“You cosying up to my nemesis. How could you? You know he was just doing it to fuck with me.”
Feinting to the left, I caught him off guard with a blow to his jaw, his head snapping to the side. He launched a string of insults at me, followed by two more jabs to my ribs. I wasn’t quick enough to get out of the way. “Not everything is about you. It was my idea! But only because—because?—”
“Because fucking what?”
“Because I didn’t want to be alone in the locker room with Volkov after—” I slammed my mouth shut, launching myself at him and not bothering to hold myself back this time. Fuck him for dragging this shit up. I just wanted to forget. We traded a flurry of blows, and then Dan did a move I’d never seen from him before, swooping around my back and getting me into a headlock.
“After what?” he growled in my ear.
“A-after he said Nova was special,” I panted. “Fuck.”
He released me immediately. “Timeout.” Stepping around to my front, he met my gaze, breathing hard. “Jayesh.”
Gasping for breath, I shook my head. “Don’t. Forget it.”
His hands came up to grip my shoulders. “I saw you chase Nova into the woods on her eighteenth birthday.”
My eyes closed. I couldn’t meet his gaze. Biting down on my lip, I clenched and unclenched my fists at my sides, desperately trying to get myself under control.
“Jay. Mate. It’s okay.”
“It’s not.”
“You can trust me. If you want to talk about it, I won’t tell anyone. Not even King, if you don’t want me to.”
Opening my eyes, I forced myself to meet his gaze. There was no more anger there, only concern.
“I-I can’t.”
He jerked his head towards the cage door. “How about we sit down over there and I talk, and you tell me if I’m wrong or right?”
18
JAY
We ended up sitting halfway up the tiered seating, our suit jackets draped over the cold concrete next to us. I tipped my head back, staring up at the ceiling with a lump in my throat as I waited for Dan to speak.
“Okay,” he began. “Here’s what I think. You’ve been, uh, a bit of an asshole to Nova for years now, and I couldn’t work out why because, y’know, she’s your best mate’s sister, and she’s…nice. Fucking hot too, honestly. Don’t tell King. Then I saw you chase her into the woods that day, and I dunno, the way you looked at each other afterwards made me wonder. I forgot about it for a while until this whole engagement shit was brought forward, and suddenly, you’re all fucking tense and getting mouthy with Volksy. Not a good idea, by the way.”
“I know that,” I muttered.
“Then I find out that you’ve become besties with bellend Bellingham?—”
“We did drills together for ten minutes, max.”
“Ten minutes too long. Whatever, that’s not the point.You just told me that the reason you voluntarily hung out withmy nemesiswas because you didn’t want to be alone with your teammate after he’d said Nova was special. The teammate who happens to be getting married to Nova.”
“Your nemesis.”
“Bellingham isn’t important.”
My gaze snapped to his, and despite the ache in my chest, a smirk tugged at my lips. “Never thought I’d hear those words come out of your mouth.”
Raising his middle finger, he glared at me. “We’re not changing the subject. Let me finish. Like I was saying, you were doing drills with your best mate’s nemesis. And I’m thinking, why would Jay do that, when he knows it would devastate his best friend in the entire world?—”
“Dramatic dickhead.” I punched him in the bicep.
“That hurt!” He rubbed at his arm. “You hit me there earlier too.”
