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CHAPTER 6

LIZZY

LETTING THE PRINCE DEFEND ME. SORT OF.

I should have been paying more attention. But who the hell knew Declan would require an eight-hour shower after practice? I must’ve walked the perimeter forty times before the enormous prince finally emerged from the players’ door, grinning around himself like there was nothing in the world to worry about.

Sigh. Royalty.

I was just going to stroll on by—the guy was so oblivious he didn’t even see me—but that was when I saw the two men beelining for him across the parking lot.

If I pulled my sidearm, the jig would be up, so I’d already begun visualizing how I’d disable the men in hand to hand when Deck yelled out my name, giving me away.

“Dammit,” I grumbled, throwing myself in front of him and knocking him out of the way as the first man reached us.

Within seconds, I’d disarmed goon number one, throwing his knife across the lot as Declan tripped the second man. Good thinking.

It took me only a few seconds to counter the attacker, and I was another second away from knocking him unconscious, when the man Deck was scrabbling with got the upper hand and climbed onto the prince’s chest.

Two on one was not my favorite fighting style, but it wouldn’t be the first time. I threw my weight to the side, pulling man number one with me and then slammed a kick into the other guy’s side, knocking him off the prince.

Unfortunately, that was when the first guy managed to slip behind me, trying to get me in a lock.

“Not today,” I bit out, gathering my strength as I bucked forward, tossing him over my shoulder. That was going to hurt us both in the morning, but he seemed to realize he wasn’t going to win this fight and he and his friend both scrambled away.

Shit. It seemed more critical than ever that I convince Declan to head home sooner rather than later.

The prince was at my side a second later, his big hands on my upper arms, his wide blue eyes peering down at me worriedly.

“Why didn’t you get in the car?” he asked.

“Why didn’t you get in the car?” I asked him back.

“And leave you to those thugs?”

Ohhh, right. I was the defenseless woman in this scenario. I kept forgetting that. Shit, I was a bad actress. The thing was, I didn’t want to play scared and pathetic because I wasn’t. Far from it. I shrugged. “I probably would have been okay.”

“I’m just glad I was able to scare them both off,” Declan said, causing me to gape at him, openmouthed. Did he actually believe he’d just won that fight on his own?

“Um. Yeah. Okay, we’ll go with that.”

“He didn’t hurt you, did he?” Deck had moved on to examining me for injuries. “Should we call the police or report this to management?”

I sighed, brushing my dress straight and pushing the escaped strands of hair back into the low ponytail. I bent down to pick up the stilettos I’d ditched the second the fight had begun. “I think I’m fine,” I said. “Just shaken up, I guess.” That sounded good, right? Defenseless women were shaken up by fights.

“Anyone would be,” he said. “I really feel like we ought to do something. Report this?”

I shook my head. The police were no match for anti-monarchist terrorists gunning for the likely heir. “I think we’re okay, right?”

Declan nodded.

“I’ll mention it to the rink security tomorrow, but it was probably just a random thing.” I couldn’t tell him the truth. Those guys had seemed like the B-team, though. I worried about who they’d send next time. “We’re fine. We should probably just get home, lock our doors.”

Deck chuckled lightly. “Maybe I’m a little shaken up too. Could I…” he raised a hand, rubbing it across his jaw in a surprisingly boyish gesture. “Would you maybe want to get a drink? Just calm the nerves a bit?”

If he was going out, I wasn’t letting him out of my sight.

“Yeah, okay,” I told him, smiling. “That’s a good idea. Is there somewhere nearby? Maybe a place with a couple entrances and good lighting?”

Declan’s lips lifted on one side, and I realized—not for the first time—how handsome he had become. I wondered if he remembered me at all, but of course, the context was all wrong. I didn’t look a thing like I had as a child, and I went by a different name too.

“Weirdly specific,” he said. “But I like a girl who knows what she wants. I’ll drive.”