Fake Dating My Ex's Hockey Star Brother (Maya Scott) novel Chapter 227

Chapter 87

ALLISON’S POV

I bend over the sink and scoop water into my hands to wash my face.

+25 Points

The cold helps a little so I do it again and again until I finally run out of reasons to keep my head down and lift it to look at myself in the mirror.

I look like shit.

My eyes are swollen and red, my hair half falling out of whatever I put it in this morning. It feels selfish to

even notice, so I stop.

You see, I’ve always hated science. Not the vague kind of hate where you just find something boring. No, I mean I genuinely, viscerally hated it. I despised the blood, the diagrams, and the way every lesson reminded me of how fragile everything is. I knew from the first biology class I ever sat through that I was never going anywhere near a science course for as long as I lived.

I’m thinking about that now, standing in this hospital bathroom. About how easy it was to decide that and to just opt out. And I keep thinking, what if everyone did? What if nobody wanted to learn the hard, ugly parts of how a body works? There would be nobody in that OR right now and nobody who knows how to

help him. My Justin.

I blink slowly and use the back of my wet hand to push my hair off my face. The fluorescent light in here is too bright and the paper towel dispenser is almost empty and somewhere down the hallway, he’s still in surgery and I’m in here trying to hold myself upright over a sink.

I told myself I wouldn’t let my mind go anywhere dark, not until a doctor walks back out and tells me it

went well. That’s what Justin would tell me to do.

“Allison, you’ve got to think positive all the time.” His voice floats through my head like he’s standing right

next to me. “Come on, let me see that smile.”

My knees give and I sink to the floor, pulling them to my chest. Tears come freely now and I’ve stopped

trying to fight them. I wish he was here and I wish somehow it was me in that bed instead. I’ve been

through it once already, for a stupid reason so I could do it again and at least, this would be worth

something.

“Alls.” A hand lands on my shoulder and I flinch hard, tilting my head up. Braydon is crouched beside me, his eyes glossy, and jaw tight. He looks like he’s been crying too, or close to it. “Are you okay?”

Something shifts in my chest. I uncurl myself and stand, swatting his outstretched hand away.

“Are you really asking me that right now?”

He rises with me, brows pulling together. “Allis…”

“You should have been worried about Justin.” I jab a finger at his chest. “You knew about the headaches.

Chapter 87

“Allie-”

“No.” I snap. “Your brother is in surgery and you’re making excuses for the guy who knew about his symptoms and said nothing?”

+25 Points

She scoffs. “What good will it do if I blame Braydon? Will it help Justin? Speed up his recovery?” She sets the cup down beside her. “It doesn’t matter why or how he ended up in there. What matters is his recovery. Getting him-”

”

“We would have never gone skiing if I knew something was wrong with him.” The words tear out of me. He would have been at a hospital right after his last game. I wouldn’t have let him crash and fracture his shoulder and his knee so forgive me if I’m not logical enough to look at the big picture and say oh, he’ll be fine soon enough.”

Silence falls between us for a few seconds. Then she reaches over and takes my hand.

“Allie.” Her voice is small. “We’re all hurting and nobody wanted this. He’s my brother and I would take his place in a heartbeat if I could.” She squeezes my hand. “But we can’t do this right now. We can’t just sit here blaming each other and-”

“At least admit he’s wrong.” I pull my hand away. “Why am I the only one who thinks Justin wouldn’t be in that room if his best friend had said something? And you’re sitting here trying to defend your boyfriend…”

“Just shut up.” She fires back and the sharpness in her voice makes me go still. Katy runs a hand through her hair, looks away, then turns back to face me. When she does, something in her expression has

changed.

“You want to blame someone? Fine but maybe start with yourself. If you were really such a good girlfriend you would have noticed something was off with him or better yet, he would have told you. Yes, he would have told his best girl in the world but he didn’t.” Her eyes narrow. “And because of your lying ass, you’re the one who planned this whole trip. So do you really want to keep playing this game, Allie? Because I’ll play it.”

Her chest is rising and falling fast as she stares me down and I recoil.

I want to fire back. I want to say something that matches the heat in her eyes, something that cuts as clean as what she just said to me. But the words aren’t coming and my throat is closing and I can feel everything she said just settling. Her words are sinking into places I don’t want it to reach.

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