Page 96 of Thunderstruck
“Oh. Well, thanks? But do you really think his ex’s wedding is a good place to—”
“He needs to confront his demons.”
I think about that for a second. “Are you telling me that Cole is still hung up on Sage?” I hate that idea.
“No, he’s too smart to think his life is better with her in it. But Cole is…” He sighs. “He put so much of himself into that relationship, and I’m pretty sure when it ended, he came to the conclusion that he wasn’t good enough. That he doesn’t deserve that kind of happiness.”
Tears prick my eyes at the thought of someone as amazing as Cole feeling so contrary to reality. He deserves all the happiness in the world. “How is the wedding supposed to fix that?”
“I don’t think Cole knows what he wants anymore, which is why he isn’t willing to commit to the best thing to ever happen to him. That’s you, by the way.”
My grin is huge, and I’m glad no one is around right now to see me. “Thanks.”
“Seeing what might have been should, in theory, help him see clearly and realize what he actually wants in life. Slapping him in the face with Sage marrying Javi might be the only thing to snap him out of all of this.”
At this point, I’m willing to try anything, though I still don’t know how it will do me any good. I may not know Derek very well, but I trust him. “That feels like a lot of pressure to put on this event he doesn’t want to go to. How are we supposed to get Cole to that wedding?”
“Luckily for us, Freya already took care of that for us. But we’ll probably want to put in some fail-safes, just in case. Plan for all contingencies.”
“I can’t decide if you sound like a spy because you played one in a movie or because you’re actually a spy.”
He groans. “Have you been talking to Liam?”
“Does he think you’re a spy too?”
“I’m not a spy.”
“That’s exactly what a spy would say,” I whisper.
“Please don’t start—” He cuts himself off and growls. “Carissa, I’m an actor, not a spy. Let’s stay on track here. We’re helping Cole.”
Right. Cole. The man I’m quickly falling in love with.Focus, Carissa. “What do we need to do for fail-safes?” I still don’t know how Freya could manage to get Cole to go to that wedding, but at this point it’s probably better if I just take my orders and do what I can.
“We’re going to need the team to help. Think you can talk to them?”
I snort a laugh. “They just spent half a game pretending to be hurt so they could make me feel better. Yeah, I can talk to them.”
“Great. And it’s important that we keep Cole completely in the dark, or this will never work.”
That might be harder, but I’m sure I can manage it. “What do I tell them?”
I can practically hear the smile in his voice. “Tell them they need to go back to hating Cole.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Cole
The last person Iwant to talk to right now is Coach Galvin, but he corners me as I leave the locker room, and the wild look in his eyes tells me I should probably give him at least a few minutes of my attention.
“That was quite a win, son!”
I clench my jaw before I tell him not to call me that. “We have a good team, and we owe those last two tries to—”
“See, I knew making you captain was a great idea.” He puts his arm around my shoulders. “Didn’t I tell you that? And then you go and beat Portland!”
I step away from his touch and fold my arms. “You sound surprised that we won.”
“Yes, well, practices weren’t looking so—”
