Page 28 of Grumpy Darling

“Okay,” Reed said finally. “Uh, I guess I’ll start.” He took another step closer to me and let out a breath. “We wanted to get you alone so we could talk. But with Paige at our house, it’s a little difficult...”

“Why?” I demanded.

They all shared another anxious look. Whatever they were about to tell me, it must be bad. Could this be about my knee? My stomach dipped as I wondered whether they’d noticed how much I’d been struggling with it at practice. Reed had tried to convince me to take a break from hockey the last time it had caused me issues. If he thought he’d have a better chance at convincing me to take it easy with Parker, Matt, and Owen here, he was going to be severely disappointed. I was a good player, but I wasn’t a superstar like Reed. I was certain Ryker wouldn’t hesitate to pull their scholarship offer if they found out I was damaged goods. None of that explained what Paige had to do with this though. I wanted answers, fast.

“Would someone just spit it out already?”

Reed drew in a breath. “Parker told us about Paige’s bucket list.”

I stilled. That’s what this was about? Parker never should have shared the contents of Paige’s bucket list, and I was going to kill him for that later. But first, I needed to hear why the guys thought her bucket list had anything to do with me.

“So?” My voice was like ice as I urged them to go on.

“We think it’s time you and Paige stopped dancing around each other,” Matt said.

Reed was nodding beside him. “And stop pretending that being just friends is all you want.”

“You need to man up,” Parker added.

There was a pause, and they all turned to Owen, who looked like he was doing his best not to run and hide behind his older brother.

“Oh yeah, uh, it’s time to tell her how you feel,” he finally managed to say.

I was being assaulted from all angles, and I didn’t know who to direct my counterattack at first.

“What I feel is anger,” I said. “Growing by the second.”

Owen started to edge closer to Matt. Poor kid had never been on my bad side before. I might have felt sorry for him if I wasn’t so irate.

“Come on, Gray,” Reed pleaded. “Just listen to us for a minute.”

I grabbed my bags to leave. “I’ve already heard enough.”

But Parker moved to stand in front of the exit. “We know how you feel about her.”

“It’s clear you belong together,” Matt added.

I should have left Parker behind and showered at home.

“Whatever you guys think you know, forget it. I don’t like her that way,” I said. “Paige is my friend. That’s it.”

“We all know that’s bull,” Parker said. “You’ve been in love with her for years.”

“No, we’ve been friends for years.”

“Friends?” Reed shook his head at me. “You don’t look at her like she’s just a friend.”

“Of course I do.”

“No, Grayson. You look at her like her like she’s everything.”

The other guys all nodded along.

“Couldn’t have put it better myself, Reed.” Parker seemed to be the only one who was enjoying the situation.

I stared each of them down. Did I really have to spell this out? They all looked fully committed to this “intervention”, so apparently I did. “Even if it were true. And it’s not. It wouldn’t change anything. Paige doesn’t feel that way about me.”

As far as I was concerned, that should have ended the conversation. But these guys were relentless.

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