Page 102 of What Are the Chances
“You can ditch his number, Ri,” Tanner said the moment dad and Marcus were out of earshot. “I’m not calling the guy.”
I exhaled patiently. “Tanner, you’re throwing away an amazing opportunity purely to piss dad off.”
It’s the first time I’d said that out loud, though I’d thought it plenty of times. I’d tried remaining patient with my brother, tried to allow him time to overcome his feud with dad before he messed up his future, but the clock was ticking.
Tanner flinched. “You’re one to talk.”
My eyes widened. “Pardon?”
“Come on, Ri. You wrote Caufield off before he even made the league.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “What do you mean?”
“You really need me to spell it out? I mean you purposely fucked things up with him because you have a grudge against hockey players thanks to dad.”
Tanner was clearly annoyed at dad and lashing out at me because I was here. Usually I’d find that easy to forgive, but he’d hit an incredibly sore spot.
Tanner’s gaze travelled past me and his mouth settled in a grim frown. Though I was quite confident what had snagged his attention, I still turned to check.
Will had just walked out of the visitor changeroom. He slowed to a stop, glancing between Tanner and me.
Tanner leaned in close, his voice dropping to a spiteful whisper. “Once you’re done letting dad manipulate your life, then you can lecture me about making the same mistakes.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
There went that theory
RILEY
Walking into Will’s house tonight had been strange. Last time I’d been too drunk to realise the gravity. His house was the same, but different. Just like he was the same, but different. Just likewewere the same, but different.
Grace topped up my glass with the cocktail she’d just made. I was sitting around the island counter with her and Lana, who turned out to be Levi’s sister.
Talk about a family getting hit with thebeautifulstick. She was stunning enough to be part of the Kardashian’s inner circle. If she mentioned she’d walked the runway before, I wouldn’t be all that surprised.
Parker was in the living room playing beer pong with Ryan. I’d caught sight of them during one of my many scans for Will. I’d been here for a few hours now and we’d barely exchanged more than five words to each other. Perhaps that was because his friends still didn’t know about us.
Grace gleamed with excitement. “I heard you and Will are finally back together.”
There went that theory.
“Will told the guys last weekend,” she clarified.
I took a long sip of my drink. “He did?”
Lana playfully tapped my arm with her perfectly manicured fingers. “Wow, girl. I’ve never known Will to have a girlfriend.”
“You know him well?”
She nodded. “He’s the other older brother I didn’t ask for. Him and Levi were inseparable growing up.”
The thought painted a cute picture. Grace must have felt the same, because a gentle smile slowly spread across her face.
“I’m not Will’s girlfriend,” I backtracked. “I used to be. But now things are, well, I don’t really know what.”
Grace pouted, her frustration clear. “You two need to sort things out so we can finally start double dating.” She suddenly paused, her head whipping back. “Wait, is that even what you want?”
I shrugged. I honestly didn’t know. I wanted Will, but wanting him had never been the problem. The age-old adage that you couldn’t have everything you wanted was the real issue. If it was just him and me, no outside world that got to weigh in, then I’d say yes in a heartbeat. Our chemistry was undeniable. But that couldn’t outweigh everything.
