Page 13 of Top Shelf

“You have fans everywhere, Buck, I swear,” I laugh. “He’s donating all the way from the West Coast? That’s dedication.”

He smiles and shrugs.

“Hey, who am I to turn it away?” he laughs. “Actually, he is in town—in D.C. for some convention. He was gonna try to meet up with us tonight,” he says, checking the time on his phone. “We will see if he shows. I gotta run shortly. Your nieces have us up at all hours of the night.”

I knit my eyebrows together.

“Not my angels,” I tell him. “I don’t believe a word of it.”

But when I expect him to smile, he frowns. His eyebrows knit together, then jump as he stares in the direction of the door.

“Oh, fuck…” he starts to say just as I turn around to see what’s got him all twisted up. And then I lay eyes on her, and it feels like I’ve been punched in the stomach. All the air escapes my body, and I’m left breathless, thoughtless, and nauseated.

She doesn’t look any different.

Honestly.

Eight years later, well into our thirties, and she looks like the same girl I was mad about in high school.

And then after high school.

And then after college.

What in the absolute fuck…

Our eyes lock, and I brace myself for all the possible ways this could go. She could pretend not to see me, which, honestly, wouldn’t fully surprise me.

She could pretend everything is fine, be her normal, charismatic, friendly self, which might kill me.

“What…what do you want me to do here, Calway?” Levi whispers in my ear. “Should we pretend like we don’t see her? Want me to intercept?”

He knows what happened to me when she left.

He was one of the only people in the world who knew how dark things got.

Even across the country, playing professional hockey, Levi Buck was the one who pulled me back up to my feet when I preferred to let the water rush over me.

But as she draws in a breath from across the bar, she starts to make her way to me. And if I’m not mistaken, she’s moving at a pretty rapid pace.

My heart is beating so hard that I feel faint.

And then she reaches us.

Her eyes are big and brown and full of worry. I still know her. And I know this look.

My eyebrows knit together.

“Ty,” she says, out of breath by the time she reaches me. She stands in front of me, and the feeling rushes back. I’m about to say something—although, I don’t know what—when she holds up her hand. “I know out of every single human on Earth, I am the absolutelastone who should ask you foranything…” she says. The bar door opens again, and I see her eyes flit to it before looking back to me.

Who is she looking for?

“In about three seconds, a man is going to walk through that door. And I need you to pretend that we’re dating. Please.”

I can feel Levi’s eyes on me, staring so hard I can practically feel the holes boring into my skin. I don’t know what makes me do it, but the door opens again, and I reach my hand down to hers. I tug her into me and pull her into my chest, bending down to kiss her cheek. And then I pat the stool next to me, and she takes it. Her eyes are big and heavy and full of a mix of disbelief and gratitude. She squeezes my hand as she settles into the stool. Just then, a tall, broad man makes his way through the crowd of people to us at the bar. Levi sticks out his hand to him just as I feel her grip on mine tighten.

“Hayden!” Levi says. “I’m so glad you could make it. This is…” he says, turning to me.

“You must be Tyson,” Hayden says, his blond hair styled as crisp as his button-up shirt, his dress shoes clicking across the bar floor. “I’ve heard nothing but great things about you.” And then he moves his eyes to Sadie, and an uber-confident smile pulls across his lips. “And I see you’ve met my wife.”

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