Page 12

Blair

The bulldog was snoring at my feet, and my hands were crusted with dirt from patting so many different dogs. I was tired from throwing ball, yet energized in a way I hadn’t been in a long time. It had been hours since my last coffee, and I wasn’t even missing the caffeine fix.

I was, however, missing Cian.

He’d told me he would return, but as time rolled on, I wasn’t sure whether he’d forgotten me. Or found someone else.

Stop it. Positive vibes only while we’re here .

I wandered out of the gate, locking it behind me, and along the corridor I’d seen him walk down earlier.

I took a couple of turns, hoping I could find my way to the front to ask for help, when Katie found me.

“Have you seen Cian?”

The girl blinked at me a couple of times.

“He’s probably with Seelie.”

Seelie. Right.

She blinked at me again before seeming to realize I had no idea who she was talking about.

“Take that corridor there, then first left, then right at the end, then go all the way to the back, second to last cage.”

It was my turn to blink, but the girl was already gone.

Luckily, the directions were rather self-explanatory as I moved down a corridor lined with cages and heard a soft murmuring coming from the back.

Cian was seated in the middle of a cage with a huge black and tan dog stretched out across his knee. A tear streaked down his face as he spoke about… puck handling?

The dog was a beast, scarred and muscled, with a missing ear and a warped lip, but he spoke to it like it was a baby.

“You’re such a good girl. Do you want to hear more about our season stats? Maybe I can teach you how to wrap your stick properly.”

“Cian?” It felt wrong to interrupt this moment, and as the dog’s head swung up, her low growl made me wish I’d kept my mouth shut.

“Seelie,” he admonished gently, smoothing a hand down her flank with a look of wonder as he followed the movement with his eyes.

The dog swung its head around to look him in the eye before letting out a chuff and lowering her head back to her paws.

“She finally trusts me,” he breathed.

I dropped into a crisscross position on the floor and watched as Cian spent a few more moments stroking the beast before reaching into his pocket to retrieve a treat for her. She took it with a mouth far more gentle than I would have expected and seemed to know it was her cue to move. With a big sigh, she heaved her body off the man who tamed her and curled up in a pile of blankets against the far wall.

Cian used the wall at his back to pull himself up, wincing as he worked the blood back into his legs. I wondered how long she had been lying across his legs, especially as I held the gate open for him and he hobbled out, locking up behind him.

His eyes were dazed as we wandered toward the front of the shelter in silence.

“All finished?” Katie asked as we swapped our boots out for sneakers and headed for the front door.

“Yeah, we are. Sorry we didn’t help with the cleaning. I’ll come in before we fly out to lend a hand.”

He didn’t mention Seelie, and the omission made me feel like I’d had the opportunity to witness something private. Something special.

“Sorry I left you for so long. I guess I lost track of time,” he said as we headed toward his truck.

“It’s okay, it seems like you were doing something important.”

For once, I didn’t mean the observation as a barb. It wasn’t a jealous attack. I was genuinely glad he’d been able to form a bond with an animal that so clearly needed the love.

“Are you going to adopt her?” I asked, stretching my seat belt across my chest.

He grunted, starting the engine and easing the truck out from beneath the overhang.

“I’d love to, but I don’t think it’s fair to her with my schedule the way it is now. I couldn’t exactly ask someone to dog sit a traumatized rottweiler while I fly across the country.”

He had a point, but the thought of her staying in that small cage alone made my eyes water.

“Are you hungry?” Cian asked suddenly, like he was shaking off the untenable situation.

My stomach let out a growl, answering for me and making Cian laugh.

“There’s a dope burger place a couple of blocks from here. The waffle fries are next level.”

I’d seen a side to Cian today that I didn’t want to acknowledge existed. His vulnerability was crumbling my own defenses in a way I couldn’t allow.

But a burger couldn’t hurt. Right?

“Why not,” I said, not quite able to bring myself to fully agree.

Cian shot me a smile and put his turn signal on, smoothly sliding around the corner and onto a quieter street.

“It’s not a flashy place, but the food is amazing and the chance of us being recognized is small.”

The good thing about living in Texas was that hockey wasn’t the first sport that came to mind. Basketball? Rodeo? Football? Hell yes. Frozen rinks and ice skates? Not so much. The Aces fanbase was rabid, but to an everyday Texan, they were just big guys who didn’t care about throwing a pig skin.

After a couple more turns, he pulled up in front of a diner that looked like it had stood since the fifties. The faded turquoise bricks were coated in dust, and the neon sign had a busted globe.

“Trust me,” he said as he held his hands up, offering assistance in climbing down from the passenger seat. I could do it myself, already had at the shelter, but instead of making a fuss, I leaned out of the doorway and put my hands on his shoulders. His hands wrapped around my ribs, and I willed my heart to settle as he slowly lowered me to the ground. We stood toe to toe, neither of us dropping our grip on the other, and I licked my lips. His eyes darted down to track the movement.

