Oh my God. It was really him.
I stared for a long moment, my mouth hanging open. It wasn’t until Jason turned a confused gaze in my direction that I realized how stupid I must look.
I swallowed, hoping my voice wouldn’t fail me.
“Hey, Liam,” I squeaked out. “Long time no see.”
CHAPTER 2
Idon’t know how long I stood there, gaping at her, certain I must be imagining things. Surely, I hadn’t had that many beers yet. Jay and I hadn’t seen each other in a good six months or so before we both ended up on the new team here in Austin, so our few hours in this bar had consisted of a lot more catching up than drinking.
“Uh,” Jason said, looking between the two of us. “Do you guys know each other?”
It was only then that I realized Gracie Knight, who I hadn’t seen in more than a decade, was sitting on my best friend’slap.
A flash of annoyance hit me, right in the gut, the sensation so strong I had to grit my teeth. “Yeah,” I told Jason, unable to keep the snarl from my voice. “Grace and I go way back.” At his confused expression, I nod at her. “That’s the team owner’s sister you have there on your knee, buddy.”
Jason’s face immediately fell, his eyes widening in what looked like horror. “Shit. For real?”
“For real.”
I wasn’t sure why, exactly, that I had this raging irritation in my chest. I hadn’t seen Grace in years. I certainly had no claim to her—I never had, not really. But something about seeing hersitting so close to Jay, touching him, made me want to punch things.
Grace seemed to shake herself a little, tearing her gaze away from me as she stood. “Sorry,” she stammered to Jay, her face even redder than her hair. “I didn’t realize you were a hockey player.”
“No worries,” he said, even though he still looked freaked out. I didn’t blame him. Everything about our team’s position right now felt precarious. I wouldn’t want to piss off the brand-new owner before camp had even started either.
Of course, the argument could be made that I had been pissing off the owner since long before I’d even been drafted.
“What’s up?” a perky female voice asked, and I forced my attention from Grace to see that two women had joined us, one tall and blonde, the other shorter with a mass of dark curly hair tumbling around her shoulders. They wore nearly identical expressions as they looked between me and Gracie—equal parts curious and protective.
“Oh,” Grace said, seeming surprised by their presence. She shook her head a few times, her fingertips coming up to brush along her delicate collarbones and I was struck with a memory so strong it almost took my breath away. Leaning towards Grace over the kitchen table at my parents’ house back in the day, her eyes widening the closer I got, her fingers worrying over her collarbone the way they always did when she was nervous. To my teenage brain, it was the hottest thing ever, the brush of her fingertips over her smooth skin, and I tried to get her to do it as often as possible.
I shook my head, needing to get my shit together.
“It turns out these guys are on Andrew’s team,” Grace explained to her friends, still fidgeting. Uncomfortable.
The brunette’s eyes widened in surprise but the blonde girl just looked gleeful. “I guess I picked right,” she said eying both Jason and I like we were nice juicy steaks.
“And it just so happens,” Grace continued, sounding strained, “that Liam and I went to school together.” Her wide green eyes met mine for just a second before they skittered away again.
“What?” the blonde yelped. “You didn’t tell us you went to school with one of your brother’s players!”
Grace’s gaze kept jumping around the bar, like she was desperate to look anywhere but at me. Taking pity on her, I cleared my throat. “Yeah, I was in Grace and Andrew’s grade,” I explained. “I couldn’t believe it when I got picked up by his new team.”
“Andy and Liam go way back,” Grace said, still not looking at me. I did my best not to roll my eyes at that. Andy and I did have history, and none of it was good. I had been absolutely shocked when my agent called to drop the news that it was Andrew Knight’s new team that had traded for me.
Somehow, I had never expected to see her here in Austin. In hindsight that seemed really stupid of me. Andrew and Grace had always been joined at the hip. It made perfect sense that she would settle in the city where her twin brother had set up his business empire.
And here she was. Gracie Knight, all grown up.Shit.
“How interesting,” the blonde girl was saying, that predatory look back in her eyes. “We should all have a drink together, so you guys can catch up.”
Yes, a little voice in my head urged. The idea of catching up with Gracie was incredibly tempting. Of course, I would much rather do it in private, but I’d take what I could get.
But Grace put a damper on that idea real quick. “Actually, I need to get going,” she said. “I think I had too much already tonight.”
Jay chuckled. “These girls have been playing an adult version of Truth or Dare,” he told me, and the realization that he knew something about her that I didn’t had that same annoyance burning in my chest.
