Chapter 21
LIVELY
“What are you, a damn toddler?” Hailey grouched as she glared at me over the rim of her glass of mixed berry smoothie.
Yeah, she was totally regretting not saying no to me fifteen minutes ago.
I could see it in the tight set of her shoulders and the way her fingers curled around her glass like she was thinking about crushing it.
But here she was anyway, sitting across from me at this tiny campus smoothie shop, breathing the same air as me by choice .
I mean, as much of a choice as I’d given her, anyway.
It was still progress.
I slurped at my triple scoop ice cream cone, deliberately catching a drip with my tongue. "What? It's good."
"I've seen five-year-olds with more restraint," she muttered, taking another sip of her smoothie.
"Life's too short not to enjoy the little things, Hailstorm." I said.
"Don't call me that," she snapped, but something was off. The words lacked their usual serrated edge. And the way she shifted in her seat made me think of a cat trying to look annoyed while secretly enjoying being petted.
Ah, of course . She was still feeling kinda guilty for my injury. I was beginning to seriously contemplate intentional bodily harm if I could get her to look at me like that.
You're an idiot. The thought was a piece of broken glass slicing through the meat of my mind and, while it might have been true, it didn't bother me.
Not now, when I'd gotten my Hailstorm to sit down for a drink with me—something I'd spent years pretty much dreaming about.
Like, full on maladaptive daydreaming type shit.
The late afternoon sun slanted through the window, turning her dark hair almost blue-black where it caught the light.
I couldn't stop staring, mentally cataloging every detail like I was stockpiling for winter—the way she'd tied her hair back in a messy ponytail, loose strands framing her face; the slight smudge of exhaustion under her eyes from the day's drama; the single freckle at the corner of her right eye that I’d always wanted to kiss.
"You're staring," she said flatly.
I mean…how could I not? It was like putting a hunk of pure gold in front of a jewel thief and expecting him not to freak the hell out.
It was too late for me, too. I was totally freaking out, if the…
ahem… situation …in my pants was any indication.
I shifted in my seat, trying to appear casual while my body was having a full-blown internal riot.
"Can't help it," I admitted, deciding to chance it to see her reaction. "This feels like a date, don't you think? I think it's a dream come true that the Queen of the Ice bought my lowly self some ice cream."
Hailey leveled me with a look that could've frozen hell twice over. "If you pick up girls with those cringe worthy lines, then I am ashamed to be called a girl."
I burst out laughing, the sound ripping out of me like it had been physically pulled. Her brows furrowed deeper, but I caught it—the microscopic twitch at the corner of her mouth, there and gone so fast I almost missed it.
"Aw, you wound me, Hailstorm," I said, clutching at my chest dramatically. "I'm not the same man I was in freshman year. I don't pick up girls anymore.” Not since that day when I’d laid eyes on her in my parents’ sterile hospital. “It hurts that you don't know that."
Hailey only scoffed, but her eyes flicked away for a millisecond, breaking the fortress-like focus she usually maintained. "Tell that to someone who's actually stupid, Summers."
"What's that supposed to mean?" My brows slashed down in confusion.
She waved me off, the gesture sharp and dismissive. "Please, I know what you get up to in the hospital. I saw you with a woman the other day, too."
Wait, what? I sifted through my mental calendar, trying to figure out what the hell she was talking about.
Then it hit me—that woman my father had tried to set me up with.
What was her name again? Valerie? Valentina?
Velociraptor? Hell if I knew. I tried to fight off the annoyance that remembering her stirred up in me.
I’d totally hated her snooty, obnoxiously elitist personality and how she'd blatantly looked down on my chosen career path in hockey. The memory of our brief interaction rose up like bile in my throat.
“So,” she'd said, glancing at her watch—a delicate, diamond-encrusted thing that probably cost more than most people made in a month. Ha, she was obviously not shy about flaunting her Daddy's wealth. “Your father mentioned you played some sports in college?”
‘Some sports’. It wasn't the words themselves but rather the way she said them that ticked me off. There was that strain of familiar condescension in her tone, like an early warning before the shit hit the fan.
But by that point, I hadn't cared if the shit hit the fan anymore. In fact, I'd been very interested in seeing this woman get soiled with it. I hadn’t corrected her on the fact that my team was the two-time winner of the NCAA Championships. I hadn’t seen the need to.
