Chapter 48
Izzy
“He called again, didn’t he?”
The soles of my shoes crunch against the ice melt on the sidewalk as Nik and I loop around the quad. After all the runs on
the trail, it’s still a novelty to do this on campus, in full view of anyone passing by. Same as when I stop by the rink during
practice, or kiss him before heading to class. It makes me want to explode with happiness, which I know sounds cheesy, but
I didn’t realize how nice it would be, having Nik in my life without reservations.
I have him. I have a break from volleyball. I have a chance to prove myself with Bex and James’s wedding. If Nik’s dad would
just leave him the fuck alone, life would be perfect.
But he hasn’t. He keeps calling, keeps trying to plan a trip to see Nik. I know it because of the way Nik acts after he gets
a call, that panic edged in exhaustion that knocks him out for the rest of the day. He slept over at my house last night,
and sometime early this morning, he slipped out of the room, phone in hand. I found him in the kitchen later, pale and sipping
coffee as he stared at his computer.
He looks over with a sigh. “It’s fine.”
“You should stop answering.”
“He just keeps calling.”
I nearly snap that I hate him—because I do—but I know that despite everything, Nik doesn’t hate him, so I hold my tongue.
I dance around an icy patch, sniffling from the cold.
“He has to know by now that you’re not going to play for his team.”
The thought of Nik back in Russia, alone with his father... I can’t entertain it. I know that Nik doesn’t want it either,
so I have nothing to worry about, but I wish he’d kick him to the curb and never talk to him again. How can he call his son,
much less want to look him in the eyes, after what he did to his mother? To him ? The evidence is on Nik’s face.
“I don’t know. I keep telling him, but...”
“He’s trying to wear you down until you say yes.”
“That’s not going to happen.” He stops in place, chest heaving. Despite the cold, sweat trickles down his temple; we’ve pushed
each other on this run, choosing the hillier parts of campus. After halting exercise for a week to let my tattoo heal, it’s
been nice to get back into the routine. “But he’s my father, Isabelle.”
“I know that.”
“It’s just—it’s complicated.” He tucks a lock of hair underneath my headband. “Did you get the invitation samples?”
Whenever we talk about it, he says it’s complicated. I give him a look, but don’t press the issue. “Bex and James want to
go with the cream and lavender.”
“That sounds nice.”
“We’re still deciding on a font, though. So many script fonts are very formal, and you know they’re going with more of a semiformal
vibe, so it’s been tough to settle on something.”
“Am I going to get an invitation?” he asks, pulling me against the side of a building, ostensibly to clear the path for a
tour group walking in our direction, but really, I know, to kiss me in front of other people on campus.
I let him do it, then poke him in the stomach. “Plus-ones don’t get their own invitations.”
“Plus-one. I like the sound of that.”
“You’ll come, won’t you? James and Bex want you there.”
“And you, I hope.”
“Of course.” My brother and Bex settled on an early May wedding date, hoping to take advantage of the springtime weather in
New York and have time for a long honeymoon before prep for next football season kicks into gear. It’s a tight timeline to
get everything together on the scale they want, but I’m throwing myself into the challenge. Katherine gave me full creative
control and is just acting as a sounding board. I want her to feel confident about hiring me again this summer, and maybe
even beyond.
“Then I promise I’ll be there.” He smiles, squinting in the winter sunshine.
I rise onto my tiptoes, pressing my lips against his cold cheek. He winds his arms around my waist. One hand slips low enough
to squeeze my ass. I yelp, making him snort into my hair.
“Ugh, look at you two. Disgustingly adorable. Aaron, babe, you owe me twenty bucks.”
I turn at the sound of Victoria’s voice. “Torie!”
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been busy with wedding planning and she’s been focused on spring league, so we haven’t seen
each other nearly enough. Now that I think of it, I need a margarita-and-movie night, stat. She weaves through the tour group, yanking me into
a hug when she’s close enough.
Aaron trails behind her, swiping a hand through his long hair before settling a beat-up Tigers cap on his head. A smirk plays
on his lips as he gives Nik a back-thumping bro hug. “Can’t believe you’re doing that with Callahan’s sister in public.”
“Hey,” I say, my voice muffled by Victoria’s shoulder. She’s wearing a ridiculously puffy black coat, plus a bright green
knit cap. “For the record, I think PDA is very healthy. Not that it matters to you or Cooper.”
“I can totally tell what that one girl is thinking,” Victoria says, jerking her chin in the direction of a prospective student literally stopped on the sidewalk, looking at the four of us. I like her sense of style; she’d fit in on campus. “‘If I go here, maybe I’ll get with a super-hot hockey player too.’”
“Aw, I’m flattered,” Aaron says.
“ Obviously I meant Nik.”
“There’s no way that Abney is hotter than me.”
“Wow,” Nik deadpans.
“I like your shoes,” I call to the girl, who startles, nearly dropping her map of campus. I shrug at Nik, who pulls me against
his chest, hands over my ribs. He nuzzles my ear, murmuring something about me being the super-hot one here, and that distracts
me enough that I nearly miss what Victoria is saying.
