Page 76 of Breakaway

“Jase.”

“Mmm?”

She looked a little flustered, like she wanted to say something, but was afraid. “Are you and Remi…serious?”

“Did you like her, Mom?”

The two of them paused on the sidewalk while Matt and Dad loaded suitcases into the vehicle.

“Well, I just met her, but she seems very sweet. You looked so happy with her.”

He nodded, throat constricted. “Yeah.”

“She’s um…different…than other girls you’ve gone out with.”

He hesitated. He knew what she meant, but wasn’t sure how to express it. “I know. She’s…real.”

Mom smiled. “Yes. She is.”

He nodded, glad he’d somehow made his mom happy, even more glad that Remi was in his life, but he felt like a big dumb jock because he didn’t have the words to express all that.

After seeing them off at O’Hare, he drove to the Metro Center where their practice had been moved to the afternoon for a change. The physical workout felt good. Much as they all wanted to take it easy to celebrate their win the night before, they also knew they had a lot of work to do. The playoffs were a whole new season. Mentally they had to get into a different place. Physically they needed to be at their peak.

He debated going straight to Remi’s place after the practice, but glanced at his watch. It was early. She had things to do too. He’d go home, call her, they’d figure out what they were going to do tonight. They could have a nice celebration dinner, just the two of them, somewhere quiet and casual, then go back to her place and…

Well. Yeah.

In his apartment, he sat down in front of his computer. His Twitter feed was full of congratulations at the win. He went through emails, some things from his agent to look at, some stuff from his financial guy about his investments. He was glad he’d been smart with his money. His parents had drilled that into him over the years. His career could end tomorrow with a bad check or a puck in the face, so he had to be prepared for anything.

The security buzzer announced someone at the front door. He frowned, spun around on the chair, then went to the securitysystem. Had Remi decided to come over instead of waiting for him to call?

But the security camera showed Brianne standing there. Huh? What the hell was she doing there? He paused, his finger on the button to let her in. She buzzed again.

With a sigh, he picked up the phone. “Brianne? What are you doing here?”

She looked into the camera. “I need to talk to you, Jase.” She hugged a big purse to her like it was a security blanket or something. His frown deepened.

“What about?”

She glanced around, then looked pleadingly back at the camera. “Just let me in, Jase. We have to talk.”

Hell. He buzzed her in, shoved a hand through his hair and paced while he waited for her to come up in the elevator. What the fuck was this about? If she was going to beg him to get back together, she’d picked the wrong time, with him just figuring out he wanted to spend his life with Remi. His gut still clenched, though, at the thought of having to tell Brianne that.

Maybe it was something else. Maybe she’d just realized she was over him and came to tell him that.

Maybe the Toronto Maple Leafs would win the Stanley Cup this year. Haha.Yeah right.

He moved to the door at her light knock, and opened it.

She walked in.

She actually didn’t look too good. Which was weird, considering that she didn’t like leaving her home without hair, makeup and clothes all perfect because you never knew when paparazzi could be waiting to take pictures of them and that was how she earned her living, after all.

Her hair was in a ponytail, she had no makeup on under the big dark glasses she wore and she was dressed in pair of stretchy black pants and a long sleeved grey T-shirt.

“Hey,” he said. “What’s up?”

She turned to him, biting her top lip in a way that was veryunattractive. If she knew how she looked doing that, she’d never do it. Something was clearly wrong.

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