Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 97994 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 490(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97994 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 490(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
This is so bad.
“When you told her that, what did she do?”
“She looked like she was going to throw up…”
“That’s a bit dramatic, don’t you think?”
He hesitates. “It could be because I told her what the argument down on the ice was about—you know, when I had to get between the two of you.”
My brain whirrs, trying to remember the barbs that were traded between us before Storm intervened. Fragments float around, hazy and incomplete.
Conveniently dating my sister…
She is not a pawn…
Out for revenge… leverage.
You think I don’t see what you’re doing? he’d snapped.
And what’s that? I’d shot back, already heated.
“Using her.”
“Hey.” Storm has his hand on my shoulder now, squeezing. “Maybe it’s not as bad as you’re making it.”
I let out a sharp, humorless breath. “Oh, it’s definitely as bad as I’m making it.”
He hums. “The good news is, she didn’t storm out crying.” He pauses. “Fine, that’s not true. She actually did seem upset.” He pauses some more. “Fine, that’s not true, either. She picked up her shit and ran out.”
I stare at him. “Do you think that’s helpful?”
“Yes. She didn’t slap me across the face. She shut down.”
Somehow that’s better?
“Also,” he begins again, stopping when my head whips up, and he catches the look on my face.
“Yes?”
“Um… I feel like there was something about, hmm, let me think…” He rubs his chin. “She wanted to know if I believed you were out for revenge.”
I hold my breath.
Silence stretches between us.
“Did you use her?” he asks directly.
No.
Yes.
But only at the beginning…
The truth rises in my throat and tastes like bile.
Of course, I don’t admit this out loud. God only knows what this dipshit would do with the information. But I see it on his face—he thinks I’m capable of it.
He thinks I’m a bag of crap.
Unworthy of a woman like Juliette.
And right now, he wouldn’t be wrong.
“I was pissed,” I say instead. “I walked in on my girlfriend screwing Juliette’s brother. You don’t respond rationally to that.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
When I glare at him again, he doesn’t flinch.
“Did you use her?” he repeats.
My jaw tightens.
“I didn’t plan to fall for her,” I say finally.
“Again. Not what I asked.”
This guy is like a dog with a bone.
He lifts his hands. “I’m not trying to crucify you. She’s really sweet and doesn’t deserve any of this. Her brother isn’t any better.” His throat clears. “I like her. I think she needs at least one person who’s honest with her.”
So she can cry on his shoulder and fall in love with him instead?
No thanks.
“Great. Now you’re comparing me to Kennedy, who has no issues going behind our backs for a quick hook-up?”
Storm looks at me, expression blank. “Are you gaslighting me? Because I don’t feel sorry for you if this has been a game to both of you.”
Who knew the bastard would have the balls to stand up to me?
I stare at the floor between my skates. “I’m not gaslighting you.”
I barely know what that means.
“Well, then you’re deflecting.” Storm shakes his head slowly. “I’m not your enemy here, Bishop. I think you are.”
Shit.
He’s right.
I am.
Have been, probably way longer than this moment.
“One toxic motherfucker.”
He nudges me with his knee. “Stop. I think you can fix this.”
I bark out a laugh. “Seriously, dude? How? This is a fucking disaster.”
“Appears that way,” he says, cool as a cucumber. “But you’re acting like it’s already over.”
I don’t answer.
He tilts his head. “Have you considered going to HR?”
I look up slowly. “What?”
“HR,” he echoes. “You march upstairs. Report the relationship. Make it official.”
“Are you out of your mind?”
“No,” he says rationally. “Think about it. If this was some revenge plot, you wouldn’t be voluntarily telling everyone in the entire company—you make it transparent.”
I drag a hand down my face.
“You’re asking me to light a match to her house.” Because let’s be clear—if HR decides there are consequences, it won’t be me they look at first.
It’ll be her.
Juliette is the one with a desk upstairs and a last name tied to the organization. She’s the one with a job to lose in a way I don’t. A job she loves and worked hard for.
I am an asset. No one is going to say shit.
“I’m asking you to stop acting like you’re hiding something.”
He’s right.
“You’re right. I am hiding something—but so is Declan Kennedy.”
I drag my eyes across the locker room to where the bastard is standing in front of his stall, pulling a practice jersey down over his pads, large frame looking deflated, despite his massive size.
Like something is weighing down on him.
“Two wrongs don’t make a right,” Storm chirps like an old lady.
I look at him sharply. “You sound like my mother.”
“So? Maybe you should listen to her.”
Goddamn, he’s annoying.
“You think this will fix it?” I ask quietly.
“I think it shows her you’re serious. And it’s a start.”