Page 33 of In the Danger Zone
“Doing what?”
“I’m meeting up with someone.”
“Oh, right. That girl in the stands that you couldn’t stop smiling at. Makes sense.”
Damn, who else had noticed that? Oh well. Didn’t matter. All that did matter was me getting back outside to whisk Daisy away to some place she’d like much, much better than an ice rink. Loud crowds didn’t seem to be her thing.
“Her name’s Daisy,” I explained. “And yeah, I’m taking her out tonight.”
“No more single Evan, huh?” Colton raised his eyebrows at me. “How ‘bout that…”
“It’s not that hard to believe, is it?”
“I’ve never seen you with a girlfriend. I’ve seen you withgirls. But not girlfriends.”
“Well, she’s not my girlfriend…” That stung a little to say. Iwantedher to be my girlfriend. Real bad, too. “Not yet, anyway.”
Colton slapped my shoulder. “Good luck with that, man. But I’m going to continue reaping all the luxuries of being single.”
“Whatever.” I watched Colton as he left the locker room with Asher and a few other guys. Asher made sure to send me a look over his shoulder before he exited the room. It was a definite death stare that I returned.
We hadn’t talked since we got into that fight. I had been ignoring him, even out on the ice. I was still too angry at him to even say a fucking word to him.
Was he pissed at me for picking Daisy over him? For picking a girl over him? If he hadn’t acted like such a stupid prick to her, I wouldn’t havehadto do that. But I hated how he disrespected her.
Oh well. Fuck him. I didn’t need him.
I had a date to get to.
Chapter 17
DAISY
My eyes were stuck on the dark ocean. Despite the scenic sounding name of my hometown, Great Falls didn’t really offer any beautiful views. But Evan had driven us out to one of the most beautiful places I had ever seen. Shell Beach was beyond gorgeous. The full moon casted down, a soft glow running over the slow-moving waves.
We were sitting on the trunk of Evan’s – expensive – black car. I was very much aware of how close we were and how his fingers kept brushing up against mine.
Evan smelled stupidly good. Masculine and woody. Deep down, all it made me want to do was reach over and kiss him. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to know what his lips felt like on my own. What his lips would feel like everywhere. And his hands. He just was sobig. Big and tall and strong and my stomach had been filled with butterflies as I watched him move on the ice with so much pure fury earlier in the night.
“So, how was your first hockey game?” Evan asked as he scooted over that little bit closer to me. Our shoulders were touching.
“It was fun,” I said softly. “Not as fun as The M-Mighty Ducks, though.”
Evan chuckled. “It’s hard to top that.”
“B-But I still really enjoyed it. Sorry I got there a little late.” I finally turned to look at him. “It was so hard to keep track of you when you were playing. You’re pretty fast out there.”
“I won’t lie, you made me play a lot better tonight. As soon as I saw you… I don’t know, that did something to me.”
I couldn’t tell if he was lying or not. The worst part was that all of the bullying I had dealt with guaranteed me a life of paranoia. Who could I trust? Who couldn’t I trust?
Actually, no, the worst part was that Evan looked and sounded and seemed so sincere. All I saw was truth in his eyes. I didn’t want him to be the one to stab me in the back.
“Are you lying to m-me?” I asked before I could control myself.
Evan gave me a look of confusion, frowning my way. “What do you mean? About what?”
“About everything,” I said quickly. “Is this whole thing a joke to you? Am I a joke to you? Are you doing this b-because A-Asher asked you? Is he gonna pop up out of n-nowhere recording us together or something?”
