Page 43 of The Rebel (Looking to Score 1)
I wonder then if he knows about Eden’s history with me. If he suspects there’s something going on between us now. But it doesn’t matter. He needs to keep his nose clean and do what this league is paying him to do—which is to play hockey, not hook up with puck bunnies.
“Fuck you, Braun. Just keep your dick in your pants and don’t upset Eden, or you’re going to be fucking with me.”
He scoffs again. “Whatever, dude. I’ll fuck with whoever I want.”
I slam my palm into the wall just as Eden comes through the door and enters the hallway beside us. “Holt? Alex? What the hell is going on?” Confusion crinkles her brow.
“Nothing,” I lie.
Alex shoulders his way past us, grumbling something under his breath I can’t catch. We watch him stalk away until he’s out of sight, and then it’s just me and her. The air is still charged around us.
Eden straightens her posture, squaring her shoulders. “Don’t lie to me. What’s going on? Did Alex say something to you?”
I release a slow exhale as I consider my options.
I won’t lie to Eden, but I don’t exactly want to tell her the truth either. Because even if they’re broken up, on some level his sleeping around might hurt her, and that’s the last thing I want.
“I won’t lie to you, so if you really need to know, I will tell you. But please just trust me.”
She gives me a pleading look.
“I’ll tell you if and when there’s something you need to know. Okay?”
I can see the moment she gives in. Her shoulders relax. “Okay. But only because I sense you’re trying to protect me from something ugly, and my life could use less stress right now, not more.”
My instincts were right. Somehow they always seem to be with this woman.
I reach out for her and place one hand on her shoulder. She leans into my touch, letting me rub her neck and shoulder briefly. In that moment, I realize I’d do anything to ease her burden, anything to make her feel good and whole again.
She meets my eyes again. “I still want to know what Alex said to you.”
I give her a pleased smile. She never gives up. Never backs down. It’s just not in her nature. “I know you do. But remember, lions don’t concern themselves with the opinions of sheep. And you are a lion. Got it?”
A shy smile tugs at her mouth, and my heart leaps. Who is this girl? She makes me feel so many messy, confusing emotions. Most of them all at once. It’s disorienting.
“Got it,” she says with a smile.
“Are you ready to get out of here?” I tip my chin toward the stairwell.
She nods. “Yes. And ready to be back home. The hotel bed didn’t agree with me last night.”
“You can come by my room tonight if you want. My bed was comfortable.”
She smirks, glancing at me as we head up the stairs together. “Oh, really. You sure you wouldn’t mind?”
I smile, but I don’t dare touch her right now because someone could see us. “I wouldn’t mind at all.”
Eden plays coy, pursing her lips. “I don’t know. I might just stay in tonight and read. I started this really good book someone gave me the other night.”
I chuckle and shake my head.
When we reach the top of the stairs, her assistant appears with some questions, furiously typing something into a tablet. Eden gives me a look that says she’s sorry to be done with our playful conversation, but I can sense that she needs to focus on work now, so I say good-bye.
“I’ll see you later,” I say.
“I might be able to work you in,” she says, and then she winks.
My heart takes off at a gallop.
15
* * *
EDEN
As I hide in my hotel room like a coward, I can’t help replaying Holt’s offer from earlier over and over in my head. The way his deep voice rumbled over the words. Those words being . . . an invitation to share his bed.
I heave a sigh, falling back onto my bed and staring blankly at Holt’s contact on my phone. Thus far, the texting box has remained empty. I guess I’m hoping the right words will magically fall off my thumbs.
What do you say to someone when you’re looking for a booty call, but you don’t want your booty call to know he’s a booty call?
And now I’ve officially thought the words booty call so many times, they don’t even sound like a real phrase. And is that really what Holt is? I think part of me knows he’s much more than that.
With a huff, I drop my phone onto my pillow and redirect all this cagey energy toward the view out my window, like the solution to my problem might be hidden somewhere in the night sky.
