Morgan
It's finally Friday and I'm getting ready for the game with Kat when there's a frantic knock at the door.
Furrowing my brow, I wait for Kat to pull on her shirt before I open it.
"Thank god you're here," Lydia says and storms inside. "I can't get a hold of anyone." She checks her phone.
"What's wrong?" I meet Kat's eyes, and she's as confused as I am.
"It's Max. Well, Chloe, really. And I wouldn't even know, except Trisha found out and told me."
"What about Max?" Kat asks.
"She sold her."
"What?" We stare at Lydia.
"Trisha says Chloe put up an ad and... I don't even know. I can't find the ad now, which probably means she sold Max, and Wes isn't answering."
"They had a meeting before the game," Kat says.
"Is there anything we can do?" I ask.
Lydia is pacing the small room and I try not to stand in her way.
"I don't know. Wes is going to freak. If she sold Max without even asking him, he's going to be so upset."
"Well, maybe she didn't sell her," I say hopefully. "Maybe your friend was wrong?"
"You think?" Lydia stops pacing and stares at me.
"Maybe?" I shrug. "Why don't we try to find out before we jump to conclusions?"
"But how?" Lydia sinks down on my bed as if she suddenly ran out of energy.
"We could go talk to her." I grab my shoes and put them on.
"But the game is about to start," Kat says and bites her lip.
One look at her tells me she hates everything about this idea. Her face is pale and flushed at the same time. She's not confrontational. At all. She's gotten better at standing up for herself, but an angry ex-girlfriend might be pushing it.
"You should go to the game," I say and find my jacket. "Maybe we'll be back in time. In case the guys ask, don't tell them anything. It's important they win this game, so they can't be distracted." I almost groan internally. When did I become this invested in the UNI Lions?
Kat nods. "I can do that."
"Great, come on." I grab Lydia's arm and she gets moving.
"Good luck," Kat says after us.
"Do you know where she lives?" I ask Lydia as we get outside.
She nods. "I've dropped Max off at her apartment. It's not far. We can take the bus."
"Sounds good." We hurry to the bus stop and wait.
"Are you sure about this?" Lydia asks, and stomps her feet against the cold.
"Have you heard the guys talking about that dog? They've built a fence for her and I'm pretty sure Ethan got her some outfit he wants her to wear for a video. Brick doggy proofed the kitchen and keeps yelling at them if they leave grapes out. If we don't try, that house will be in tears."
"You're right about that. I've never seen a group of guys so eager to get a dog." Lydia nods to herself. "We have to try."
The bus arrives and I'm not surprised that Lydia also has a bus pass. Like me, she doesn't have a car or enough money to uber everywhere.
Chloe's building is a twenty-minute ride away, and I think Lydia gets antsier by the second. She practically hovers off the bus at our stop.
"It's here," she hurries to the door while checking her phone for the millionth time. "Wes still hasn't answered."
"Then I guess it's up to us." I hurry to hold the door open as someone leaves.
Lydia takes a deep breath and follows me inside. The entire elevator ride, she fiddles with her mittens. I put an arm around her shoulders.
"Don't worry, we got this."
She gives me a shaky smile and we leave the elevator. Her hand only shakes a little when she knocks on the door. A dog barks inside, followed by a harsh command.
"What do you want?" A beautiful redhead sneers at Lydia. Her skin is pale and perfect, but her eyes are cold.
"Are you selling Max?" Lydia asks.
"What if I am?" Chloe crosses her arms, but Max almost knocks her over as he tries to get to Lydia.
Lydia kneels to pet her, but Chloe grabs her collar and pulls her back.
"Why wouldn't you ask us first? Wes loves her and you know we'll take good care of her."
Chloe shrugs. "Too much drama." She's studying her nails. "And I need to get rid of her now."
"We'll take her now," I say. "You'll never have to worry about her ever again."
"Get rid of her," comes a male voice from inside the apartment. "That dog is a nuisance."
Chloe rolls her eyes. "I already got an offer," she yells back inside.
"How much?" I ask, loud enough for the man inside to hear. "What if we pay you?" I make sure he can hear that we're offering money. If Chloe's boyfriend wants to get rid of the dog that badly, then the added incentive of money and us taking her now should do it.
"Yeah," Lydia agrees. "We'll buy her from you."
"Do it, babe," he yells.
"Fine. You can have her for two thousand dollars."
My jaw drops. I knew dogs were expensive, but two thousand seems like a lot.