Step away, Blair .

Instead, I tempted fate and tilted my head back. His head dipped a little closer in response, and my eyes fluttered closed as his breath coasted over my lips.

Bang!

We jolted apart, Cian pushing me behind him as he whirled toward the threat… which turned out to be an old truck backfiring as it turned out of the parking lot across the street.

As the rusted bulk trundled toward the intersection, I slipped out from under Cian’s protective arm and strode toward the diner’s entrance.

What the fuck am I doing?

I knew better than this. No matter what he had said in Washington, the evidence was clear. Whenever puck bunnies entered the room, Blair disappeared. It was a foundational rule of the universe, and something I’d seen time and time again, since the very first moment we met.

Not good enough.

Pretty enough.

Enough.

I pulled my walls around me like a protective coat as I slid into a booth and ordered a ginger ale.

Cian ordered the same and added a cheeseburger and waffle fries. I asked her to double it, and he grinned at me as the waitress pocketed her order pad and headed toward the kitchen.

“We have the same order,” he said, linking his fingers on top of the table.

“It’s a pretty standard order.”

He hummed noncommittally and sat back in his seat, watching me closely.

“If you could be one character from a video game, who would you be?” he asked.

“Bowser. You?”

His eyebrows disappeared behind his ridiculously perfect bangs.

“Bowser? Come on. You have to elaborate.”

“Nuh-uh. That’s not the game. Now, come on. It’s your turn.”

“Well… if you’re going to be Bowser, I guess that makes me Princess Peach.”

“What?” I shrieked, smothering my giggles with a palm as the nearby diners turned to see what the fuss was.

“Why the hell would you be Peach?”

His eyes sparkled. “It seems only fair.”

“That…” I gave up, sitting back with a huff when I realized he’d hold to the rules just the same as I did.

“Fine. If you could only eat one protein for the rest of your life, what would you choose?”

“Nuts.” I glanced at him in surprise. Surely an athlete like him would be a red meat kind of guy.

“They’re more versatile. Plus, I wouldn’t have to give up peanut butter cups.”

I shook my head, sitting back and thanking the waitress as she placed our drinks in front of us. Cian took a long sip, watching me as I fiddled with my straw.

“So? What’s your protein?”

“Fish.”

“You are just full of surprises.”

“I could live on sushi, if I had to.”

He nodded, holding his hands out as though writing in a book.

“Noted. Next time, sushi.”

A small thrill ran through me at the mention of a next time, but I squashed it down. This couldn’t happen again if I wanted to maintain a professional distance. Cian O’Leary’s friendship was a path more dangerous than any Temple of Doom or booby-trapped pyramid. It was only a matter of time before I found myself at the bottom of a pit or crushed beneath a careless boulder.

Maybe I shouldn’t have sat up late watching old Indiana Jones movies, I decided as Cian sipped on his drink.

“Favorite age so far?” he said.

That was a hard one. I’d loved my time playing hockey, but that had been while I was still at home and dealing with my mother and sister daily. I shuddered. Definitely not then.

College was okay, though I never really felt like I fit in, and while I loved what I did now, sometimes the loneliness dragged me down.

“Twenty-four,” I decided, lifting my soda in a toast and taking a long sip.

“Aren’t you twenty-three?”

I shrugged, the edge of my lips twitching.

“Call me an optimist.”

“The best is yet to come?” He lifted a brow in challenge, and I let the smile free.

We were interrupted from our game briefly as our burgers and fries arrived, and I reluctantly agreed they were the best I’d had in Austin. Conversation flowed easily, and before I knew it, the light was fading in the sky.

“I think you might have missed your mother’s visit,” Cian mused, stretching his shoulders. His shirt rode up over his abdomen, revealing a pale stripe of skin I wished I were brave enough to lick.

“Are you ready to go home?”

He slid out of the booth and held out a hand to me. Instead of accepting the offer, I shuffled out by myself and headed for the exit as he tapped his phone to pay at the counter. I was well fed and had had a wonderful time with a man who was funny, charming, and attentive.

The freakout had begun.

Cian tried to engage me in conversation as he steered us toward my apartment, but my mind was filled with slideshows of boys from my past who I thought I could trust. Of sneering rejections and laughing ridicule. At the center of it all was my sister telling me I should have known better.

That no one loves an ugly duckling.

I dove out of the truck as we rolled to a stop outside my apartment, almost rolling an ankle in my haste to get away.

“Wait. Blair, wait!” he called, jumping out after me. His truck continued to rumble, and I wondered if he’d thought to pull the parking brake.