“—a certain rugged charm.”
“Last night, you couldn’t get enough of my ruggedness , Yoon,” Aaron replies.
My eyebrows fly up to my hair. Damn, Aaron. It takes a lot to make Victoria blush, but that does it. She glares at him. He
just grins, clearly unrepentant. Hockey players and their egos. He’s the one in sandals and tube socks, despite the fact it’s
February.
And yet, if Nik’s reports are anything to go by, he’s been having a monster season. As long as he keeps delivering shutouts,
I suppose he can wear whatever he wants. And it’s not like I have to look at it; I’m lucky to be dating the guy with an actual
sense of fashion. I could drool at the way Nik’s shoulders look in the tight, long-sleeved gray shirt he’s wearing.
“Izzy and I are going to get breakfast,” Victoria declares. “I’ll take that twenty now.”
I pull my legs to my chest as I settle into a booth in the corner of the Purple Kettle. I take a sip of my whipped cream–topped cherry mocha, wiggling happily. Pumpkin spice might be the ul timate seasonal drink, but the Valentine’s Day possibilities aren’t too shabby, either.
I didn’t put up much of a protest when Victoria stole me away, although I could tell that Nik was sad that we didn’t get to
finish our run. We haven’t had that much time alone lately. I’ll have to make it up to him when we celebrate Valentine’s Day
next week. Despite how packed the semester has been so far, I have a plan in the works.
“So?” Victoria says, bouncing eagerly on her side of the booth. “Show me the tattoo.”
“And flash the entire café?”
“It’s not up that high, is it?”
“It’s just under my bra line.” I pull up my shirt, turning so she can see my rib cage. The black ink stands out starkly against
my fair skin, identical to my brothers’ tattoos. I look at it fondly before letting the shirt fall. Apparently, Nik told Cooper
something about how I can’t help but compare myself to him and James and Sebastian. He might’ve been overstepping, but I couldn’t
bring myself to be annoyed about it, not when it led to them gifting me this tattoo.
It’s silly, since it’s just a couple lines of ink, but it means more than they know. I can still feel Sebastian’s tight hug
on the street in downtown Port Washington, Cooper promising that I’m always going to be part of the family, and James adding
in over the phone that it has nothing to do with sports, and everything to do with love.
I wish that Nik had the same support from his family. One cousin isn’t enough.
“It looks amazing!” Victoria exclaims. “Was it painful?”
“I cried.”
“Oh no.”
“It was... yeah. Worth it, but ouch.” I scrunch my nose. “What’s up with you? I feel like I haven’t seen you at all outside of Shah’s class.”
“I know, right? Organic chemistry has been killing me.”
“Ugh, science.” I shudder. Organic chemistry sounds terrible. Right up there with the complicated poli-sci classes Nik is
taking.
“No, no, it’s yay, science.” She takes a sip of her matching mocha. “How about you?”
I fiddle with my headband. “I’ve been doing wedding stuff in all my free time.”
“And getting it on with your sexy Russian?”
“Like you and Aaron haven’t done worse.”
“Fair.” She drums her silver-polished nails against her mug. “Are you sure you don’t want to come to spring league?”
“I’m too busy.”
“Is that really why?”
“Yes.” I pull the lid off my yogurt parfait and give it a stir. “It’s not— I just really want to do a good job on the wedding.
It’s a lot to keep track of, especially with school. And the break has been good.”
“Everyone misses you. And no one likes the way Alexis handled what happened.”
“I know. You’ve said.” I swallow a spoonful of yogurt. “She didn’t kick me off the team, Torie.”
“Which is why you shouldn’t be hiding from us.”
“I’m not hiding.”
She arches an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Really.” I fish my phone out of my pocket and pull up the notes app. “Look at what I need to do for the wedding.”
She scrolls through the long, detailed list. “Damn, this is a lot.”
“And that’s just what I have to get done over the next few days.”
“I thought Nik’s mom was helping you.”
“She is.” My heart twinges at the thought of Katherine. I have zero idea if she knows I know what happened during Nik’s childhood, but if she does, she hasn’t brought it up, and I’m content to follow that lead. It makes me sad to think about, though. She’s such a vibrant personality, it’s hard to imagine her trapped in that situation. “But it’s still my project. It’s something I can really put a lot of thought into. I want James and Bex to have the perfect wedding, they deserve that.”
“Will you think about it? You could even just come to the practices and not do the games. A couple of the girls are doing
that because of class commitments.”
The thought is tempting—I haven’t so much as touched a volleyball since I got back to campus—but I just shake my head.
“I don’t know. Maybe. But we should hang out.”
“Want to do something this weekend? Or are you and Nik celebrating Valentine’s Day early?”
“I’m touring venues with Bex and James.”
She sits back, mocha in hand. “How about tonight? We could just study together, or watch a movie.”
“I’ve been dying for a margarita,” I admit.
Her eyes light up. “Margaritas and Bridesmaids ?”
“Make it 27 Dresses and you have a deal.”