My Hockey Alpha novel Chapter 198

Nina

“Why were you two saying my name so much just now?” Eli asked quietly as he blocked my way to the door.

I furrowed my brow. “We weren’t. What are you talking about?”

Eli shook his head. “I heard you. You kept saying the name ‘Enzo’.”

My eyes widened. His name wasn’t Enzo. It was Eli… Right? For a moment, my heart skipped a beat as I looked up at him, searching his face for some sign that he really was Enzo; but unlike before, his face never shifted or changed. He stayed looking just the same as he was now: an unfamiliar face.

It must have been some sort of sick prank.

“That’s not funny,” I growled. Eli stared at me with wide eyes, but I just pushed past him and through the door, out into the cold night air.

“Wait!” he called, running after me. “I’m serious.”

I scoffed. “Sure you are,” I replied, holding my arms as I walked briskly through the cold night air. “Did Sadie send you? Is this some sort of prank to get more dirt on me?”

Eli stopped in his tracks, but I kept walking. “No one sent me,” he said quietly. “You just look too familiar to me.”

Now, I was the one who stopped. For what felt like an eternity, I just stood there with my back turned to Eli, my arms folded across my chest as I shivered in the cold. Part of me wanted to turn around and run to him, as though Enzo would be standing there when I turned to face him, but I knew that wasn’t the case. All of this was just some sort of nasty prank; either Selena had sent them both to mess with me, or they had simply heard rumors about my relationship with Enzo and wanted to bully me. Either way, I didn’t want to get involved any longer. If Selena did send them to get under my skin, I didn’t want to give them the satisfaction.

So, without another word and without turning around to look at Eli, I began walking again.

By the time I arrived back at home, I ran to my room and ripped off the dress that Eli had given me. Without thinking, I shoved it into a plastic trash bag at the back of my closet, pulled on some pajamas, and promptly threw myself down onto my bed, sobbing into my pillow.

I wasn’t sure how long I laid there, crying inconsolably and soaking my pillow with my tears. At some point, I thought I heard Lori and Jessica come home. They must have heard me crying, because my door quietly clicked open, and the next thing I knew someone was rubbing my back gently while I cried. I wanted to tell them everything, but I just couldn’t. I felt too weak and helpless to even speak. But the way my friends sat with me and gently rubbed my back eventually comforted me, and soon I found myself being lulled into a dreamless sleep.

…

I must have been asleep for two, maybe three hours. I couldn’t be sure.

But one thing was for certain: when I woke up, I was not in my bed. In fact, I quickly realized from the feel of the freezing cold biting against the side of my face, that I wasn’t even inside.