Page 20

‘No, he won’t have told you that, will he?

’ He threw back more beer. ‘My brother has the most amazing ability to just shut it down, you know. Keep his cool no matter what.’ He clenched and unclenched his empty fist in his lap, a rhythmic pulse that she sensed he wasn’t even aware of. ‘God, I envied him for that. Still do.’

‘It doesn’t make you any less of a man. Any less?—’

‘You don’t understand,’ he interjected, his eyes colliding with hers. ‘We were so close to getting away, the contracts were being drawn up and everything was on track. But that night…’

‘What night?’ she pressed as his voice trailed off, his eyes too as they landed on her phone, and he gave a rapid head shake.

‘I told you I wouldn’t share anything you’re not happy with.’ She paused the recording. ‘And I meant it.’

His blue eyes lifted to hers, the fear and the torment swirling in his depths, a sea of pain that she could feel herself drowning in as she held his gaze and waited.

‘We were late getting home from the rink. Mom had dropped Aiden with… with a friend and Dad was steaming. Going on about dinner not being on the table. And I don’t know what was different about that night but Mom just…

she snapped, told him he knew where the oven was.

’ He gave an unsettling laugh, his eyes glazing over as he stared at the beer in his hand.

‘She was fierce and I loved her for it… then I saw him flip, the back of his hand sweeping through the air, and my only thought was to get to him first.’

‘You can’t blame yourself for that.’ She pressed against her pencil with her thumb until it hurt, desperately trying to contain her own emotion while absorbing his. ‘You were defending your mother.’

Sweat beaded across his brow as he gave a slow nod.

‘But I couldn’t stop. I was so mad. Years of watching him beat down on her, on us, and now he was down, and I wasn’t letting him get back up.

I guess a part of me was terrified of what he’d do.

We’d never fought back before. In my head I kept thinking if he gets back up, we’re dead. ’

‘My God, Blake.’ It was a whisper, one she wasn’t even sure he heard.

‘When I was certain he was down for good, I grabbed Mom. She’d been screaming before, but she’d stopped.

She was silently sobbing, rocking, her eyes pinned on his body.

She couldn’t look at me. I called for an ambulance and told her we needed to go, get out of there but she was all scrunched up, frozen in place.

I was carrying her out the front door when the police sirens came. The neighbours had called the cops.’

‘The cops ?’

He nodded. ‘Aiden rocked up just as they were hauling me in.’

‘But your father was the one…’

‘He was still out cold. I was the one with blood on my hands. He hadn’t struck Mom because I got there first.’

‘It was self-defence.’

‘Our word against his.’

‘But…’

‘I was already on their radar. The entire gang I hung around with were. They were itching to convict me of something, and I’d just handed them the perfect charge.’

‘But you weren’t charged?’

She would have unearthed it if he had been.

‘No.’

‘Neither was your father.’

Because she’d found nothing on him too.

‘No.’

‘Why didn’t your mother report him?’

‘Because my father was a controlling, manipulative, bastard. He always managed to make her feel like it was her fault…’

‘Yeah,’ she said quietly, ‘I know the kind.’

Her father had been one such man…

‘Let me guess, your dad?’

She nodded, unsurprised that he’d worked it out for himself.

‘I was young when he stopped coming around, but I remember the arguments towards the end. When he gave up promising to leave his wife. When he’d make out Mum was too needy, too demanding, that she didn’t understand that he had responsibilities, a family…

’ She gave a soft scoff. ‘He seemed to forget it went both ways, that we existed, that I existed.’

‘Asshole.’

‘I’ll drink to that.’

She clinked her bottle to his, let him take a quiet sip before asking, ‘How did you get off? With the police…’

‘Aiden and a guy called Grady Marshall from the Redstone Devils stepped in and saved the day. They swung a deal. Got me the hell out of there and they didn’t stop until Ashbury Falls was firmly in the rearview mirror. That’s why it had to be Aiden who stepped up…’

His eyes shone with gratitude. Gratitude, love and age-old shame.

‘He saved my ass, my brother. He could’ve gone to college without me, taken Mom and gone, but he fought to keep the deal for us both.

Told the Devils he wouldn’t come without me and that meant getting me off that charge.

A conviction would have ruined any chance at college for the foreseeable future.

He risked his hockey career to save mine.

And we joke about it, you know. Him being nothing without me and vice versa.

But it’s only ever true one way around. Deep down we both know that. ’

‘I don’t know, Blake. Everything I’ve read about you both, the way you play on the ice together, part of your magic is that you’re so in tune. Always knowing where the other is, what they’ll do… Yes, your brother helped get you out of a bad situation, a situation that wasn’t your fault?—’

‘It was my fault. I should’ve used this before acting.’ He tapped his temple with his beer bottle. ‘Just like Aiden would have. I should’ve shut it down. Instead, I lost it, and I was no better than him.’

‘No better than who ? Your father.’

He nodded, his Adam’s apple shifting uncomfortably, and she couldn’t take it any more.

She reached out, her palm soft against the taut muscle of his thigh.

‘You fought back, you didn’t instigate it.

