“Stefan?” I say my brother-in-law’s name as if I’ve never heard it before when in fact I miss him dearly. He might be ten years younger than me, but we always had so much fun together through the years. Though I’ve thought about calling him too many times to count, I haven’t spoken to him since right after I went to London. “He was here? How is he?”
Callum ignores my question. “Xander out there was surprised because I never have people over. Hell, I pretty much only leave my apartment for practice, game days, and going down to the lobby to pick up delivery.”
Relief works its way through me, but just as quickly as it comes, that same sense of dread rears its ugly head. He didn’t answer my unspoken question.
“There are no other girls. There never have been and never will be.” He leans down, his lips dangerously close to my ear as he whispers, “Only you, Clover. Only ever you.”
Then he’s back on his side of the elevator just as it comes to a stop. Though the whole interaction feels like it takes hours, it’s less than a minute, but its impact is going to last far, far beyond that.
“Are you coming?”
I look up to find him standing in the hallway, holding the door open with his arm, just a hint of apprehension in his gaze. He thinks I’m bailing on him, and truthfully, a part of me wants to.
I’m tired. These last few days have been a lot, and I could use a break from it all. I don’t have many nights left in my overly fancy hotel before I have to move to a less expensive—and far less nice—one. Another soak in that big tub is calling my name.
But my heart? It says to stay. It says to fight. To see if, just maybe, we can come back from three years apart.
So, I nod, push off the wall, and exit the car. “Yeah. I’m coming.”
Then I follow him into his apartment.
CHAPTER 10
KELLER
Having Chloe in my apartment is much easier this time than it was the first.
“How do you ever convince yourself to leave this place with a view like this?” she asks, standing back in front of the large floor-to-ceiling windows.
I watch her from the kitchen, where I’ve busied myself with grabbing us drinks—a Diet Coke for her and a cider for me. I try hard to save drinking for special occasions during the season, but after the day I’ve had, I need this. I ordered dinner as soon as we got back, and I expect it’ll arrive any minute now.
“I told you, I’m practically a hermit. Leaving is a rare occurrence,” I tell her as I step up beside her, handing over her drink.
“Guess that hasn’t really changed over the years, then,” she remarks, and I know she’s referring to how I used to always decline invitations from teammates to hang. It wasn’t that I didn’t like them. I just liked being with her more. “Thanks.”
She shakes the can at me, then takes a sip of her drink, her eyes closing just briefly, same as they always do during that first sip. I grin into my bottle of Stick Taps cider.
“You know, I think some of the worst parts of traveling so much are taking the gamble on whether a place will have Diet Coke or not. They kept trying to peddle Coke Zero, but they don’t understand that it has a completely different taste.”
“What a travesty,” I say dryly.
She shoots me a dirty look, and I smile again. While today has been far from perfect and we’ve avoided a lot of things we need to say to each other, it doesn’t feel nearly as heavy as it did on New Year’s Day. It has me hopeful that, just maybe, things could be okay between us again, and that I could live with whatever version of a relationship that might be.
“Where’s that adorable cat of yours? It was Percy, right?”
I’m surprised she remembers, though I’m not sure why. She’s always been good with names. She didn’t go to very many events with me over the years, but whenever she did, she’d squeeze my arm and push up on her tiptoes to whisper the names of a coach, GM, or whatever obscure alumnus was in attendance. It was my favorite part of those damn stuffy parties.
“Yes, Percy. And he’s around here somewhere, I’m sure.”
I don’t mention it’s likely the spare bedroom, mostly because the chances of her questioning that are high, and I’m not sure I’m ready to dig into that just yet.
Almost like he knows we’re talking about him, Percy trots up between us, rubbing himself along Chloe’s black tights that have been the focus of my attention far too many times today. I wasn’t lying to her earlier when I said I was running late because of the cat. The three-legged monster was being particularly difficult when I was trying to feed him his allergy meds.
But it wasn’t just that. I was nervous, more than I have been since I made my NHL debut. So much so that it took me four tries to figure out what the fuck to wear. That wouldn’t be so embarrassing if my outfit were actually something to turn your head at, but it’s not.
It’s clear Chloe put more thought into her outfit, with her ivory sweater that looks so damn soft, a black skirt that barely kisses mid-thigh, and those damn black tights. It’s a new look for her, minus the boots strapped to her feet. Those look familiar, which isn’t surprising since they used to sit in every entryway we’ve ever had. Something about her still wearing the old, thrifted shoes makes me smile, like maybe things haven’t changed as much as I think they have.
“Why, hello there, little man,” she says, bending over to scoop the cat off the floor.
