recently.

Memories of her in the little makeshift garden come in like a tidal wave. That little sundress showing off her toned legs, no shoes, freckles from the sun on the bridge of her nose while she looks at me with those baby blues from across her parents’ backyard.

I was so gone for her.

Grinding my jaw back and forth, I focus on the coffee table that my legs are propped on so I don’t stare at her. If I had my phone, I’d text her brother right now and tell him about the incident, but it’s upstairs in my own apartment.

Rushing to Daisy’s aid without it gives me a great excuse to ignore the unwanted texts anyway.

Did I even shut the door after I ran after her?

I grunt quietly.

Probably not.

It doesn’t matter, though.

Material things are replaceable.

She isn’t.

I’d know, since I’ve tried replacing her since the moment I left.

I zero in on the notebook near my foot.

My eyebrow rises with mischief.

I move as discreetly as possible while sliding the notebook closer to the edge of the coffee table. Once it’s hanging off the edge, I reach forward and grab a hold of it.

Daisy sighs softly, her warm breath brushing against my bare chest. I freeze until she slips into her slumber again.

With slow and steady fingers, I flip through the pages and snoop.

It’s like high school all over again when River and I would sneak into her room to read her diary.

I found out things I wish I hadn’t from that little polka-dot diary. It caused my first fist fight outside of the rink.

Collin Hennings. Little fucker.

The first thing I read in her new diary is Tracker.

Tracker? What is she keeping track of? All the ways she can irritate me?

I glance at Daisy to make sure she’s still asleep before pulling the notebook closer to get a better look.

There are several symptoms listed with dates.

Fatigue, achy, loss of appetite, nausea.

What the hell is this?

I close the notebook and push it off to the side. My chest is tight with worry, and I’m agitated that I’m out of the loop. Maybe if I hadn’t avoided home for the last several years or dismissed any talk about Daisy from River or their parents, I’d know what’s going on.

A rough swallow moves down my throat while I drag my eyes over Daisy’s delicate jawline. Her cute, button-like nose is the same from before, and those parted lips are a perfect shade of pink that I haven’t let myself visualize in so long.

She was beautiful when we were teens, but her features are more defined now…just like these curves. I bet she catches the eye of every man from here to New York and back.

I grab her phone from the couch cushion and enter her password.

I scowl when I realize she’s changed it. It only takes me a few attempts to get it right, because I know her better than she thinks.

I snap a photo of the page in her notebook, careful not to get her body draped over mine in the frame, and send it off to her brother.

It’s Kane. Want to tell me what the fuck this is and why I found your sister mid-faint a little bit ago?

A little bit ago, last night…he won’t know the difference.

I place her phone on my chest and wait.

Daisy won’t tell me what’s going on with her—I know that for certain.

But her brother will.