You weren’t the one beating on your mother because your dinner wasn’t on the table. You are nothing like your father.’

He eyed her hand, and she pulled back. ‘Sorry I?—’

He stopped her retreat, his fingers folding around hers. ‘Thank you for saying that.’

‘I’m not just saying it, it’s true.’

He gave the smallest shake of his head. ‘I’ve waited a lifetime to hear those words.’

‘Don’t just hear them, believe them, Blake.’ She clung to his gaze while the heat of his palm around hers had her pulse racing, her head spinning, but she was determined to have him hear her. ‘You must?—’

‘You barely know me.’

‘I know enough. I know your team admire you, respect you. I know your brother loves you and would do anything for you. And I know you feel the same about him and your mother. I know that on the ice, it’s the combined skill of you both that makes you the best. I know that you give off this gruff exterior but beneath it all, you’re just as vulnerable as the rest of us. ’

She leaned in with every word, her eyes telling him as much as her words, and he reached out. Made her breath hitch as he stroked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

‘And you think you know all this after knowing me for less than a week?’

‘It’s my job to read people. It’s what I’m good at.’

‘No one’s ever called me vulnerable before.’

His hand hovered beneath her chin, his eyes drawing her ever closer as they dipped to her lips. She felt them part under his gaze, felt the space between them shrink with every breath they took…

‘Astrid?’ Blake said softly, their noses almost brushing.

‘Yes?’ she breathed.

Bam! The door flew open. ‘Sorry, I forgot?—’

‘Aiden!’ Astrid gasped, launching to her feet. ‘What are you— why are you…?’

‘Jeez, bro, ever heard of knocking?’ Blake said, easing back in his seat.

‘I wasn’t aware I needed to. Did I need to?’

‘Of course not,’ she blurted on a laugh, nudging Blake’s foot. ‘Tell him, Blake.’

Blake looked at her, a question in his gaze she had no desire to answer.

Especially in front of his brother.

‘I forgot to give you these,’ Aiden said, his eyes flitting between them.

‘These?’ she squeaked, wiping her palms on her jeans as she took the cards he was holding out.

‘Your tickets for our home game in a couple of weeks. I’ll get an electronic version sent over too but nothing beats the real thing in your hand. You might want to save them as a memento when we win.’

‘Oh wow, great, thanks.’

Then sound it, Astrid!

‘They’re rink side. You said you wanted to be in the thick of it… you can’t get any closer to the action than the glass seats.’

Though the way his eyes were still assessing them, he clearly sensed there’d been enough ‘action’ going on prior to his interruption and heat flooded her cheeks anew. ‘Unless you’ve changed your mind and would prefer to be up here with the execs, I can?—’

‘No no, these are perfect. Thank you!’ She leapt forward and planted a smacker on his cheek, gave him the tightest hug too… only registering the OTT action when he froze in her hold. What on earth was she doing?

There was gratitude and then there was gratitude.

She shot back, fanned her flushed face with the tickets and held her smile. ‘Really great!’

It was only a hug and a kiss to the cheek. Nothing incriminating. Nothing like the kind of kiss she’d wanted to plant on his brother moments before…

‘You’re welcome.’ He cleared his throat and raked a hand through his hair. ‘I’ll let you get back to it.’

He fled, the door swinging closed behind him, and Blake filled the abrupt silence with laughter.

‘It’s not funny.’

‘Oh, it is.’

And she didn’t know what had him so amused. The fact that his brother had walked in on them, her reaction to him walking in, or that she’d squeezed the air out of his brother’s lungs while slamming a kiss on his gobsmacked jaw.

She wasn’t about to ask him to clarify though.

‘Shall we get back to the interview?’

‘Fire away, Twinkle Toes. I’m all yours.’

Her heart skipped a beat. He means to question, idiot, not to jump .

She returned to the sofa and perched on its edge, a safe distance away. But her thoughts were a mess. How could she press Blake to expose Sienna’s role in Aiden’s life knowing what she knew now? The man blamed himself enough. If he believed he’d also stolen his brother’s chance at love…

It would be like rubbing salt in an open wound. She’d have to find another way or try another day. As for Aiden and his just desserts, her tummy squirmed. She’d unpick that later. For now, she had an interview to continue…

‘How about we move onto some questions just for fun?’

‘What kind of fun ?’

And the suggestion that lit his gaze was all kinds of wrong yet all kinds of right to her all-too-willing libido.

‘The kind your fans would love to hear about.’

His eyes danced. ‘Sounds good.’

She adjusted her glasses and using her notepad and pencil as a shield, she began, ‘If you weren’t a professional hockey player, what would you be?’

‘Definitely something physical.’

For fuck’s sake! Her eyes launched to his as her clit pulsed.

‘Like?’ she said tightly.

‘Something skilful.’

She grabbed her beer.

‘Where I get to use my hands.’

She took a swig.

‘A lot.’

And choked.

‘You okay there? You want me to pat it better?’

No. No, she did not.

But yes, yes, she did.

This was going to be a long afternoon…

An extremely long and flustered afternoon.