It would’ve been me casting my pearls before swine.
She'd nodded with polite interest that didn't reach her eyes. “How... quaint. Though I imagine it must be quite the adrenaline rush. Still, it's refreshing to see someone with your background engaging in such...physical pursuits before settling into their real career.”
By that word, 'physical', she'd really meant ‘undignified’. Thinking about it now wasn’t going to do anything but piss me the hell off, though, so I shoved the memory back and focused on the one person that fucking mattered to me right then: Hailey Baleman.
And a sudden realization sent a wave of warmth spreading through my body: She'd been watching me outside of our usual encounters. She was paying even more attention to me than I'd realised.
The knowledge was intoxicating, a heady rush that left me momentarily dizzy. Because if I'd been getting discouraged before, this was just the boost I needed—I still had a chance! It might not be much, but it was there, and that was enough for me.
Knowing that only made me even more resolute, and now I didn't want her to misunderstand and think that I was still playing around with other women. I’d come too close to the sun to crash and burn now.
“She was a visiting doctor from California,” I said, because it wasn't a lie. She had been visiting. “Why would you immediately think I was hitting on her?”
Hailey’s beautiful brown eyes widened slightly for a split second before they narrowed again, and there was a new tension in her jaw, a tightness that hadn't been there before. “Oh please,” she rolled her eyes at me, “You think I don't know what your flirty smile looks like?”
I froze. “What?”
She knew my flirty smile? She's been watching me enough to categorize my smiles? The realization rattled every single one of my nerve endings.
Hailey must have realized what she'd just admitted because her eyes widened a fraction, and she rushed to add, “Everyone on campus can literally tell, anyway. You flash it at every damn thing that moves in your line of sight.”
But I was barely listening anymore. I was too busy having a full-scale internal meltdown.
She groaned, clearly reading something in my expression she didn't like. “I told you before; don't read too much into it, you jerk.”
Ha, too late. Sorry, babe, I think I'm already on Book Two here.
“You heard from your Coach, right?” She said then, and I blinked twice in the same millisecond. The topic switch was as subtle as a freight train.
I decided to let it go, though. Her pretty ears were already red as the juiciest tomatoes. So cute .
"About the ‘pre-season retreat’?"
"Yeah, I heard," I said, trying to force my voice into some semblance of normal. "We'll be out there for a week."
I couldn't keep the smile out of my voice, and she noticed immediately, eyes narrowing into slits of suspicion.
“Look,” she said, slipping into her captain voice; the one she used when she was trying to create some distance.
Not that I’d let her.
“We need to keep things professional between us. I'm proposing a temporary truce, at least until the camp is done. No more pranks.” She waved vaguely between us, even though the edge of competition still tinged her words.
“Do you mean it this time?” I asked, and she scoffed.
“You're the one who broke the first truce, remember ?”
I affected a hurt look. “Haven't you ever thought that maybe you're the one who misread that situation? What if I’d really just wanted to give you some chocolate?” I asked, and Hailey's brow arched high on her forehead.
“Do I look like an idiot to you?” She replied, taking a sip out of her smoothie as she speared me with a pointed look.
“No, you always look gorgeous to me.” I replied automatically and she coughed, holding the cup away from her face as she glared at me.
“Hey.” Her voice was chilly but there I was, getting hot flashes. “I'm trying to be nice here. Don't make me regret it. Temporary truce. Deal?”
My answering grin felt feral, hungry.
Her truce meant she'd just opened the door wide open for me to be around her for this one week, no excuses.
Professional didn't mean distant. Professional didn't mean cold.
At least, not to me. Not at all. Professional meant we'd be working together, talking, interacting without her walls at maximum height.
“Deal,” I said, knowing my eyes were probably giving me away completely. “Does this mean I can call you now?”
Hailey flinched, like she could already see her mistake. “Don’t push your luck, fuckface.”
“Aww.” My face fell. It might have been a theatrical joke to Hailey, but I really was bummed out inside. But I knew I couldn’t get greedy now. The long game. I was playing the long game here. “Bummer.”
Hailey’s deadpan stare was back. “I mean it, Summers. Professional .”
“Absolutely,” I agreed, straightening up and nodding solemnly. “Total professionalism.”
She didn't believe me for a second. Smart woman.