Sparkling Hope (The Eastburgh Devils Series Book 1)

In fact, until last night, when Dad, Camilla, and Luna’s mother returned from New York, I didn’t subsist on cornflakes alone.

There was also a protein bar, which I shared with Carter.

I couldn’t get any more down anyway, as my stomach made it clear that my food could be out faster than I could even swallow.

After Luna disappeared into her room with her food and Carter got out of the shower, we spontaneously went to Sigma Devils last night.

There we played card games with some friends from the team and poured alcohol into our stomachs almost non-stop.

As far as I could still remember.

The mixed drinks that Carter always prepared were hard to drink, while he gulped them down as if they were pure water from the tap.

It was Monday at noon, and I was sitting in the journalism class.

The course with the old, unattractive witch as a professor and the course where I soon had to hand in a term paper that I still needed to start writing.

I looked around the room unobtrusively, hoping to find someone who looked like she could quickly be wrapped around my finger.

But there was a problem.

There were only twenty people. Half of them was the hockey team because we all pulled our asses out and participated in the basic course for this semester of journalism.

The rest were random people from my semester I’ve seen once, if at all twice, so far. The way they were crawling up the professor’s ass, I wasn’t surprised I’ve never talked to them.

My actual prey on any girls in this class remained in vain.

Three girls were present, none of them were in my prey pattern.

So this was the basic course for ass-kissers and hockey players.

An absolutely crappy combination but my term paper, which helped decide the grade of this course, isn’t completely lost yet.

I wouldn’t be Weston if I didn’t make a second plan.

There was also an advanced course for every basic course, and I’m sure there would be an attractive girl who would jump at me.

After hockey training, we practiced as a team in the swimming pool. We had swimming twice a week after practice because Coach Henderson was convinced that swimming was a good training session for our longer endurance.

I parked my car as I did every Monday and Wednesday night around a little before seven in the evening and grabbed my gym bag out of the trunk.

From a distance, I saw Henry’s car parked in the lot and checked to see if he was still sitting there or had already left for the swim course.

‘Holy crap, get a room,’ I yelled and hit with the flat of my hand on the car’s hood.

The girl, which I registered as Coach Henderson’s daughter, was sitting, fortunately, clothed on the lap of Henry, who was sitting in the driver’s seat. I came around his red Jeep with the black hood, and he opened the already open window completely.

‘Shit, man, you guys are pretty risky,’ I laughed, watching the two of them as Henry put his gym bag on his lap after Aria slid into the passenger seat and fixed her hair in the mirror.

Aria opened the passenger door, grabbed her purse from the footwell, and disappeared. ‘See you.’

‘Pretty brave fucking Coach’s daughter in the parking lot.’

‘I wouldn’t have fucked her here, but I’m sure she would have sucked my dick before practice, but you asshole had to show up right then,’ he hissed, taking a cigarette between his lips.

Aria and Henry had a fuck friendship and agreed to meet only to fuck. I didn’t feel like doing something so noncommittal with the same person.

I was scared that the girl could catch feelings, and I wasn’t interested in those feelings. While I just wanted to be satisfied, the girl cried her eyes out at some point because she started liking me.

Happened to me a few times and never again since.

I am not, never have been, and never will be the person who falls in love.

One rule I have sworn to myself since then: Never have sex with the same girl more than once.

I admit, I have broken my rule a few times, but that’s where good sex justified itself.

‘Come on now, I don’t want to swim extra lanes,’ I grabbed the cigarette out of Henry’s mouth, which he had only smoked halfway up, and crushed it on the floor with my foot.

He locked his car, and we walked together to the pool hall.

‘I could have smoked the cigarette until the end. You owe me a pack.’

‘I don’t owe you anything. I’m just doing your lungs some good.’

Once inside the hall, a disgusting warm, chlorine smell hit my nose, and I almost started throwing up.

There was nothing worse than this disgusting smell.

The hockey team showered, and we all gradually entered the hall with the pool, where the Coach was already waiting for us.

The ninety minutes were used for endurance swimming and diving to better apply and divide breathing and endurance in general, especially on the ice.

‘I would love to go and get Aria and fuck her in the back seat of my car,’ whispered Henry quietly as Coach Henderson explained the plan for today’s practice.

‘This girl has you under her spell already. You desperately need a cool down.’

