“Do I look like I’m barely holding it together?”
He laughed. “Eva, you’ve had your shit together since the first time I met you.”
If only he knew how close I was to falling apart.
“Then why are you interrogating me?”
“Because—” He set the knife down carefully. “I’m worried about you. We all are. And with Coach resigning, there’s more going on here than you’re sharing. There has to be.”
I pursed my lips, trying to figure out how to have this conversation without admitting something I didn’t want to. I rubbed my chest absentmindedly. “You know I have a heart condition, right?” I said softly.
“Yeah, we all found out after the accident.”
“Please believe me when I tell you that my heart has never been steadier than the last few weeks.”
Haruto continued chopping matchsticks of vegetables with single-minded intensity. “It’s not right,” he said quietly. “They’re taking advantage of you.”
Ah, so this wasn’t just about Alek. “Tristan and Cole?” I asked. “No, they’re not.” I took a deep breath. “You come from a family who could afford your hockey habit, right?”
He nodded.
“I come from the kind of poverty that can’t get help because the small jobs my dad got were off the books and illegal. Do you know who bought me a winter coat this year?”
Haruto remained silent.
“Cole Carter. Do you know who makes sure I have something to eat for breakfast every day that fits into my cardiac diet and doesn’t fill me with horror from its blandness? Tristan Baptiste. And do you know who interceded with the school to get me yet another break when I missed class this semester because of my heart?”
“Coach,” Haruto muttered.
“That’s right.”
“Even if he caused the accident in the first place.”
I couldn’t disagree with that.
Haruto continued to chop vegetables. “There’s no way to say this without sounding like an asshole, but those guys should be doing all that shit for you even if you’re not fucking them. You’re not with them for that, right? Because if you need help, we got you—the whole team does.”
Gratitude spilled out of my heart and through my chest like warm honey, sweet and sticky. “I’m not,” I said. “And I know.”
“You know I’m always here if you need a friend, don’t you?” Haruto turned abruptly so he was facing me. When he realized he was brandishing the knife, he smiled sheepishly and set it down on the counter. “Or someone to help you bury a body.”
Hot tears pricked at my eyes. “That means more than you know.”
He studied me for a long moment. “You’re in trouble, aren’t you?”
It wasn’t a question.
My phone buzzed again in my pocket. I didn’t look at it. “Has Jed Carter ever approached you about throwing games?”
Haruto blinked slowly before his lips curved up into a smile. “Looking for evidence?”
“Yes,” I said flatly. “Preferably the kind I can turn over to someone who’ll actually do something about it. He doesn’t putanythingin writing.”
“You’re investigating him,” Haruto murmured.
I shrugged.
“Rami!” he shouted.