Breaking The Rules

Chapter 10

It could have been from lugging my recovered belongings up the stairs of the Hockey House, but my legs were like lead after the phone call I had with the local Humane Society. I had explained the entire situation with them and why Oliver had been returned by my scummy ex boyfriend who was doing everything in his power to punish me for leaving him. After a tearful conversation with the man running the front desk, I had spent the last twenty minutes on hold only to be told by two different supervisors that, according to their policy, they were unable to return Oliver to me. They wouldn't give me any more information, citing rules I didn't care to hear.

It was yet another punch to the gut.

I swallowed down the emotion that threatened to spill over again, wiping at my cheeks before leaving the safety of the stairs. I couldn't afford to break down now. Not after the lengths I went through to get away from Miles. I would find a way to adopt Oliver again, I simply needed time to figure it out. After I cleared my head. It had been a long day, and I needed nothing more than to sink into a couch and watch some mindless TV.

I was on my way to do just that when I found Maverick sitting at the table. There was an ice pack pressed against his bruised knuckles. The sight of him, slouched in his chair with his head slightly bowed as he scrolled on his phone, filled me with a complicated mix of gratitude and guilt.

Instead of taking an immediate left and finding solace in the once-empty living room, my slippers scraped across the kitchen tiles.

"Hey," I breathed.

A bundle of nerves knotted up in my stomach. Would he blame me for having injured himself? For having to defend me against Miles?

The idea that he was most likely upset with me was crushed the moment he glanced up at me. Those dark brown eyes held a flicker of amusement that often wasn't directed towards me. But what was even more surprising was the soft grin he gave me. It was if he were regarding a friend and not a girl he'd been trying to get rid of for the past few days.

"Hey," he replied, regarding the redness in my cheeks. "You okay?"

I tried to disguise the shaky breath with a laugh as I lowered myself into the seat across from him. "I tried calling the shelter about Oliver," I explained, staring down at my fingers. "Apparently they can't return him to me because according to them, I abandoned him. Which, I guess in a way, I did."

I rolled my lips into my mouth before releasing another breath to stop my eyes from stinging. When I glanced back up, Maverick was staring at me. There was a lapse in the smile he gave me earlier.

This was probably the last thing he wanted to hear about. I had already invaded his space, had him come and help move my stuff out of my ex's place and, on top of all that, he ended up getting hurt in the process.

I cleared my throat as I eyed the irritated patch of skin beneath the ice pack. "I'm sorry about your hand."

Maverick raised a thick eyebrow as if I had said something ridiculous. "What are you sorry about?"

"You shouldn't have been put into a position where you felt like you needed to protect me."

"That wasn't on you. That was on him." His voice was firm, leaving no room for arguments.

I bit my lip, guilt still gnawing at me as I cast my gaze down towards the table again. "I mean...I should have handled things differently. Maybe if I hadn't—"

"Celeste, stop," Maverick cut in, leaning forward a little. "None of this was your fault."

I swallowed, running a hand through my hair as we made eye contact again. His gaze held mine. It was lacking the usual sharpness. Dark chocolate melting into semi-sweet. When I didn't respond he continued.