“You know what?” I jab my thumb against the remote to turn off the TV. “I give up.” Nothing else is working. Time to phone a friend.
Camden answers on the third ring. “Hey, Owen!” He sounds a little too chipper, given my trash mood. “What’s up?”
I sit forward on the edge of the couch cushions and massage the bridge of my nose. “I’m thinking about killing Newberry. Any chance you can talk me out of it?” It’s easier to make it about him than admit what’s actually going on.
I can hear Cam’s smirk through the phone. “Huh, that’s interesting. Is that really what you’ve been thinking about since lunch?”
No, Cam, I’ve been thinking about tongue-fucking the one woman in the world who’s absolutely off-limits.“Yeah.”
“Any idea why?”
I squeeze my eyes shut. “Yeah, I have an inkling.”
“And that would be because…?”
“He’s gonna fuck up this whole PR campaign!” I flop backward against the cushions. “And he’s annoying Remy. She already has to put up with Dante, and… and with me…” True, she doesn’t know about my worst transgressions, but I haven’t exactly been a dream client in other respects.
“Right, right. That’s a real bummer.” I can tell that he’s fishing for something.
“Cam.”
He takes pity on me. “Listen, Remy’s a big girl. It’s not your job to manage Adler, and I’m sure she doesn’t expect you to,either. If you want, I can say something to Viktor, so that it comes from me rather than you. Would that help?”
“I guess.” It won’t stop my perverted fantasies, but those, at least, I can control. Kinda. More than I can control Adler, anyway.
“Anything else you want to say about lunch?”
“Nope.” I pop the P.
“Okay. Well, I’m here if you ever want to talk. Aboutanything.”
“Thanks,” I say. Not that I’ll be taking him up on it, but it’s nice to know that the offer’s there. “See you tomorrow.”
“See you on the ice.”
I hang up, then slouch there, staring at the ceiling. If my mom knew that I was creeping on Remy, she’d be so disappointed. She raised me better than this. Or at least, I thought she did.
I’ve got to do whatever I can to win Dante’s trust back. The sooner Remy’s contract ends, the sooner I can stop obsessing over her. All I have to do is stay the course, and she’ll be out of my life forever, and things can return to normal. Even if I’m starting to realize I don’t actually want them to. The old status quo is a good thing.
Even if “normal” is pretty damn lonely most of the time. At least normal is simpler than whateverthisis.
Chapter Twelve
Remy
I tuck my keys into my pocket, make sure that I have both coffees securely loaded into the paper tray, and double-check that the laces of my sneakers are still tied.
“Okay.” I attempt to psych myself up with a pep talk. “You’re here, you’re prepared, you’re a professional, and you’re about to be caffeinated.” After yesterday’s events at the bar, I’m completely drained.
But I’m a professional, dammit. A little hazing isn’t going to slow me down, though I wish I hadn’t let myself drink the limoncello. When the WAGs started talking about my crush on Owen—which isnota real thing—it got under my skin. It’s easier to dismiss it outright than to examine why everyone else seems so convinced it exists. Yeah, Owen’s attractive in a general sense, but he’s not my type.At all.
Halfway across the lot, and deep in denial, I spot Owen moving toward the arena’s entrance. And in one heartbeat, the rest of the morning drops away.
“Hey, Owen!” I call.
He takes one look at me andbooks it.
Okay. So we’re doing this.
