“I know I’ve made a mess of everything, but… you’re not alone. You still have me.”
The hope that flickered in my chest was almost painful.
I wanted to believe him so freaking badly it was like a physical ache, spreading through my ribs and settling somewhere near my heart, but I’d been burned before. By him.
I shook my head slowly.
“That might have been true.” My voice came out quiet. “If we hadn’t gotten drunk and slept together.” I swallowed hard.
His face crumpled. “Harlow…”
“I have to go.”
I turned and walked to my car, gripping my keys so hard they bit into my palm. The lock clicked open, and the door groaned on its hinges.
“Harlow, wait.”
I ignored him and slid into the driver’s seat, started the engine, and pulled out of the parking lot without looking back. In my rearview mirror, I could see him standing there, watching me drive away to the house that would be dark, empty, and silent when I got home.
The complete opposite of what it had been my entire life, and it sucked.
CHAPTER 15
OWEN
The rink was supposedto be empty at 5:47 AM.
That was the whole point of dragging myself out of bed before the sun rose and stumbling through my apartment in the dark. There were no coaches, teammates, or other skaters to navigate around. Just silence and open ice giving me enough space to skate until my lungs burned and my legs screamed. Until there was nothing left in my head except the sound of my heavy breathing.
But this morning, I wasn’t alone.
Harlow.
I should have announced myself, but I didn’t. I sank into one of the cold plastic seats in the upper rows and watched.
She was practicing something, a routine, or maybe she was killing time the way I did when my brain got too loud. Her movements were graceful in a way that mine would never be, all soft edges and flowing lines, the opposite of the sharp, aggressive style of hockey. Where I attacked the ice, she danced with it.
From this distance, I could barely make out her features, but I didn’t need to see them clearly. I had them memorized. The sensual curve of her lips and the delicate slope of her nose.The stubborn set of her jaw and those blue eyes that could cut through steel when she was angry, which, lately, was every time she looked at me.
She executed a perfect spin, arms tucked tight against her before extending outward as she slowed, and something twisted painfully between my lungs.
God, she was beautiful.
She was wearing black leggings that hugged every curve of her petite frame and an oversized sweatshirt. Her hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail, shorter strands escaping to frame her face, and even from here, I could see the concentration furrowing her brow.
If it wasn’t for Jax and the entire dynamic of our friend group, I wouldn’t even hesitate to be with Harlow. She was incredible, but I couldn’t.
I leaned back in my seat, the plastic creaking slightly under my weight, as I watched her.
Outside, the world was probably starting to wake up, but in here, time stopped.
In here, it was just her and me, and the growing realization that I had absolutely no right to be doing what I was doing.
Harlow glided backward. She looked tired. The kind of tired that came from sleepless nights and too many thoughts and a house full of empty rooms.
Everyone left me.
Her words from the parking lot echoed through my skull. The raw pain in her voice when she’d said it, the way her eyes had gone glassy before she’d forced herself to look away.
