Blake
“Dude, why did you bring us to a line dancing club? You know we hate dancing. And country music,” I ask Nick.
He leads Travis, Leo, and me through the crowded country bar that I’ve never been to before. It’s on the edge of the Hollis U campus, so it’s crawling with students.
A country song I don’t recognize blasts over the speaker system. A dozen people are dancing in the middle of the floor. Half the place is singing along to the upbeat lyrics. I wince at the sound.
Nick laughs at me and pats my shoulder. “Lighten up, dude.”
I roll my eyes.
“You need a drink,” he says. He gestures to the bartender. “Could I get four beers and four shots of whiskey?”
“I’m not in the mood for whiskey,” I say.
“Too bad. You’re doing a shot.” Nick hands the bartender cash. A minute later, he sets our drinks on the bar.
We all grab shot glasses. Nick raises his. “Here’s to Blake getting rid of his pissy attitude.”
Leo chuckles, and Travis cracks a smile before they take their shots. I roll my eyes before downing the whiskey.
We take our beers and head to a table in the corner, next to the dance floor.
“Blake raises a good question. Of all the bars near campus we could have gone to, why are we at this one?” Leo asks.
Nick grins. “Poppy’s out on a girl’s night with Anna. I wanna surprise her.”
“God, you’re clingy,” Leo says, chuckling.
Nick’s smug grin doesn’t budge. He shrugs. “You say clingy. I say I’m in love.”
The song ends, and some twangy beat picks up.
“This song sucks,” I mutter as I sip my beer.
Nick shoves my shoulder. “What’s your deal, dude? You’ve been in a bad mood the past few days.”
“Yeah, what’s up with you?” Leo asks.
I huff out a breath, feeling guilty for being such a dick.
“I’ve just been stressed. Sorry. Didn’t mean to take it out on you guys,” I say.
“Are you moody because you haven’t hung out with Briar much lately?” Nick asks. “I haven’t seen you two much. You’re usually joined at the hip.”
Guilt claws through me when I think about the way I’ve acted around Briar these past few days.
“She’s been busy too,” I lie.
The truth? I’ve been a jerk to her.
I really didn’t mean to be. The night we fooled around and she showed me my secret account, I fell into a panic spiral.
I was so freaked out that someone would recognize me as That Shirtless Guy, that I isolated.
I spent the next two days in between practice, training, classes, and traveling for an away game, by myself, examining every photo and every reel I ever posted.
I wanted to make sure there were no identifying images in them.
I wanted to make sure no one could trace the account back to me.
Because if they did, I could lose everything—my spot on the Hollis U hockey team, my future in hockey, and the money I planned to give to my parents.
I was on edge, fueled by panic and anxiety. It felt like I couldn’t breathe.
But after I finished scrutinizing my account, I started to calm down. And that’s when clarity set in: I abandoned Briar. Right in the middle of our sex lesson.
That guilty feeling slices deeper, carving into my gut.
She was so vulnerable in that moment, trusting me to open up. And I just left her.
I think about how she texted me to check up on me, but I was so deep into my panic spiral that I blew her off.
But then the other night happened…she had that nightmare about her ex.
I think about waking up from a dead sleep to the sound of her trembling voice…how scared she was…
No, please. Stop!
I can hear the panic in her voice, how terrified she sounded. A sick feeling roils through my gut at how she was reliving the moment that bastard tried to force himself on her.
Something inside of me snapped. In that moment, I didn’t care about anything other than comforting her and making her feel safe.
So I moved next to her in bed and held her in my arms until she fell asleep. And that’s when everything felt good and right again.
In the morning, I left for an early practice. Then I had conditioning and meetings with the assistant coaches and trainers.
As soon as I was done with everything, I texted her to check in with her. But she never responded.
A sinking feeling lands at the pit of my stomach. She’s probably upset and hurt from how hot and cold I’ve been the past few days.
I don’t blame her for ignoring me. She has every right to after the way I ignored her.
