Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 124005 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 620(@200wpm)___ 496(@250wpm)___ 413(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124005 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 620(@200wpm)___ 496(@250wpm)___ 413(@300wpm)
These days, I’m a badass. Here in Toronto, I’m appreciated by the team because I don’t tolerate crap. Here I’m the person who gets shit done. But back in Huntsville, population 19,000, I’m the nerd whose best friend went to prom with the guy I liked. And now she’s marrying him.
Shilpa taps her coffee mug with her nails. They’re painted team colors. “This is your ten-year, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
“So they’ve been together for an entire decade, and he just put a ring on her finger now?” Shilps asks.
“Who just put a ring on whose finger?” Ashish appears, making a beeline for Shilpa. He bends to kiss her cheek. “I missed you, my love.”
He’s followed by Dallas and Hollis.
“What’s this about a ring?” Dallas elbows Hollis. “Did you propose to Hammer?”
“Hollis has not asked me to marry him,” Hammer clarifies immediately. “My dad needs more than a couple of months to adjust to this, and I’m twenty-one, so we don’t need to jump on the married bandwagon anytime soon.”
Hollis narrows his eyes. “Thirty-five is coming for me.”
Hammer arches a brow. “Whatever, old man. That’s a couple years away.”
“Oh, I love that this is happening right now.” Shilpa’s eyes light up.
“We could have a long engagement,” Hollis suggests.
“I think we need to let Rix and Tristan have first crack at the engagement game.” Hammer gives Hollis a meaningful look.
“It’s only a matter of time,” Dallas agrees. “So who’s engaged?”
“Just some people from high school,” I mutter. “It’s not important.”
Shilpa arches a brow.
“It’s still weird that you two went to school together.” Ashish motions between me and Dallas.
“I call it fate.” Dallas leans against the doorjamb.
“Are you going to the reunion this summer?” Shilpa asks.
I fire daggers at her with my eyeballs. She deflects them with her impenetrable lawyer shield.
“Yeah. Why not, right? It’ll be fun to see everyone.”
“That’s because you were Mr. Popular and everyone loved you,” I scoff.
“Not everyone.” He pulls his phone from his pocket. “Is this for real? Brooklyn and Dr. Sean Sheep’s Ass are engaged?”
I bite back a smile. Sean’s last name is Ramsbottom. “It’s for real.”
“I can’t stand those two.” Dallas shakes his head. “They were a couple of douchebag attention whores back in the day, and nothing has changed. Good luck to her with that unfortunate last name,” he adds.
Ashish looks between us. “So you’re both going to this reunion?”
Hollis has taken one of the seats at the small conference table.
“Yeah,” Dallas and I say in unison.
“Together?” Ash asks.
Why does he have to be so oblivious?
“No,” I say quickly. “I am bringing a date.”
Dallas snaps his fingers. “That guy you went out with the other day? After the shelter promo?”
Hammer snorts a laugh and tries to cover it with a cough.
“No. Not that guy. But I’ll have a date. I am bringing someone to the reunion.” If I say it enough times, I will manifest a date into existence.
“We could go together,” Dallas says—like it’s the best idea he’s ever had, like he hasn’t totally fucked me over in the past. Need I mention Canada Day post grade eight graduation? He and his friend used my bike to do tricks then flipped it into the lake behind his parents’ house. I had to save up for a year to buy a new one. It was preferable to my brothers going after Dallas and his friends, which would have only made my life harder.
At my lack of response, Dallas adds, “We can even drive up together.”
I would rather eat sand than deal with Dallas and his buddies all weekend.
“That’s a two-and-a-half-hour drive, isn’t it? Hemi will murder you before you get there.” Hollis’s gaze jumps between us. “And while my girlfriend is great at her job, we still need Hemi in the office and not behind bars.”
“Hollis is right. I can’t go to prison. Orange is not my color.” I smooth my hands over my blue dress pants.
And Dallas is not to be trusted. I learned that the hard way, and I’ve never forgotten.
CHAPTER 5
DALLAS
“You and Hemi grew up in the Muskokas, right?” Tristan Stiles, who plays right wing for the Terror, asks. He’s dating Rix Madden, his best friend Flip Madden’s younger sister. Flip is also our teammate.
We’re at the Watering Hole, our favorite local pub. The owners love us, and the people who frequent the place mostly treat us like we’re just regular folk. It’s a lot easier in the offseason, although having won the finals this year makes us more popular than usual.
“We’re on Lake Vernon. It’s in a small town a couple hours north of here. Although it’s become a popular retirement location, so it’s growing.” People will buy a piece of property on the lake and spend their spring, summer, and fall in the quiet there, then defect to warmer climates during the coldest months.