Page 38 of Breakaway

The game had sucked. He’d played like crap, couldn’t get anything going and only their goaltender had saved them from getting their asses really kicked.

The face of one person kept floating into his head—Remi. He wanted to see her. He wanted to tell her he could play better than that. He wanted to know what she’d thought of the game. So here he was, like an idiot, standing on her doorstep afraid to ring the bell.

He pushed the doorbell.

He shoved his hands into the pockets of his long coat, still dressed in suit and tie. He hadn’t gone home; after the coach had reamed their asses for how they’d played, he’d gotten in his Jeep and driven straight here.

The deadbolt clicked and the door slowly opened.

He smiled at Remi standing there, but her eyes went immediately to his left temple. Oh yeah. He lifted a hand to touch the butterfly tape.

“Hi,” he said.

“You’re not Ethan.”

“Uh…no. No, I’m not.” Ethan? Who the hell was Ethan? “Did I come at a bad time?”

“Ethan…” A young girl with puffy red eyes and a pink nose appeared in the French doors to the living room. “Oh.” Her face fell.

Jase looked from Remi to the young girl behind her, looking so much like Remi, but obviously distressed about something. “Hi,” he said. “You must be Jasmine.”

She frowned. “Yes. Who are you?”

He grinned and stepped forward into the foyer, hand outstretched. “Jase Heller. Nice to meet you.”

She shook his hand, sending a confused glance toward her sister.

“Sorry, Jasmine, it’s not Ethan,” Remi said softly. She closed the door.

“I see that.” Jasmine’s eyes filled with tears and Jase looked at Remi. She gave him a strained smile.

“Come in,” Remi invited, leading the way into the living room. She picked up the remote and turned off the television.

“I was watching that,” Jasmine protested.

“No, you weren’t,” Remi said. “You were crying about Ethan. Maybe you could uh…go to bed?”

Jasmine looked back and forth between the two of them. “Oh. Sure.” She disappeared down the hall.

“She’s still here?”

“Yes.” Remi blew out a breath. “But it sounds like she’s moving back in with Ethan.” She shook her head.

Should he even take his coat off? “I guess I did come at a bad time.”

“Oh, no! It’s fine. I just got home, actually. Delise and I went out for dinner after the game.”

“How did you enjoy it?”

She stared at him wordlessly.

“Well?”

“It was awful!” she burst out.

“Yeah, we played like crap.”

“No, I mean…my god, Jase, that is a brutal sport! Look at you!” She bit her lip and eyed his forehead again.

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