“Thanks for the day. I had a great time. See you,” I rushed out, all but sprinting for the door to my building.

“Wait, what’s wrong?” He caught my elbow, pulling me around to face him.

“I thought we had fun today.”

“Fun. Sure,” I spat, thankful that the parking lot was quiet and no one was likely to hear our confrontation.

“What did I do wrong? I thought we were friends, but you’re acting like I broke your favorite laptop and spit in your coffee.”

“What’s the catch?” I asked, the challenge clear in my tone. If he wanted to do this, I would. Cards on the table. It seemed like a good enough night to have my heart broken.

“What do you mean?”

“My first kiss was Bobby Findlay. I found out later it was on a dare, and he had tried to swap with a kid who had to lick a toilet.”

Words were coming out of my mouth, and I wished they wouldn’t. But the memories that were screaming through my head on the drive home had decided this man should bear witness.

“The man I lost my virginity to won fifty dollars on a bet. The longest relationship I ever had was a secret because the guy didn’t want his friends knowing who he spent time with. You say you want to be friends, and so I’m asking you. What do you get out of it?”

He dragged a hand across his mouth, not quite covering his sneer as I stood my ground and dared him to tell me the truth.

There had to be something. The fact that he didn’t find me attractive wasn’t the wakeup call he thought it was and I’d grown tired of the back and forth. He would give me the truth whether he wanted to or not. No more head games.

“Fuck it,” he growled, grasping the back of my neck with one large hand and tugging hard. Our bodies crashed together, his mouth covering mine before I could voice a word of protest.

This… was unexpected. His tongue ran along the seam of my mouth, not so much asking as demanding to be let in. I surrendered before I knew what was happening, and could only feel as he licked into my mouth with wicked lashes that dampened my panties and weakened my knees. His arm wrapped around my waist, holding me tight against the erection that strained at his jeans.

Feeling overwhelmed by the experience of him , I dug my fingers into his chest, trying to ground myself in the rush of arousal that coursed through me.

At that moment, a vision of Georgia, the pretty sister, Mom’s favorite, popped in my head and gave me the strength to push away from the man who made me weak.

Breathing hard, I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, keeping my eyes on his face so they didn’t drop to the biological response that every man had when they were close to getting some pussy.

“Do you remember the first time we met?”

He was breathing as hard as I was, eyes unfocused as he tried to translate the question I’d asked.

“Umm.” He dragged a hand through his hair. “At training camp? Three years ago. You asked us to run a drill all over again because you’d dropped your coffee and missed the shot.” His smile made a reappearance, as though it were a fond memory.

The hate and vitriol I’d caught from a couple of the players as they headed for the locker rooms had been a quick lesson in timing and priorities.

I shook my head, because regardless of how we remembered that particular day, the answer was wrong anyway.

“Five years ago.”

He cocked his head, clearly confused, and I huffed a mirthless laugh.

Forgettable.

Replaceable.

Nothing.

* * *

Five years ago

When I grew up, I wanted to own a sports bar. I perched on a stool at the bar and ordered a soda while the Wildcats took on the Blizzards on the TV. The Wildcats were looking strong, but as the Blizzards set up for a power play, a closeup of the Wildcats goalie showed him chewing hard on his mouthguard with a hard look in his eye.

“Do you think they’ll make it?” I jumped at the male voice, so close to my ear, and swiveled around to face a pair of stunning olive eyes.

“Their goalie’s nervous,” I said, nodding at the screen as the wingers passed the puck between themselves.

It took the players two minutes before they scored in the five hole.

“Krishnoff is slowing down. I heard a rumor this is his last year,” the guy said, leaning his elbows against the bar a little closer than was polite. He was handsome, with dark hair and darker lashes framing those eyes. He was built like an athlete, and I wondered what sport he played. At a table in the corner, guys of a similar build were decked out in the black, orange, and white of Fox U. Not surprising. You couldn’t go anywhere in this college town without running into students from the academy.

A disturbance in the air made a chill run up the back of my neck, and the men seemed to feel it too as they turned toward the door and watched the new arrival.

Dressed in an outfit completely inappropriate both for the setting and the time of year, a redheaded bombshell strutted in, wearing four-inch stilettos that would have made me face-plant if I even looked at them wrong.

Georgia Kennedy, who went by Gia—because of course she did—was destined to be an actress. Everyone who knew her knew this as fact. What not as many people knew was that she was my private nightmare. She had been the instigator of pranks, cruel jokes, and all the most humiliating moments of my life to date.

She strode toward my bar mate like she was on a mission.

And just like that, it was time for this five on a good day to make way for my sister.

I slid from the stool quietly and left my almost friend to his happily ever after… for the night.

Gia would be hunting for any scrap of acceptance to crush beneath her perfect feet the second I came by it again.