Page 5

LUKAS

L ukas didn’t get far before he heard high heels clicking on the pavement behind him.

“Don’t you dare walk away from me, Lukas!”

He didn’t turn around. Kept walking across the parking lot. If he gave in to anything Rogue’s little sister suggested, he would’ve been fucked long ago.

“Why do you always have to be such an asshole?” she called after him.

He inhaled slowly through his nose—dragging in the familiar scent of peonies and vanilla—pulled his keys from the side pocket on his gym bag, and stopped between his passenger door and a red, light-weight SUV.

“Do you have any idea how important that interview was to me?” She was close now, no more than six feet behind him.

Lukas hated the sound of the catch in her voice, so he opened his passenger-side door, threw his bag onto the seat, and turned to face her.

Elliette’s hazel eyes flashed, the golden flecks around her pupils blazing in the fading sunlight. The emotion behind them piqued his berserker nature. Passion of any kind—even anger, maybe especially anger—stirred the beast that prowled beneath his skin.

If she wanted a fight, he’d give her one. “Do you have an y idea who you were talking to in there?”

“Number fourteen,” she said, with a toss of her head. “Rookie center. Caden Kelly.”

Lukas folded his arms. “And a gancanagh.”

“I know that.” She lifted her chin.

That surprised him. Worried him, too. He unfolded his arms. “Have you ever gone for just a pint and a chat with a gancanagh?”

“I’ve never gone with a gancanagh for anything ,” she said, which he believed.

“Good,” he said. “Keep it that way.” The last thing Rogue needed to worry about was his little sister running all over town with a smooth-talking fuck boy.

“Why should I keep it that way?”

“You know why.” Someone would have to be living under a rock not to know the gancanaghs’ reputations, and while Elliette may have been many infuriating things, stupid wasn’t one of them.

“I can keep things professional,” she said.

Well, she was certainly dressed the part. Her plain black skirt, matching jacket, and gray pinstripe blouse were exactly what her father would have told her to wear to an interview. Perfectly unremarkable. Not a single bit of flash.

In fact, she’d buttoned her blouse all the way up to her neck, where her skin was becoming red and blotchy—a sure sign that Elliette Rogan was about to blow.

“Maybe you can keep it professional,” Lukas conceded, “but Caden Kelly can’t .”

“You don’t know that. ”

“Yeah, I do.”

“Oh,” she deadpanned. “So, all of a sudden you’ve decided to look out for me again?”

Her question felt like a gut punch. He didn’t know what moment she was recalling; there were too many to choose from. But that was then. This was now.

He couldn’t be any woman’s protector, least of all Elliette Rogan’s. He was no one for her to rely on.

“Of course not,” he said flatly. “I’m only looking out for a friend’s baby sister because he’s not around and she’s too reckless to do it herself.”

Elliette’s gold and hazel eyes flashed with fury. “I don’t need you or my brother looking out for me.”

“Seriously?” Lukas was losing patience. “What were you even doing in there? Evan’s already left.”

“I told you. I was getting an interview. I’m the team’s new digital and social media manager.”

Fuck. What? “Since when?”

Her little finger twitched against her leg. He’d forgotten how it always did that whenever she was agitated. One more thing that hadn’t changed.

“Since today,” she said. “And since when are you back on the Spriggans?”

“Since yesterday.”

“This is unreal.” She turned away.

He grumbled affirmatively, “My sentiments exactly. Now, are we done here?”

“You’re not going to apologize for ruining my interview?” She whipped back to face him.

“Wasn’t planning on it.”

She turned halfway away from him. “I hate you.”

“Good. That works for both of us. And what kind of bullshit did you even think you were going to get out of any of those guys in there?”

“Oh, I don’t know…” she said, whipping her head back to look at him. “The amusing origins of their nicknames?”

He scoffed. “Nicknames.”

“What? I know yours. It’s in the papers all the time. Lucky Lukas, as in he’s always gettin’ lucky. Did you know that the majority of fans who vote you into the all-star game are female?”

He clenched his teeth and felt the muscle jump in his jaw.