But I still feel like crap. I miss her. I want to talk to her. I want to make this right.
I want to apologize to her, but I don’t want to do it over text. That doesn’t seem like enough. I need to do it in person. I need to show her just how much I regret the way I treated her.
I pull my phone out and text Briar again.
Hey, can we meet up and talk? I feel bad about how I’ve been acting these past few days. You deserve an explanation. And an apology.
I take another sip of my beer, listening to Nick, Travis, and Leo as they talk about our next game coming up in a few days. I nod along, trying to pay attention to whatever they’re saying, but I can’t focus. All I can think about is Briar.
“Hey, your ladies are here,” Leo says, nodding at the entrance of the club.
Anna and Poppy walk in. Nick grins wide when he sees Poppy. Heat flickers in Travis’s serious gaze when he spots Anna. That guy hardly ever smiles, only when he’s around her.
“Oh, hey. Look who’s with them,” Nick says, nudging me.
When I see Briar behind them, my eyes almost pop out of my head.
She’s wearing this black mini skirt that barely covers her ass, and a tight black top that dips low. Really low. I can see the top of the black lace bra she’s wearing.
My gaze follows the long line of her legs. Briar’s not tall. At just over five-foot-three, she’s more than a foot shorter than me. But that skirt and those high heels she’s wearing, her legs look a mile long.
“Holy shit,” I murmur.
Nick laughs. “Looks like Briar’s ready to have a wild night on the town.”
My gaze fixes on her as she follows Anna and Poppy to the bar. While they’re waiting to order drinks, every guy around them turns to stare.
A girl on the other side of the bar waves at Anna and Poppy, and they walk over to talk to her.
I notice one guy sitting on a barstool next to Briar is looking at her ass.
A protective feeling rockets through me. I watch as he reaches over and taps her hip.
I ball my hand into a fist. What the fuck, he’s touching her?
She turns to him, her expression surprised. He starts to speak. It’s too loud in here, and they’re too far away for me to hear what they’re saying, but I can tell he’s chatting her up.
She smiles at him. It’s that cute, shy smile that always does weird things to my chest.
He smirks at her, then drops his gaze to her boobs for a long moment before looking back up at her face.
This motherfucker isn’t being shy with how much he wants her.
I look at his hand, which is still on her hip. The muscles in my legs and arms tense. I fight the urge to walk over there and rip his hand off of her.
He shouldn’t be touching her. He doesn’t even know her.
“Looks like that guy is flirting with your girl,” Leo says.
“She’s not my girl,” I grit out.
Leo quirks a brow. His expression reads, “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“Then why are you looking at her like that?” he asks.
I force myself to look down at my beer. “Like what?”
“Like you’re a jealous boyfriend who’s two seconds away from ripping that guy’s face off for talking to your girlfriend.”
I roll my eyes and look at the dance floor. I don’t even know what I’m looking at. I’m just trying not to stare at Briar.
“He’s right,” Travis says. “You look like a psycho-jealous boyfriend.”
I turn to him. “You’re quiet this whole time, and the first time you speak is to give me shit?”
Travis just shrugs. Nick chuckles like this is the most entertaining thing he’s seen all week.
I tap my fingers against my beer glass, that restless feeling inside of me amping up. I’m fighting the urge to stand up, march over to Briar, and pull her away from that guy. But I can’t do that. I’ll look like a lunatic.
Nick’s brow lifts as he looks over at the bar. “Oh shit.”
“What?”
“I think that guy just talked Briar into letting him do a body shot off of her.”
“What?!”
I whip my head to look over just in time to see that guy grab Briar by the hips and haul her onto the bar top.
He’s standing so close to her that his hips are pressed against her legs.
He holds up a shot of liquor in one hand and a lime wedge in the other.
She bites back a smile as she looks at him and nods.
Jealousy and rage pump hot through my veins.
I don’t think. I just react.
Two seconds later, I’ve made it across the club. I’m standing right next to them.
No fucking way is this happening.