Chapter 34
Selena
The party was at the Hellions’ dorm. I’d been here a hundred times before my life had turned upside down. I hadn’t set foot inside since everything had changed. Tonight, I stuffed down my nerves and walked in. It was loud, chaotic, and full of motion.
“God, it’s too busy here, let’s go up to the rooftop,” Winter shouted in my ear.
I nodded and followed her up the stairs.
The rooftop was thankfully quieter. The hot tub bubbled in the corner, but no one would dare get in it without the Ice Gods’ permission.
“You want a drink?” Winter nodded to an icy bucket of beers.
I shook my head. “Pass.” It honestly sounded awful.
The game replayed in my head. I hadn’t been able to take my eyes off Brody.
He was magic on the ice. I just knew that I was going to be tortured by the sight of him effortlessly gliding around the rink, body checking guys, scoring goals, and generally living up to his cocky, arrogant attitude.
He had the goods to back it up. Annoying. Mesmerizing.
“Nice shirt,” Winter said. She looked down at the Sinclair jersey I had on under my jacket.
“Yeah, it seemed topical,” I muttered.
She passed me a fresh bottle of water she’d picked up, and we sank into a sofa.
Winter laughed. “You’re a terrible liar. One of them sought you out and asked you to wear it, right? I can tell it was Brody.”
“How?” I asked, my cheeks growing hot.
“It’s his number.” Winter smiled, devious. “Why, is there another reason I’d know that?”
“No! I just… nothing, it’s not important.”
“There is another reason,” Winter said, poking at my curiosity.
“What?” I asked.
“The way he looks at you.”
I nearly choked on my water. What?
Before I could try to convince her that me and Brody were absolutely nothing, she continued.
“I should have known from the double-date night. When he looked like he wanted to tear Nick apart at the bar. I should have known even before he headbutted him, just from the way he was acting.”
“Known what?” I asked weakly.
Winter narrowed her eyes at me and leaned forward to stare at me head-on.
“I knew it,” she said. “Something is going on between you.”
“It’s not! I mean, it shouldn’t…” I trailed off and rubbed a hand over my face. “Seriously, how did you know?”
“The way Brody looks at you… I knew,” she said.
I shook my head, trying to get rid of the warm feeling her words had given me.
“In case you haven’t noticed, we’re related, thanks to Marjory’s last-ditch attempt at love.”
Winter shook her head. “So what? You’re not related except for legally. You didn’t grow up together. You’re both adults.” She waved her hand dismissively in the air. “You’re fine.”
“Fine? That’s your verdict? It’s fine?” I laughed.
Winter just nodded.
“Okay, well, what am I supposed to do with this information that it’s fine?” I teased her and relaxed into the soft sofa.
“Fuck him. He’s hot—don’t tell Asher I said that—he’s super into you, and he’s across the hall. Logistically, it just makes sense.”
“Oh, well, if the logistics make sense, then I guess it’s a done deal.”
Winter smiled at me, taking a sip from her water bottle then setting it down.
“Seriously, though, you should go for it. As far as I know, you haven’t gone there since everything happened with that motherfucker, Trent.”
And his friends.
“I haven’t,” I confirmed. “I haven’t even thought about it. Honestly, I barely missed it. Until lately.”
Winter’s eyes grew round. “Wait, you’re serious? So you do like him then. Something is going on between you two?”
“I don’t know,” I confessed. “I don’t know what’s going on, or what can even go on… but yes, there’s something.”
Winter leaned over, pulling me into a sudden hug. It was surprising because she really wasn’t a hugger.
“I’m so happy for you,” she murmured into my hair.
“You’re making it into a way bigger deal than it is!” I protested.
“No.” She gave me a squeeze. “It is a big deal.”
Yeah, maybe it was. Tears pushed at my eyelids. Was I seriously tearing up right now? Yes, a little.
“Wow, ladies, is it good news or bad news?” someone said behind us.
Winter eased back, and we turned to see Nick standing there. I gasped. His face looked even rougher than the last time I’d seen him, with bruises from tonight’s game already popping up along his jaw. And that had been with his cage on. Ouch.
“Oh God, are you okay?” I asked and stood.
“Yeah, well, apart from the fact that we’ve got a total psycho who can’t remember we’re on the same team, I’m fine.” He rubbed at his jaw. “It looks worse than it feels.”
“Good.”
“Here,” he said and passed me a drink. “I got you a drink. I thought we could hang out. As friends, you know.”
I had a creeping suspicion that it was us hanging out as friends during intermission that had gotten his face busted up, but that couldn’t really be right. Surely not? Brody wouldn’t take his jealousy that far, would he?
