Page 31 of If You Claim Me

She rolls her eyes. “Fine.”

I pass her the remaining snacks and juice boxes. “Your payment in snacks.”

Everly and Victor head home, making it open season for my colleagues. I field more questions about my engagement, dodging personal questions about Connor.

At the end of the day, I take the subway home, grab my mail, and head up to my apartment, my heart lurching as I shuffle through the advertisements and find a new one from the property manager. I wait until I’m inside my apartment before I open it.

It’s an eviction notice. If I can’t backpay the hundred grand in rental adjustments I owe before the end of the month, I’m out of the apartment. That’s less than two weeks from now.

“Fuck.” I squeeze the bridge of my nose.

Connor said he would take care of it. But this new development is a wrench in the plan. Telling him about it means talking to him, and possibly seeing him. I’m still struggling to put that kiss we shared at the engagement party into a box with a lid that doesn’t pop off constantly.

My phone buzzes in my pocket, scaring the shit out of me.

I stuff the letter in my purse—I don’t know why, reflex maybe—and dig my phone out.

Obviously Connor has a sixth sense for when I’m thinking about him.

Connor

Meems is out of books.

Of course she is.

Dred

I’ll bring more by tomorrow. Just send me a list.

He follows it with a photo of a list in her handwriting. I smile. I knew she’d love the highland warriors series.

And tomorrow I can find out just how good Connor is at keeping his word.

CHAPTER 10

CONNOR

Coach Forrest-Hammer stops me on the way to the locker room after practice. “You and Romero were in sync on the ice today.”

“We played together at the Hockey Academy.” Quinn Romero and I go back as far as I do with Dallas Bright, Tristan Stiles, and unfortunately, Flip Madden.

Lexi shakes her head. “It’s about more than history, Grace. You can predict each other’s moves. It’ll be good for the team this season, and for Ryker.”

I don’t know what to do with the uncomfortable feeling in my chest. “We have similar playing styles.”

“Maybe just accept the compliment,” she suggests with a small smile.

“Right.” I nod. “Thanks, Coach.”

“You seem more settled these days.” She walks away before I can respond.

She’s Mildred’s closest friend in their group, so Lexi has to know this thing between us isn’t made of love and promises of forever. But she’s not wrong about me being less…on edge. Meems’s happiness is the reason for that, though.

I continue down the hall to join the rest of my teammates in the locker room.

So far it seems to be louder and slightly less civilized without Roman and Hollis to balance things out. The rookies look up to Madden, Stiles, Palaniappa, and Bright now. Roman basically functioned as the team dad, and I think they’re trying to find their footing around the huge hole his absence has created. Even I feel the loss. Hammerstein was good at creating team cohesion on the ice, and he made me feel like I wasn’t a waste of roster space.

Romero’s cubby is next to mine—probably Coach Forrest-Hammer’s suggestion. He nods at me as I strip off my jersey and sit next to him so I can remove my pads.