I couldn’t hear Jax’s response, but I watched Owen’s face as he listened. The way his expression shifted into something casual and easy, the mask sliding into place with practiced precision. He wandered toward the kitchen, phone pressed to his ear, and I let my head fall back against the armrest.
Us.
He saidus.
I pressed my hand to my chest, feeling the rapid flutter of my heartbeat beneath my palm. My lips were still swollen, and my body humming with the aftershocks of what he did to me. And somewhere beneath the giddy disbelief, a quieter emotion rooted in, something that felt dangerously close to hope.
Owen’s voice drifted back to me. “Nothing much just...” He paused. “Working out.”
I bit my lip to keep from laughing. Technically true. I would definitely call that a workout.
He glanced over at me, and our eyes met across the room. Something passed between us. A shared secret, and the corner of his mouth quirked up.
I mouthed,liar.
He winked and turned away.
And for the first time in years, the ache in my chest didn’t feel like longing.
It felt like the beginning of something.
CHAPTER 25
OWEN
The puck sailedpast my stick for the third time in ten minutes.
“Taylor. What the hell are you doing out there?” Coach Cooper’s voice boomed, bouncing off the empty stands and drilling straight into my skull. I winced, skating back into position, trying to shake off the fog clouding my brain.
It wasn’t working becauseshewas here.
My eyes betrayed me again, drifting up toward the stands like they had a mind of their own. Harlow was tucked into a seat about halfway up, her feet propped on the chair in front of her, wearing my gray team hoodie.
The possessive satisfaction of seeing her in my clothes was probably unhealthy, but I didn’t care.
A book was open in her lap, but she wasn’t reading it. Her chin was propped on her hand, and even from fifty feet away, I could see the smile tugging at the corner of her lips.
She was watching me, and my body knew it.
Heat coiled low in my stomach, completely inappropriate for an afternoon practice, and completely impossible to control. My mind flashed back to this morning, her beneath me on thecouch, the sounds she made when I touched her, the way she trembled and arched into me and…
Something slammed into me with the force of a freight train.
The ice rushed up to meet my face. My helmet cracked against the surface, stars exploding behind my eyes as I sprawled across the rink. The world tilted sideways, the rink lights blurring into streaks.
“Jesus Christ, Taylor.” Coach was closer now, loud enough to make my throbbing head pound harder. “Get your freaking head out of your ass and into the game.”
I lay there for a second, staring at the ceiling. This was fine. Everything was fine. I was absolutely demolished because I couldn’t stop thinking about…
“Dude.” A hand appeared in my field of vision, and Bennett’s face followed, his expression somewhere between concerned and amused. “You okay?”
I grabbed his hand and let him haul me to my feet. The rink spun for a moment before settling. “Yeah. Fine.”
“You sure? Because that was brutal.” He steadied me with a hand on my shoulder. “What the fuck is going on with you? You’re skating like you’ve never seen ice before.”
I opened my mouth to answer, but my traitorous eyes drifted up to the stands, finding her.
Harlow was sitting up straighter now, concern creasing her forehead. But when our eyes met, that concern melted into something else. A smile tugged at her lips, and she raised one eyebrow in a gesture that clearly said smooth move.