"Two thousand?" Lydia says, and sounds as shocked as I am.
We look at each other.
"We don't have that on us," I say. "But maybe we can pay in installments?"
"Yes," Lydia says hopefully. "I'm sure we can find a way to get the money."
"Tonight," Chloe says.
"What?"
"I want two thousand dollars tonight. If you don't get me the money before nine, I'll just sell her to the guy I found online."
"No, don't do that," Lydia says.
"We'll get the money."
"Sure," Chloe says and closes the door, ending the conversation abruptly.
"What do we do?" Lydia asks as Max whines inside. "I don't have that much. I think I could get maybe two hundred."
"Same." We walk to the elevator. I check the time. "It's twenty past seven. The game starts at eight, which pretty much rules out the boys."
"Do you think Kat might have any money?"
I nod and get out my phone. "I'll call her." We wait by the elevator as I hold the phone to my ear. "Shit, it's straight to voicemail. She must be at the game watching the warm-ups already."
I look at the panic on Lydia's face. "We have time," I say. "We can go to the Den and ask her in person."
Never has a bus ride felt so long. I check my balance, but there is no way for me to get two thousand dollars together.
The Den is teaming with life as we rush off the bus and into the arena. Running as fast as we can, we make our way down to the ice where Kat is. She's smiling at Brick as he skates toward her.
"Kat, we need your help."
Something in our appearance must have alerted Brick, because he speeds up.
"What's wrong?" Kat asks as we try to catch our breaths.
"It's Max," I say.
"Is something wrong?" Brick comes to a stop in front of us.
"We need money," I pant out. "Two thousand dollars."
"Quickly," Lydia adds and pulls out her phone. Tears are welling up in her eyes as she looks over at Wes. If he sees her, he's going to know something's wrong.
"There's money in a safe box in my closet," Brick says. "The code is 1228."
Kat grins at him goofily. "My birthday?"
He gives her an equally goofy grin back. "Guess I'm going to have to change it now."
"Great," I say. "Cute. Adorable." I turn Lydia around and start leaving. "Don't tell the others in case this all goes to hell."
"Ok," Brick says and gives me a concerned look. "Is it serious? Should I worry?"
I shake my head. Lydia is on her phone, checking bus schedules.
"No, you should join the others and pretend you know nothing."
"I think JD is waiting for you." Kat says and gestures to the emptying ice.
"Good luck then." He skates off.
"Thank you," I shout after him. "You have a key, right?" I ask Lydia.
"Yeah, let's go."
Now we're fighting the crowd as we push our way out of the arena and back into the cold winter evening.
"We have to hurry," Lydia says. "The last bus we can take to get back on time leaves in fifteen minutes."
"Let's run then."
Out of breath, we reach the empty hockey house.
I only hesitate a bit before I open the door to Brick's closet. I'm not sure I want to know what all he stores here. Luckily, we find the safe box before we accidentally open a sex drawer or something.
"Who has this much money just lying around?" Lydia asks as I count out what we need. There's still plenty left.
"Rich people, I guess." Lydia and I are in the same boat with just enough money to survive. Kat and JD inherited millions from their grandmother, but I have a feeling Brick is on a completely different level of rich.
"Double check," I say, and hand the stack of bills to Lydia. She counts the money.
"It's all there."
"We have five minutes to get to the bus stop."
"I was not expecting this much exercise tonight," Lydia complains as we close the safe box and start running again.
"This is your new home," I say as we lead Max into the still empty hockey house. I'm exhausted from all the running around. I drop the dog bed, toys and food Chloe so generously tossed at us as we were leaving.
Max wiggles her tail happily and starts sniffing around. I undo my jacket and toss it next to the pile of dog stuff.
"I think we missed the game," Lydia says and goes to the kitchen and starts opening cupboards.
"I think Wes will forgive you."
She smiles as she takes out a bowl and fills it with water. "I can't believe we finally got Max."
"Well, it did cost us two thousand dollars," I groan.
"You don't have to worry about that," Lydia says. "I'll find a way to pay Brick back."
"It was my idea," I say. "I'm the one who told Chloe we would pay."
"You couldn't have known she'd name such a ridiculous price." Lydia puts down the water bowl and Max drinks happily, getting water all over the floor.
I grab the food and snacks from the pile and place them on the counter so Max won't eat them while we turn our backs.
"Where do you think she wants her bed?"
"Wes has one in his room for her, so I think it might be nice to have one down here."
