“But have you told him about the cop? What are we going to do?” she asked.
We. The way she just included herself on my side warmed my heart.
I covered her hand with mine and squeezed it.
“I haven’t told him. I don’t want to. I’d hate to tell him, actually.”
“Okay, but you know you have to, right? This guy is threatening you. Don’t be the girl who doesn’t ask for help, and tries to do it all alone, and pushes everyone away?—”
“Are you talking about yourself?”
She nodded. “Yes, don’t be me. Communicate.”
“I don’t want to make my problems his problems. That’s not fair.”
“Yeah, and what happened last year was fair? Life isn’t fair, and you need to give him a chance to help,” Winter said matter-of-factly. “Do you like it when people you care about cut you out of their problems?”
I watched Brody going head-to-head against Beckett, slipping the puck past him and spinning out of his defensive moves.
I sighed. “Why do you have to be right all the time?”
She shrugged. “It’s a gift and a curse.” She shot me a small smile and squeezed my hand back.
Brody
Thanksto an extra early morning training session, I hadn’t had a chance to run or work out at home. I’d been on the HHU campus since five-thirty a.m., and normally, I wouldn’t care. But today, I was distracted.
The reason for my distraction had just walked into the dining hall. Selena had been home late last night, out with Winter. Then I’d had a call with my father about some investment he was looking at making into the world of hockey sponsorship. It was an important call, as Cal’s future, the one he wanted, was in the NHL. I’d make sure to do what I could to help him get there.
When I’d finished, Selena’s light was off. She’d fallen asleep, and I didn’t want to wake her. She needed to rest and recover from the other night. Instead, I took the chance to leave a long message with my PI about Selena’s case, and specifically, the guys currently incarcerated because of it. I’d never have imagined that a small, sleepy town like Hade Harbor would hold such dark secrets, but it just went to show that evil lurked everywhere.
I’d just sat at an open table when Selena walked in. She was with her friend, Aisha, and they were talking a mile a minute. They couldn’t have looked more different. Aisha with her black square glasses and neat braid, jeans, and sweater, while Selena looked like she’d wandered off the set of a ’90s grunge music video.
She was hot as hell and she had no idea.
“Um, are you Brody Sinclair?” someone asked from beside me.
Fucking hell.Eating on campus was exhausting sometimes.
“No, I get mistaken for him all the time, though,” I said to the girls hovering beside my table.
They were quiet for a second. “Are you kidding?”
Selena and Aisha had moved through the line and were looking for a table.
Selena’s eyes met mine, and she jerked. She scanned over me and the girls standing beside me. Her lips pursed together in a disapproving little pucker.
I watched her walk over to a free table with her friend with satisfaction. She was jealous. It turned me on. I liked it. It was fucking weird. I’d never found that emotion a turn-on before. Why would it be? It should be annoying, irritating. But now, it was evidence that my little heathen was more affected by me than she liked to show.
Likewise, sweetheart.
“Sorry, ladies, I was only joking. I am the man you’re looking for, but alas, I already have lunch plans,” I announced, standing and grabbing my tray.
“Alas?” one of the girls repeated in confusion.
I strode across the cafeteria to Selena’s table, sliding into the seat beside her.
Her friend watched me with saucer-like dark eyes.
