Chapter 18
EIGHTEEN
Kinsley.
My feet stilled in the doorway, unable to look away from the woman standing next to Hadley.
The other guys had already taken over the living room, their voices echoing over my shoulder.
Requests for food and squabbles about what happened on the field filled Hadley and Cam’s home, but in the kitchen, there was only silence—only me and Kinsley staring at each other.
When Hadley first said her name, it had given me pause, but enough time had passed that I didn’t think there was any way it could be my Kinsley.
At least, until she turned around. My mouth fell open as her dark, umber eyes met mine, and color filled her cheeks.
My heart hammered against the wall of my chest; it was the only sound I made.
If I moved—if I blinked—she’d be gone, just another missed moment from a long list of dreams. Hadley said something, but her voice came out like a high-pitched buzz.
Kinsley. It wasn’t until her lips parted that I remembered to breathe.
Memories of her kissing my bare skin flashed through my mind.
How her blush traveled down her chest, spreading across her supple skin when she fell apart.
Fuck, she was beautiful.
So much time had passed between us that part of me believed I’d built her up in my mind, some perfect fantasy no one else could touch.
But being so close to her again proved the opposite—my dreams could never match up to the real thing.
There were slight changes since she left my bed: her curves were a little more pronounced, and deep circles lined her wide eyes.
Hadley kept talking, but none of her words registered, too attuned to the woman in front of me.
What did Hadley say about her? She was a new friend?
How had she stumbled into my world after years of praying for this exact moment?
For two years, I’d chased this woman like a ghost, held my breath every time a brunette crossed my path, searched the faces in every crowd, hoping it would be her.
After two years without Kinsley, I resigned myself to the fact that we’d only ever have one night—the best night of my life—and that was it.
But no.
“Kinsley,” I gasped, taking a step closer to her.
Her eyes flared to life, but, instead of disbelief, anger tinted her irises. Her head snapped to the side, not even acknowledging me. “I need to get out of here.”
“What do you mean?” Victoria asked, her gaze volleying between Kinsley and me. “Do you two know each other?”
I barked out, “Yes”, at the same time as Kinsley said, “No.”
My head was still spinning as Kinsley stood, whipping past me without as much as a hello. Fuck that. There was no way she was walking back out the door without even a conversation. The guys tried to talk to me as I stalked through the house, but I could only focus on one person: Kinsley.
By the time I spotted her, she was rushing toward a small, dark blue SUV with a friend in tow. My brow furrowed as I tried to place her. She seemed familiar, but not enough to remember her name or if we’d ever met.
As she pulled open the driver’s side door, I called out her name. Her eyes widened as I rushed over, placing my hand on the door so she couldn’t escape inside the car. “I—” I stammered. “How? What are you doing here?”
“Doesn’t matter.” She shook her head. “I need to get out of here.”
“Wait,” I snapped, and she flinched away from me.
I sighed, running my hand over my face. In and out.
Focus on breathing in and out. But my chest felt too tight, as if every step she took away from me only tightened the vice.
My hands clenched at my sides. Damn, I wanted to touch her, wanted to hold her, if only to keep her in one place for a moment.
There were so many questions, so many things I needed to know.
Where had she been all this time? Why did she leave in the middle of the night?
And why, now that I found her again, was she so desperate to get away from me?
“Please,” I said, keeping my tone much softer. “Just talk to me, Kinsley.”
She let out a loud laugh. “Oh, now you want to talk? The opportunity for that passed a long time ago. You had no interest in hearing what I had to say two years ago, so why should I care now?”
My hands dropped away. What the fuck was she talking about? If she’d reached out years ago, I would have called her. No matter how dark my life got, Kinsley was always lingering in the back of my mind. “What do you mean?”
The girl on the other side of the car moved over, taking Kinsley’s hand. A silent conversation passed between them, and my molars ground. Kinsley shook her head. “I’m okay, Chels. Please get in the car. I can handle Jace.”
Her friend gave me a withering stare as she moved to the passenger side. For a moment, her eyes flashed to the back seat, and my gaze followed. But before I could see anything, Kinsley blocked my path. “Go back inside, Jace. I have nothing to say to you.”
Despite the anger lacing her voice, her eyes ensnared me, bringing me right back to that morning on the lake. The world was lit up around me, a sight that most people would remember for all their days, but all I’d seen was Kinsley.