We try different spots for the bed until Max seems happy. Then we play with her until we hear the door opening.
Max immediately wants to run to the guys, but I hide her behind the couch and wait to surprise them.
Wes is typing on his phone as he enters the living area.
"Surprise," Lydia says.
He looks up. "I was just texting you to ask where you were." Max tears out of my grip and full on attacks Wes, almost knocking him off his feet.
"Max," he sounds surprised and happy as he hugs her. Then he looks up and sees the dog bed and the pile of toys. "What did you do?"
Lydia and I smile at each other.
"What's going on?" Ethan asks as he comes in. Liam and JD follow him, and my stomach clenches.
Everyone greets the dog and a short while later, Brick and Kat join us.
"Is this what the money was for?" Brick asks as Max tries to lick off his beard.
"Yeah," I say and try not to stare at JD. "Lydia found out that Chloe was selling her. So we went over to talk her out of it. She gave us a deadline, but we managed to come up with the cash."
"How much? I'll pay you back," Wes says and even I can hear the trepidation in his voice.
"Oh, we had to borrow from Brick," I say hesitantly.
"It was just two hundred," Brick says and my stomach sinks. But Wes looks so relieved I just share a look with Lydia.
"I'll pay you back," Wes says. "I'm surprised she didn't want more."
"Yeah," I say and look at Brick. "I guess she just wanted to get rid of her."
"I think it helped that her boyfriend was there," Lydia says.
Everyone wants to play with Max, and she is loving the attention. I smile at them and as someone slides up next to me, my breath hitches.
"So this is why you weren't at the game?" JD asks.
"Why? Did you miss me?" He huffs. I glance up at him. "You looked for me."
He shrugs. "I just noticed Kat was by herself, that's all."
I gently elbow his rib. "You looked for me."
"Hardly. I don't care if you come or not."
I raise an eyebrow, and he turns red.
"Yes, you do," I say and my voice is low and husky.
"I'm tired," Kat says all of a sudden.
"You ok?" Brick asks and feels her forehead.
"I think I might be catching a cold. One of the group members I met up with for the project was getting sick."
"You want to stay here?" Brick asks.
Kat shakes her head. "No, I think I just need to sleep."
"I'll come with you," I say. She is looking paler now. I guess it wasn't just nerves earlier.
I grab my stuff and wave to the rest of the guys. Brick follows me and Kat to the door.
"Do you want me to drive you?" he asks.
Kat shakes her head. "I'll be fine."
"It's not that far," I say. "But Brick?" I look back to make sure no one can hear us.
"Yeah?"
"I thought you knew. We actually took two thousand dollars from you. Not two hundred." There's a churning knot in my stomach as if I've robbed him blind or something, and I hate it. If I told him two hundred, I will have to sell myself to pay him back as soon as possible.
"I know." Brick is also keeping his voice down, so it takes a moment before the relief registers.
"But you told Wes two hundred?"
"I don't think Wes can afford two thousand," he says. "He's here on a partial scholarship and his parents are struggling with some medical bills, so he doesn't have a lot extra."
"I can pay you back, but it's going to take some time." The knot is back as I imagine how long it will take me to come up with so much money.
"No, it's fine. I want Max to stay here, and so do the other guys. Besides, you're Kat's friend and I know you sometimes spend the night away from the dorm just so I can stay the night. I really should be doing you more favors."
"I love you so much," Kat gushes.
"Thank you," I say. "Now, I need to get this one back to the dorm."
I grab Kat's arm and we head off into the chilly night.
"Kat?" I ask as we're walking.
"Mmm?"
"Are you sure Brick doesn't want the money back?"
Kat laughs. "He really doesn't. You know how the guys pay him for groceries every week?"
"Yeah." They have an arrangement where Brick buys stuff and cooks the food and the rest of the guys just give him cash.
"That's the money you used. He keeps trying to give it back to them, leaving five dollars in a jacket pocket or dropping a twenty in Wes' car. You just helped him out. Besides, Brick never has to worry about money. His grandfather owns hotels all over the south and the family was rich before they got the hotels. There's so much generational wealth there it's stupid."
I feel relieved. "How did I get so lucky with my roommate?" I joke and give her a hug.
"I'm the lucky one," Kat says with a laugh. "Without you, I'd either still be studying to be a nurse, or back living with mom and dad. And me and Brick would not be together. Not many girls would punch the captain of the hockey team and break his nose for someone they've only known a few months."
I laugh, but she's right. We got really lucky that we ended up together.