Page 44 of Breakaway

“Nice picture of you two. Isn’t she the one you were with at Rouge that night? Didn’t take you long to find someone else. I guess itwasme, huh?” She reminded him of his lame line when he’d broken up with her, telling her it wasn’t her, it was him.

There must be a picture of him and Remi taken last night. “Brianne.” He closed his eyes. He so did not want to have this conversation. “I told you the truth. I met her after we broke up and it’s…it’s nothing serious. We’re just going out, having fun.”

“Right. You bastard.” And she hung up on him.

Shit. He tipped his head back and gazed up at the ceiling of his apartment.

Then he called Remi. “Hi, Remi.”

“Now what?”

He frowned at the exasperated greeting.

“I gather you saw the paper today?”

“Oh, hell yeah.”

Her tone told him that nothing about that made her happy.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” she replied and he heard a sigh. “You are who you are.”

“Is it at least a good picture?” He smiled hopefully.

“Actually it is. But I’m not used to having my picture all over the newspaper. Thank god they don’t know my name.”

“That won’t take them long.”

He heard her groan. “I think I heard from everyone I know in Chicago about the picture. And some people not even in Chicago.”

“Ah. I’m sorry if it put you in a bad spot. But it’s really no big deal.”

“Again, not to you.”

“I gotta go,” he said regretfully. “I have to finish packing and get to the airport. I’ll talk to you next week, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Oh Remi, he’s so hot!” Emily said, looking at the newspaper photo.

“He is,” Sarah said, looking over Emily’s shoulder. “Very hot. Very…big.”

“And don’t tell me he’s just being nice to you because of the reading program,” Delise said in a dry tone. “With that look on his face, he’s not just being nice to you.”

Emily was intrigued by the paparazzi story. “Like, how many paparazzi were there?”

“I don’t know how many there were. It felt like a hundred.”

“Really. Wow. He’s that famous?”

Remi shrugged. “Apparently.” None of them being big hockey fans meant they were clueless.

“I still say pro athletes are trouble,” Delise put in.

“She’s just jealous.” Sarah shot Delise a mischievous look.

“No, I’m not!” Delise paused with a piece of pizza half-way to her mouth. “Okay, maybe a little. I totally get the appeal after going to that game. Those guys are insanely fit and the testosterone level in that building was sky high. Also, Jase is cute. But I still don’t think pro athletes are really upstanding guys.”

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