I can’t help but smile a little, but before I can answer, the bathroom door opens and the exotic beauty, who now has mascara slipping down her cheeks, is standing between us. “Do yourself a favor and don’t fall into his trap.”
Her dark eyes bore into me and I’m startled, to say the least. Jessie isn’t as stunned and she says cautiously, “Ainsley…don’t.”
Ainsley glances at her with hard eyes. “What? You’d rather this girl get blindsided than know the truth?”
“What truth?” Jessie counters.
“You know why I called you Dawn? I wasn’t trying to be a bitch, which I’m sure is what everyone assumes,” Ainsley confesses. “It’s because he was dating a girl named Dawn recently and he acted like it was incredibly serious. And a few weeks before Dawn showed up, he had Andie on his arm and acted like she was the one.”
As I absorb this news I suddenly feel off-kilter. Like I’ve been lied to or I’m the butt of a joke. Jessie steps closer, her arms folded angrily over her chest, and her eyes are sharp with the same emotion. “Ainsley, if you weren’t such a bitch, maybe you’d still have a relationship of your own. And FYI, trying to fuck up Sebastian’s isn’t going to win you any favors with Chooch or anyone else.”
Jessie’s vicious words don’t seem to bother Ainsley. She lets a hard laugh escape her lips. “You think I was always a bitch? You don’t think I became this way because of this life?” She turns her focus back to me and continues to enlighten me. “Sebastian used to be a manwhore like the rest of them. Just like her precious Jordan. Before Jessie, Jordan fucked half of Seattle. Seb fucked the other half. Now he’s serial dating his way through whatever is left.”
Jessie rolls her eyes, but doesn’t contest the part about her fiancé. Wow. If that’s true, how is she okay with that? How does she trust that Jordan isn’t still increasing his numbers behind her back? And oh my God, is Seb really doing that? Am I just another number in his experiment with monogamy?
Ainsley pauses and something flickers behind her dark eyes as she wipes at the mascara streaks on her cheeks. “Maybe that’s the key…”
“Excuse me?” I can’t help but ask.
Her eyes land on me again but they’re bright with discovery. “Chooch and I have been together since we were fifteen. I’ve given up everything to be with him while he pursues his hockey career. And I’ve never been with anyone else, and he says he hasn’t either. Maybe that’s actually true…”
Jessie snorts in disbelief. “Maybe? Itistrue. Chooch was faithful to you, and you were a jealous bitch anyway.”
Ainsley turns to Jessie. “Maybe he needs to have a few flings and then he’ll come back to me. Like Jordan did with you.”
“That’s not what happened between Jordan and me,” Jessie fires back.
“Or maybe he’ll learn he doesn’t have to settle down. What happens on the road stays on the road,” I mutter, thinking of something I once heard one of my father’s teammates snidely say as my father chuckled and winked in response. “Maybe he’ll take you back, but he won’t be faithful. Do you want to live like that?”
Jessie looks at me with concern. “They’re not all like that.”
I don’t respond, but I know the look on my face says I don’t believe it…because I don’t think I do. Ainsley is clearly done with this fucked-up girl talk. She turns and walks back into the kitchen without a word to either of us.
Jessie and I watch her go, then look at each other. Jessie takes a deep breath and exhales slowly. “That isn’t what happened between Jordan and me,” she starts calmly. “He didn’t dump me when we were kids so he could sow his wild oats.”
I don’t say anything, but I lift my eyebrows as if to sayoh, really?Jessie smiles but it’s sad and her eyes take on a forlorn look. “I was the one who walked away from him. Because I was young and scared and I didn’t trust him. And my sister, Callie, had put it in my head that if I moved with Jordan instead of going to school in Arizona, I would be just like all those girls we hate.”
I blink. Her smile grows sheepish and she adds, “Silver Bay is full of girls who want to ride potential NHLers right out of town. And I may have been young, but I watched my mom get screwed over by a hockey player and I let all that fear and anger cloud my reality. I left him the first chance I got, before I ever even gave us a chance, over something he didn’t even do.”
I am speechless. And confused. I don’t know what to think. I mean…yeah, her story is easing the anger and panic Ainsley’s words about Seb’s past had started, but should they? She and Jordan aren’t Sebastian and me. Just because they have a happy ending doesn’t mean…
“I cost us a ton of time together and I try not to dwell on that because it would kill me if I did, but I never forget it either.” She leans forward and hugs me. It’s unexpected, and I bristle. Even though I know she’s just being nice—and honest—I’m feeling more and more dread and panic grow inside me.
What the hell am I doing? I know better than this. I never wanted to be part of this world. I worked my whole life to avoid this world. I suddenly want to be anywhere but here. I pull out of Jessie’s embrace and turn away. “I want to go. Thank you for the invite and the talk, but I just…I need to go. I need to think.”
“I’ll go get Seb.”
“No. I’ll cab it. It’s fine. Tell him I’ll call him later.”
“Shayne.”
“Bye,” I mumble as I open their front door.
I’m not even halfway down Jessie and Jordan’s winding driveway when I hear his heavy footsteps behind me. His arm wraps around my bicep, warm and oddly comforting, and he turns me toward him. He steps right into me, so our hips are grazing and our chests are against each other. This man really has no sense of personal space, and as usual it’s making me dizzy and hot.
“I’m not mad,” I blurt out. “I just don’t want to be here to help that asshole with his silly superstition and I need to think. I need to clear my head.”
“Of what?”