“I could use a friend to talk to right now,” Nick added, laying on the guilt.
“Of course,” I replied and nodded to Winter. “Just going to take a lap with Nick.”
“The guys will be here soon,” she reminded me.
I knew she meant Asher and Brody. Brody and Cal had both effortlessly drifted into the company of the Ice Gods. That was just what happened when two players like them appeared. The cream of the crop always rose to the top.
Winter narrowed her eyes at Nick and shrugged. The move screamed that it was his funeral to be caught with me once Brody arrived. So, I wasn’t the only one who thought he’d smashed Nick’s face in during the game for no good reason…
We walked over to a nearby sofa and sat.
Nick glanced at the drink in my hand. “Don’t forget your drink.”
I looked down at the drink and gave it a quick sniff.
The too-sweet smell of the cocktail hit my nose and put me off.
I had no interest in starting to drink again.
But I also didn’t want to hurt Nick’s feelings, especially when he was having such a shitty night.
I guessed it was time to pull out my acting skills.
“Are you okay?” I kept the lip of the glass around my mouth, making it look like I was sipping it. I didn’t feel like defending the fact that I didn’t want to drink right now.
“I mean, since Sinclair joined the team, not really,” he sighed. “Brody, not Callahan.”
“He goes by Cal,” I found myself saying.
“Right. He’s fine, an amazing player, doesn’t interfere in other people’s business. But Brody, that fucker thinks he can run the world.”
I nodded sympathetically. He was right, after all. Brody was insufferably arrogant and high-handed when you first met him. I’d only started to see under his cocky exterior little by little, as he let his guard down with me. Something I knew Nick would never have the privilege of seeing.
“To be fair, he is preparing to take over his father’s business, and he’s worked hard to be ready for it, so a lot of that arrogance is deserved.
I mean, he barely lets himself have any fun.
He’s harder on himself than anyone else.
” Wait, what? God, I’d just defended how arrogant Brody was, and the worst part was, I really believed it.
Nick slid me a sideways glance. “So, you two get along at home, is that it? You’re not at odds anymore? I mean, since the whole headbutt incident.”
“That was ridiculous, and I’m still so sorry you got hurt.”
Nick took a swig of his beer. “Yeah, it always seems to be me getting hurt. I’m thinking of telling my brother about it.”
Nerves gathered in my belly. Nick stared in the distance, and he seemed furious.
“Who’s your brother?”
“A cop.”
Nick’s last name was Preston, so that meant… Officer Preston. The realization hit me. The cop I’d met at the house, the one who had talked about The Cove and the video that apparently existed. The one who knew.
I felt sick. I put the cocktail down and rubbed my fingers over my lips. They felt numb.
“Are you okay?” Nick asked, seeming worried.
“I’m fine, it’s nothing. So, your brother is a cop?” I asked, not able to resist poking at the awful realization.
“Yeah, he hasn’t been with HH police that long, but he’s seen a weirdly high amount of action for such a small town.”
“Such as?” I prompted.
Nick gave me a quick smile. “Everyone always wants to hear cop stories.”
“Guilty.”
“Well, a year ago his partner died. It was wild. Some big thing upstate.”
“Oh, really? I think I heard about that.”
Nick watched me closely, and his scrutiny was making my skin crawl. Does he know?
“Yeah, it was on the news, I guess,” Nick continued.
“Any other stories?” I asked.
He studied me. “What are you looking for? Something dark and exciting? Something edgy, or scary? Maybe all of the above?”
I shrugged. Nick’s mood was weird, and he watched me so intensely it felt suffocating. The part of me that expected something bad to happen at any moment was primed for a single sign that Nick knew more about me than he’d let on. That he’d sought me out on purpose.
“Is that what you like, Selena?” Nick asked.
He’d shifted closer, but that all-too-familiar paralysis was already working through me.
He stroked my arm. I couldn’t stop him.
“Is that why you like Brody Sinclair? Because he’s violent and twisted? Because he doesn’t ask for permission?”
I managed to shake my head. “Brody has a lot more self-discipline and morals than you might think—”
“Bullshit. Men like him take what they want. Maybe that’s what you like.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing was there. The frozen feeling spreading through me was stealing my words. It was that freeze response. The one people only felt when the hindbrain was threatened. Somehow, without knowing why, I was sure that Nick was threatening me.
“My, my, my ears are burning.” A deep, cocky voice. Brody.
I dragged air into my lungs for the first time in minutes.
“You know what they say, Preston. Don’t say anything behind someone’s back that you wouldn’t say to their face.”