My hands reached out to hold her, to make sure she was real, but as soon as I did, she took another step away from me, keeping distance between us. “Please, Kinsley. Just five minutes. You owe me that.”
Her dark eyes ignited in a hateful blaze, all her ire and rage directed right at me. With one last scowl, she turned away from me, forcing me to stand back as she swung the door open. “I don’t owe you a fucking thing.”
“She left. I’ve spent years searching for this girl, and she wants nothing to do with me?”
My words spilled out in jumbled thoughts, but in my defense, the past hour had been a lot. Come over, Jace. It’ll just be a chill night hanging out with the team and their girlfriends. Nothing to stress about.
No, instead, my entire universe shifted on its axis.
Hadley shoved a bottle of water toward me, giving me a pissed-off look. How in the hell had I pissed off every woman in this house in one afternoon? I shook my head. “If you’re going to shit on me when I’m already down, get it over with.”
“Ew,” Hadley mumbled. “I did not need that visual. But you have some explaining to do, Jace. What did you do to Kinsley to scare her off like that?”
“I didn’t do anything to her!”
She leaned back and rolled her eyes. “Having trouble believing that when she literally ran away from you.”
Victoria, Hadley’s best friend and business partner, stepped into the kitchen and placed some bowls into the sink.
Most of the other guys cleared out, but a few lingered outside with Cam and the rest of the team.
I’d retreated in here almost as soon as Kinsley left, needing to clear my head.
After washing her hands, Victoria came to my side, dropping her hand on my shoulder.
“Maybe it had nothing to do with Jace. Kinsley seemed uncomfortable before he got here.”
“Not like that,” Hadley argued. “Sure, she was a little overwhelmed, but did you see her face when he came into the room? Girl looked like she was about to pass out.”
Victoria frowned, turning back to me. “Have you met before?”
“Yeah,” I swallowed. “A while back. She worked at The Skyline during my rookie season.”
“Okay…” Hadley drawled. “So either you acted like a jerk at the bar, or there’s a lot more to that story.”
I shook my head, staring at the floor as if it had offended me.
Had I said something to her? Done something?
Nothing came to mind. Everything we did, she gave her consent for and was into it just as much as me.
Or, at least, she seemed okay with what happened between us.
Was that why she left? Because I’d crossed a line and didn’t realize it? My stomach lurched.
Shit, if that was the case, Kinsley was right—she didn’t owe me a fucking thing. If anything, I should have been on my knees, begging for her forgiveness. Not wanting to get into it with Hadley and Victoria, I just shook my head. “It’s a long story.”
“What?” Hadley snapped, and I looked up at her, sure she was talking to me. Instead, she focused on Victoria, who was chewing the corner of her nail. When she met our eyes, she dropped her hand, hiding it behind her back.
“It’s nothing.”
“Lies,” Hadley sighed. “You haven’t been able to hide anything from me in ten years. What makes you think you can start now?”
“It’s nothing,” Victoria said, her eyes narrowing at her best friend. Hadley must have gotten the message from her tone, because she snapped her mouth shut and turned back to me with a frown.
“How long ago did you meet Kinsley?”
“Fuck.” I ran my hand down my face. “It was almost two years ago? Remember that night our rookie season when you came out to the bar with us? I cut my hand on glass—”
“And the server cleaned you up,” Hadley answered for me. “Cam told me about it afterward. That was Kinsley?” I nodded, and she met Victoria’s eyes.
“Enough,” I bit out. “If you know something, tell me.”
“It’s not for us to tell,” Victoria said. “But you should talk to her.”
“How? You saw what happened tonight. Kinsley made herself clear—she couldn’t give a shit what I have to say. I need to respect that.”
Hadley shook her head. “You can’t just ignore this, Jace. We all saw your face when you spotted her. It was the most genuine smile I’ve seen from you in years. No matter what happened in the past, can you walk away, never knowing why she reacted that way?”
I groaned and dropped my head back. “Fuck.”
She beamed back at me. “I love it when I’m right.”
“I never said that.”
“You didn’t have to,” she mused. “But fair warning—Tori and I have adopted Kinsley into our little group, and there’s no way we’re letting her go just yet. So, do us all a favor and make things right.”
I smirked down at Hadley. “Why do I get the feeling you’ll make my life miserable if I say no?”
She patted my shoulder as she turned back toward Victoria. “Aww, Jace. You know me so well.”