Page 18 of The Golden Goalie

“Amber!” Sebastian calls out, when he sees me. He gives me a side hug. “What are you doing here? Coming to see your favorite player?” he asks, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Is that supposed to be you?” I ask, keeping a blank expression on my face.

“Of course it’s me,” he returns. But his face turns, and I know what he’s going to say before he says it. “You doing okay, Amber? You—”

“I’m good,” I tell him, forcing a smile. And then I blurt out to the worst possible person why I’m here. “I’m just here to see Rico.” His eyes widen, and I kick myself mentally. A slow smile starts to build, and I shake my head.

“Don’t—” I don’t get another word out before he whistles.

“Garcia!” he shouts, and I want to disappear into the pavement.

“Never mind,” I say quickly. “I changed my mind.” I start to walk away, but he steps in front of me, blocking my escape.

“Nope. You’re committed,” he says with a grin.

“What’s up?” I hear behind me, and I close my eyes.

“Somebody’s here to see you,” Sebastian says gleefully. I figure if I don’t turn around, he won’t know it’s me.

“Amber?” Rico asks.

Never mind.

Chapter 9

Rico

I stare at the back of Amber’s head; at least I’m pretty sure it’s her. She hasn’t turned around yet, so I can’t confirm. It’s been several weeks since that night at Aiden’s house. Turns out, Sebastian’s gameplan talk was not figurative. It was literal. The guys spent at least two hours telling me all the things I should do to win Amber over and finished the night with three sheets of paper with all the ideas they had. Of course, I can’t really read most of them. Sebastian got a little carried away and wrote over half of them, circled others, drew arrows. Now it’s a crazy mess. But there were a few ideas that I made a mental note of. I soaked in as much as they could tell me about her, even as doubts filled my mind. Those doubts were obviously founded because I haven’t heard anything from her in over three weeks. I sent her a text message the day after the guys left and asked her how she was feeling and got nothing. That didn’t fill me with much hope, but I tried four more times over the course of the last few weeks.Nothing.She hasn’t given me anything, and I haven’t seen her in that time either. I decided it’s probably for the best because I need to focus on hockey, and now she’s here.Why is she here?

“Uh, you have to turn around if you want to talk to him. I did the hard work of getting him over here,” Sebastian says.

She finally turns around, scowling. I’m hoping the scowl is directed at Sebastian and not me. My eyes drink in the sight of her and something inside me soothes just at finally laying eyes on her, which is ridiculous. And then the details hit me—the dark circles under her eyes, her pronounced cheekbones, herexposed collarbones, and the way the shirt she’s wearing hangs on her. She was already thin, but she’s like skin and bones now. “Amber, you look terrible.” I regret the words the instant they leave my mouth.

Her scowl deepens. “Thanks.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t...” I run my hand over my chest.

I notice Sebastian is still standing next to us, taking everything in. “Don’t you have some place to be?”

He grins and shakes his head. “Nope. I’m here for moral support.”

My eyes flick down to Amber for just a moment as my chest tightens, which is ridiculous because I know Sebastian is hopelessly in love with Stephanie. “Your face!” he says, laughing. “I meant for you, Moron,” he says and shoves me in the chest. I throw his hand off and sidestep him. “To help with theplan.” He way overexaggerates the word and wiggles his eyebrows simultaneously.

“What plan?” Amber asks.

“Nothing,” I grind out. “Get lost, Hart.”

“What? I’m here for you, Buddy.”

I take a breath so I don’t throttle my friend and teammate. He laughs and takes a step back. “All right; I’m leaving. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, Kids.”

“That leaves a lot available,” Amber says, and I laugh. She took the words right out of my mouth.

He opens his mouth, and I know he’s going to just keep going. “Leave, Hart. Isn’t Stephanie waiting for you?”

His entire face lights up. “Yes. Catch you two later.”

Sap.I turn my focus back to Amber. “So, what brings you to practice?” I ask, trying to keep things relaxed between us so I don’t spook her. She looks like she’s on the verge or running away, and I really don’t want her to do that when I haven’t seen her in weeks. “Did you need something?”

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