‘Huh?’ The next moment, I shoved him into the pool with one hand and continued walking along the side of the pool to get to the starting block.

I didn’t even turn around to see if Henry resurfaced, but he swam to the pool’s edge, where the Coach looked at him questioningly. Henry lived riskily fucking Coach’s daughter, but I didn’t stop him.

At least he had someone to be satisfied with right now.

I thought Carter would still show up and just be late, but by the time the first half of the ninety minutes was done, I was sure he wouldn’t show up.

The practice was finally over, and so Monday was done.

The cool air tingled on my skin as I walked out through the heavy wooden doors of the swimming hall.

I looked over to my car when I saw someone standing there.

I quickly said goodbye to Spencer and walked to the parking lot. I saw from a distance that someone was waiting by my car, and the closer I got to the parking lot, the better I saw who it was.

‘How do you feel about another joint?’ Carter greeted me, ran his arm through his brown hair, and the tattoos on his wrist became visible. An annoyed sob threatened to burst out of my mouth, but I suppressed it by biting my teeth hard.

‘You’re serious? First, you skipped practice, and now you just show up here like this?’ I confronted him.

 The loud squeak of the door from the swimming hall interrupted us for a moment, and more guys from the team exited the building.

 Henry was the first to leave after practice.

He just quickly showered off and sprinted out of the swimming hall, probably to get what they couldn’t finish because of me in the car earlier.

I unlocked my car with my key, and Carter got in without hesitation and sat silently next to me. I looked over at him and saw the exact Carter I saw two years ago when he told me his Dad beat him. Even though I knew what his Dad was doing, it was always overwhelming.

I always didn’t really know how to react or if I even should react because I also wish more often when someone asked about my Mom that people would just shut the fuck up.

I started the engine, and the song I was listening to from my playlist continued right where it left off when I parked my car.

I turned off the music, and silence spread between us.

‘Where?’ I asked quietly, staring at the Jeep logo on my steering wheel, waiting for his answer.

‘Wes, he doesn’t mean that.’

‘Where?’ I repeated my question.

‘My ribs are bruised,’ Carter mumbled.

I took a big, loud breath and leaned back in my seat.

Carter was strong and well built, and I said that as a real ladies’ man, and he was the clown of our friend group, but when it came to his Dad, he was suddenly so small and broken.

Everyone was broken in their own way, but sometimes I thought he was so broken that the little pieces were so small that they couldn’t even be glued together.

I wanted to tell him everything would be okay because this guy deserves so much good in life, and I hope one day he stands where we both dream of.

Whether I stand there with him or not. No matter what position I am in at that moment, I will be the loudest in the room who cheers at him.

Deep inside, I knew we had to do something about it, but he permanently blocks whenever I wanted to help him, and besides, his father was also the sheriff.

I hated this man with everything dear to me, and I hated myself for feeling I couldn’t do anything about it. It stayed quiet for a few more minutes because I didn’t want to force my best friend to start talking even though he didn’t want to.

There was already a situation where he came to me after his Dad punched him in the face, and we were just sitting there. Silently enjoying each other’s presence.

‘Sometimes I think I’m holding on to the good in my Dad somewhere and hope to find it someday.’

There was nothing good about his Dad.

Not anymore.

This man belonged in hell.

I looked outside and saw a person approaching the pool hall. What a strange time to go to the swimming hall now when it’s about to be locked anyway.

‘Isn’t that your Luna?’ said Carter, who was watching the exact same person I was and caught what was happening outside the pool hall.

I sharpened my gaze and was very sure it was her.

The long, dark brown hair.

A pink woolen cap.

I thought Luna had such a fetish for tacky, colorful hats. First, this white wool hat, and now a bright pink hat.

‘First of all, it’s not my Luna, it’s some Luna, but yes, I think it’s her.’

‘What is she doing here?’

‘How should I know?’

‘You guys live together.’

‘That doesn’t mean I’m interested in what the person I live with is doing.’

‘Don’t pretend you haven’t thought about how to get her laid.’

Once. Maybe Twice.

I actually cared what she was doing.

‘You want to sleep at my place?’ I deflected from the Luna topic and looked to Carter, who opened the passenger-side door to get out after my question.

‘No, it’s fine. Fuck that fucker. I’ll put a chair under the doorknob again. As drunk as he is, he won’t manage to open it either,’ he raised his shoulders, and before I could say anything else, he slammed the door and disappeared.