“I don’t need anyone to rescue me, jackass. Move along,” I said, daring Josh to challenge me. I wasn’t kidding about these boots. I could drop him in the blink of an eye if I wanted to.
Josh held his hands up with a laugh and walked away. I turned to look at Axel. “I had it handled.”
“I know you did. I just wanted you to know I was there if you needed me,” he said, his wavy brown hair falling over his forehead in the sexiest way. Why did he have to be so damn good-looking?
“I can take care of myself.” I cleared my throat and tipped my chin up. “But thank you.”
His lips turned up in the corners. “Yep. Why didn’t you tell me you were coming here? We could have walked over together.”
“Well, first off, I didn’t know you were coming. Second, we don’t need to walk together. Plus, I talked to my brother on my walk here.” I blew out a breath at the memory of that call. “I’m going to go say hi to the girls. Have a good night.”
“You too,” he said before returning to his side of the table.
“Hey.” I took the open seat next to Emilia. “What’s the score?”
“It’s still zero-zero.” Lulu waved at Jazzy, who owned the bar. I stood up and hugged her when she walked over. I’d known her my whole life, and I was happy to see her. We made small talk for a few minutes, and then she left to get me a beer.
I wasn’t much of a drinker, but I enjoyed an occasional cold brew.
“Did you start the book last night?” Henley asked as the guys cheered loudly when Clark skated down the ice, maneuvering the puck toward the goal, but he was slammed into the glass before he could take his shot.
“I did. I’ve never read Hannah Chase, but I’m loving this book,” I said, smiling up at Jazzy when she set the beer down in front of me.
“Isn’t Blaze the hottest hero you’ve ever read?” Lulu asked. “I mean, he’s such a badass football player.”
“Yes. I’m loving it. And Monique is fierce and strong—my favorite kind of heroine,” I said, taking a sip of my beer and glancing up to see Axel’s eyes on me. I quickly turned away.
“Same,” they both said in unison.
The entire bar was on their feet shouting now, and I looked up just in time to see Clark make his way down the ice once again, and this time he scored.
The bar went crazy, which made me laugh. It felt good to laugh and have a good time.
It had been a while.
Life had been so serious the last few years. There was an intensity that came with competing at the elite level in eventing, and though I thrived most of the time, I also found it easy to get lost in everything.
I hadn’t been living for a while.
Throughout the game, the girls periodically dragged me onto the dance floor for some line dancing. I hadn’t had this much fun in a long time. I’d always loved line dancing, and I found my rhythm immediately.
After we’d all had a few beers and the Lions won the game, we said our goodbyes. Axel and I walked out at the same time.
I was a few strides ahead of him as we walked in silence, until I heard him chuckling from behind me.
I whipped around. “Something funny?”
“Yeah. Something’s funny, Wren.” He stepped up beside me, a cocky grin on his face.
“What’s so funny?” I grumped.
“Well, if you must know, you’ve got a piece of toilet paper stuck to your boot.”
I rolled my eyes before bending down and snatching the white paper from my boot and balling it up to throw in the trash can a few feet up the road. “It’s a napkin, not toilet paper.”
“Still funny,” he said, his words slurring the slightest bit. He’d clearly had more to drink than I had, and we started walking again.
“It’s not that funny.” I tried to appear unfazed, though I was fighting back laughter on the inside.
