Page 34 of Desperate Pucker (Denver Bashers #6)

Ryker

“Alina.”

My body is frozen, and not because I’m sitting in a snow bank.

I take in the confused look on my ex-girlfriend’s face. It reminds me of how she looked when she saw the engagement ring I bought her.

Confused. Disappointed. Annoyed.

The muscles in my neck and shoulders tighten. I can feel the beginnings of a tension headache.

I look at Maddy, who’s still on top of me. I move to stand, helping her up too.

I take in her unreadable expression. She doesn’t look mad or sad or…anything really.

“It’s good to see you, Ryker.”

I turn to Alina and take in her smile. I don’t know why she looks so happy to see me.

“Is it?” I mutter.

Her smile falters, and for a second, I feel bad for sounding so pissed off. But then I remember what it was like to be with her. How I always felt beneath her and her family. How she always made comments about my clothes, my car, and how small my parents’ house was.

I feel my entire body go stiff with discomfort.

“It’s been, what, three years?” she says.

“Four.” I brush the snow off my coat and pants, then turn to Maddy and brush out the snow from her hair.

Alina looks between Maddy and me. She focuses on Maddy. “You look familiar.” She squints. “Wait, did you use to figure skate competitively?”

“Yeah,” Maddy says.

A second later, Alina’s brow hits her forehead. “Oh my gosh! You’re Madeline Macer! You got bronze at the last Winter Olympics!”

Maddy nods and tries to smile. “That’s me.”

A pitying look takes over Alina’s expression. “Oh gosh, I remember how sad you were when you didn’t win gold.”

My stomach sinks. Why the hell would Alina bring that up?

Because she has no filter and says whatever’s on her mind, no matter if it hurts people’s feelings or not. She did that all the time in your relationship, remember?

I swallow back the urge to tell Alina to fuck off right as Maddy’s face goes pale.

“Yeah, it was rough.” She clears her throat. “I’ll give you two a sec to catch up.”

I watch her walk away. I’m about to tell her not to go, but Alina grabs my arm.

“She’s right. We should catch up.”

I turn to her, my jaw tight.

“I’ve been watching you play lately. You’re on fire.”

“Am I?” I mutter.

She nods, smiling brightly, like she didn’t pick up on the irritation in my tone.

She steps closer to me, keeping her hold on my arm. “You’re looking pretty hot on the ice. I mean, you always looked hot.”

I shake my head and look away.

“It’s the truth. You’re the hottest guy I’ve ever been with.”

Frustration simmers through me at how she’s acting. Did she forget just how much she hurt me?

I huff out a breath, fighting the urge to go off on her. We’re in a public place, and I’d look like a psycho if I, a huge, mean-looking guy, flipped out on her, a small woman.

“I’ve missed you,” she says. There’s a teasing lilt to her voice that makes me want to vomit.

I glare at her. “I’m the hottest guy you’ve been with, and also the poorest too, right?”

Her smile falters. She frowns like she’s confused. “Why would you say that?”

“You said it first when we were together, remember?”

She purses her lips like she’s annoyed. “Ryker, that was a long time ago.”

“Three years. Or four. But who’s counting, right?”

She scoffs at the sarcasm in my tone and finally pulls her hand off of me. “I’m not the same person I was when we were together, Ryker.”

“Really? So are you dating regular dudes now? Guys who make less than seven figures a year?”

She hesitates.

I roll my eyes. “Didn’t think so.”

She tugs a hand through her blonde hair, shaking her head like she’s exasperated. “I thought we could have a little catch-up for old time’s sake. But, no. You just wanna rehash old wounds.”

“Because they fucking hurt, Alina.” I’m careful to keep my voice down, despite how pissed I am. “You never apologized for how you treated me. For all those shitty things you said about me and my family. You never apologized for shitting on the engagement ring I was gonna give you.”

She blinks, her eyes wide, like she’s in shock.

“You haven’t changed at all.” I take a step back, away from her. “I don’t want anything to do with you, Alina.”

I walk off. When I make it across the courtyard to where my teammates are standing, they’re all looking at me.

“Who was that?” Xander asks.

“My ex.”

All the guys go quiet. Ingrid and Sophie aim sympathetic looks at me.

“Yikes,” Sam says.

“All the fucking yikes,” I mutter.

“She’s hot though,” Camden says.

The guys glare at him.

I let out an exasperated sound. “She’s also vapid and shallow as fuck. If you’re not a billionaire, don’t bother to shoot your shot. She wouldn’t be interested.”

Sam claps a hand on my shoulder. “Sorry, man.”

I look around. “Where’s Madeline?”

“She went up to her room,” Sophie says. “She said she wasn’t feeling well.”

Dread sears through my stomach. I think about the forced smile on her face when Alina talked ot her. How strained her voice was. She’s probably upset at what Alina said to her…or maybe she’s upset at seeing Alina flirt with me?

An ugly feeling drags through my gut.

I want to go to Maddy and make sure she’s okay. I don’t want her to be upset or hurt.

“I think I’m gonna call it a night too,” I say to everyone.

They all tell me to get some rest. I head back into the hotel and straight for Maddy’s room, my heart thudding in my chest, aching to comfort her.