Page 4 of A Heart Worth Finding
“Sofia called.”
“Where is she, anyway?” Luke asked.
“Some issue with one of her sisters,” Jack told them, waving a dismissive hand.
He was pleased to find that, in his absence, Pascoe had once again fired up the grill, and a platter next to the heated flat top was piled high with perfectly cooked brats, hot dogs, and burgers. Starving, Jack pushed past his roommates and grabbed a paper plate, fixed both a hamburger and hot dog the way he liked them—ketchup, mustard, pickles on the burger, relish on the dog—added spoonfuls of sides, then moved to one of the long folding tables and pulled out a chair.
Moments later, Asher and Luke joined him.
“You okay?” Luke asked quietly.
Swallowing a mouthful of hamburger, he nodded and said, “Yeah.”
“You don’t look like it.”
“I’m fine,” Jack said, a little harsher than he intended.
“Okay, bud. Just know I’m here if you want to talk.”
This was both a good and bad thing about Luke. Where Jack would consider Aiden his best friend, Luke had always been the best at reading people. It’s what made him such a phenomenal captain—that innate ability to gauge the mood of a person or an entire hockey team with a single, sweeping glance, and act accordingly based on what he gleaned.
Jack, who wore his heart on his sleeve, wasn’t all that difficult to read to begin with, and usually he appreciated Luke’sintuition. Unfortunately, this was one moment where he wasn’t interested in talking about what currently ate at his stomach.
“He’s probably got his panties all twisted about Sofia,” Asher said to Luke as though Jack wasn’t sitting right there.
“Shut up, Ash,” Jack said.
“I’m just saying,” Asher said with a shrug. “I’ve noticed your bedroom has been especially quiet lately. Did Little Miss Sorority Sister get sick of looking at your ugly mug and move on?”
When Jack was in high school, he had three best friends. They’d grown up together, gone to all the same schools in their Philadelphia suburb of Ardmore, played hockey together from the time the four of them were barely able to walk, let alone skate. And within that friend group, each of them had their own distinct personalities, their own set of specific strengths and weaknesses they brought to the table.
Asher reminded Jack of his friend Chad, who would open his mouth and spew bullshit, only to make himself look like more of an asshole than whoever he was trying to insult.
“Why have you been paying such close attention to what’s going on behind my bedroom door, Ash?” Jack asked before shoveling a heaping spoonful of potato salad into his mouth.
“Since we share a wall.”
“It’s none of your business.”
“I’m just saying you always do this.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means,” Asher said, swallowing his food and setting his silverware down, “that you always go all in on a girl at first, then you wonderwhywhen it fizzles out. It’s because you come on too strong. You have to let her come to you, man. Leave her wanting more.”
Jack and Luke stared at Asher in stunned silence. As much as Jack wanted to disagree with him, he had to admit he was right.Jack always went full send at the beginning of relationships. He’d never learned how to hold himself back, and when he was experiencing that high of a new crush, he wanted to be with that person all the time, or remind her that he thought about her when they weren’t together.
Maybe it wasn’t the smartest tact, but he was searching for something that would stick, and he’d never been very good at beating around the bush.
“You know what, Ash?” Jack began, looking his teammate in the eye.
Only…his gaze snagged on something over Asher’s shoulder, beyond the glass that served as the exterior wall of this side of Munn.
Walking toward them down the hall inside was Aiden, trailed closely by Kenzie and a blonde girl.
A blonde girl that looked incredibly familiar.
It was impossible.