“Then there’s Want-him-Bakken, dubbed by all the ladies you left crying after you kicked them to the curb.”

“I’ve never kicked a woman to the curb.”

“My apologies. Left them crying into their pillows.”

Lukas curled his fingers into his palms. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, don’t I? Face it, Lukas, you think the gancanaghs are bad? You’re the league’s prettiest face, and you know how to use it.”

His fucking face. It was always at the root of so much bullshit. If scarring it up would make a difference, he’d do it in a heartbeat, but that would have no effect on the purity of his genes. There was nothing he could do about them.

“Fuck off, Elliette.”

Her eyes locked on his and held. “Why should I?”

Lukas stared into her eyes, and his wolf growled inside his skin. “I’m serious,” he warned

“ What? ” she asked. “You don’t like your reputation?”

“No,” he snarled, “and you know it.”

She put her hands on her hips and leaned into him. “Kinda like I hate my name, and you know it? ”

“What?” He shifted his weight, wanting to do…something. Go…somewhere. What was wrong with her name?

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t play dumb.”

“I was the league’s top scorer last year,” Lukas said, circling back to an earlier topic. He didn’t want Elliette to think his face was the only reason he was named an all-star.

“You were,” she said. “That’ll be tough to repeat with that shoulder injury.”

Lukas frowned. “Did your brother tell you about that?”

She pressed her lips together.

Lukas didn’t care about the answer. “If you know my stats, then you can imagine I’d prefer people focus on my performance. Not on how I look.”

“Maybe you’ll get another chance to prove yourself this year. Take another run at the playoffs.”

He puffed out his chest. “Oh, we’ll be in the playoffs.”

“The Spriggans haven’t made the playoffs in years,” she reminded him.

“Well, we will this year.” They had to. His future depended on it.

“That’s your prediction?” she asked.

He folded his arms again. “That’s my promise. Now that I’m here, the drought is over.”

She rolled her eyes again, muttered something like, “so arrogant,” then made to open the driver-side door on the lightweight SUV parked right beside him.

“ That’s your car?” He didn’t want to believe it. It was a death trap on wheels.

“No,” she quipped. “I’m into grand theft auto these days. It’s my new thing.”

Heat crept into Lukas’s chest. “Cut the crap, Elliette.”

“It’s Elli . ”

“Did Evan buy you that car?” He had a hard time believing it, but he struggled to come up with another scenario.

“What makes you think I needed anyone to buy it for me?” she asked.

“That’s at least an eighty-thousand dollar car, and you did social media posts for a bakery the last three years.”

She blinked. Stared at him for a full five seconds.

Lukas silently cursed himself for running his mouth. He didn’t need her to know he’d been keeping tabs, so he quickly added, “Rogue told me.”

Elliette tightened the corners of her mouth. “Well, apparently he didn’t tell you that he had nothing to do with my car.”

“Great,” Lukas said. “At least that makes sense. I’d be surprised as hell if he did.”

“Right,” she said, her eyebrows drawing together in confusion. “Because he didn’t. And if we’re being honest about everything, it’s my boyfriend’s car. His second car actually.”

“And he lets you drive it?” Now it was Lukas’s turn to be confused, not to mention a little pissed off.

Her lips pulled into a soft smile. “He loves me.”

Lukas did everything in his power not to laugh out loud. “Not if he lets you drive that thing, he doesn’t.”

“What the hell, Lukas?”

“That vehicle is unsafe.” He would have liked to go talk some sense into that asshole boyfriend of hers.

She slapped her hand against her driver-side door. “No, it’s not.”

“It’s top-heavy,” he said, louder than he intended. “It has one of the worst rollover rates. ”

She looked up at the SUV like she was seeing it for the first time.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” Lukas walked around the front of his own car to the driver’s side. He was done with all the bullshit. It had been seven years since he’d sustained such a long conversation with Elliette Rogan. And for good reason.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“Home.” He opened his door. “I still need to unpack.”

And with that, he slid behind the wheel and took off out of the parking lot. It was all he could do not to look in the rearview mirror. If he had, he would have seen her flip him off.