Page 64 of Save Your Breath

“Just… don’t take this thing too far, okay? She trusts you.Itrust you.”

But did he really?

The way he was staring at me now, my gut told me otherwise.

I’d grown up. Both of us had. But to Charlie Conaway, I was still trouble. I may not have been a hormonal teenage boy from another country with a troubled past living under the same roof as his teenage daughter, but I was a menace in a new way. I was a professional athlete, a fighter on and off the ice, a playboy, a drunken mess, an addict, a tornado wreaking havoc and leaving behind a trail of debris.

And the saddest thing was that I couldn’t even argue with that — not when it was the truth.

I didn’t come from a great family. I didn’t have a family atallanymore, not since Annaliese died. I’d never had a serious girlfriend, or even a relationship that lasted more than one night. I didn’t give to charity or spend my free time volunteering with a bunch of kids.

I wasn’t the warm and fuzzy kind of guy that Mia usually fell for, the kind who could give her everything she’d dreamed of since she was prancing around in tutus.

The truth was that…most days? I was barely hanging on.

I was numbing myself with whatever was in reach — hockey, alcohol, women.

Charlie may have respected my game, but that was where it ended. That was where everyone’s respect for me hit a dead end. Past that, what did I have to offer?

Nothing.

And that was just the truth of it all.

I’d never be good enough for his little girl.

Second Act

Mia

The water crashing on the shore was the only music I wanted to hear.

I stood on the balcony connected to my bedroom, hands on the rail and a cool sea breeze flowing through my hair. I knew Renee had this part of the house blocked off and guarded, knew that James was serving as a barrier just a few doors down the hall. I reveled in the peace and quiet I found up here, in the solace I took in knowing I could be left alone if even for just a few blissful moments.

It didn’t make sense, sneaking away from my own album release party. But the moment the DJ started playing the album and everyone gathered around to hang onto every lyric, I felt like crawling out of my skin.

This one was just more… personal. More real.

And I couldn’t stand to be there to watch everyone’s faces as they judged it.

It wasn’t like my team wouldn’t be allowed up here where I’d snuck away, should they choose to find me. James was more on the lookout for fans or guests of the party not getting too close to me. Still, I hoped everyone would be too occupied with the first listen of the album to bother — at least, for a while.

Over the sound of the waves, I could hear the distant beat of the song they were listening to now. It was track fourteen — “After You.”

Perhaps the most intimate song on the album, I closed my eyes and let myself sing along to it in my mind, knowing that right now, at this very moment, millions of people around the world might be listening to the very same thing.

And casting their judgments on a piece of art that felt like a piece ofme.

I heard the sliding glass door open, but I didn’t turn to face whoever it was who was joining me. I let out a heavy sigh, knowing my peace and quiet was coming to an end, but I didn’t dare move. Maybe they’d turn around and leave again if I just pretended to blend in with the night.

As if I could, with this damn sunset of a glittery dress.

I closed my eyes, savoring the salty cool air across my cheeks. I waited, but no one said my name or asked what I was doing out here.

Instead, I only felt the heat of someone coming to stand next to me, of a smooth, muscular arm resting against mine on the railing.

I creaked one eye open and then another, heart pausing briefly before it galloped back to life at the sight of Aleks next to me. He watched the waves crashing on the beach below, one hand moving to unfasten the button of his suit jacket over his navel before he relaxed more into his pose over the railing.

And for a moment, I was seventeen again, staring at my crush while he stared at Lake Michigan.