Page 102 of Bad Wolf

“A few hours before the All-Star game. She was at work on her day off, holed up in some dingy back room. The paint was peeling off the walls, it was hot and stuffy in the heat and there was no window for air or natural light. I could tell she wanted to be anywhere but there, and yet I had a feeling she had nowhere else to go.”

Coralie sips her drink again and levels me with a stare, “She poured her heart out that afternoon and asked nothing of us. She thinks she looked weak,” she shakes her head, “If anyone knows what it feels like to live a life you hate it’s me. But she had been so strong. She was doing the best she could with what she had. Tired, strung out, but supporting herself. And even though I kept my guard up for you, I could tell she meant every word she said. When she hinted that she hadn’t cheated on you, I believed her. We orchestrated her coming here so she could tell you what really happened. So that you could finally come to terms with how your relationship ended. We did it so you could find closure or peace or get another shot at a love some people only get to dream about. I,we, gave you that chance.”

My throat burns and the sting behind my eyes almost gets the better of me at hearing yet another layer of support my family were trying to give me.

“And then when Wren finally arrived, you completely shut down. You shut me out. You handled yourself poorly both off and on the ice, leaving me to worry and stress all the more over a brother that didn’t even have the decency to reply to a simple text.”

I can only nod.

“You ready, Peaches?”

“I am.” She nods, turning to give Gunner a sweet but tired smile.

“Knox has got this, haven’t you, Knox?”

“I have. I’ll go check on Jack now. I love you, Coralie. And thank you for bringing her back to me.”

I give Gunner an up-nod as I go to walk past them, when she throws her arms around me and squeezes me tight, shocking the shit out of me.

“You’re an asshole.”

I’m stunned for a second at the turn in her demeanor. I thought I was going to have to grovel a lot harder than that. I won’t let myself off the hook though, not with her. Not with my team, and not with Wren.

“I know.” I squeeze her back and then hand her off to Gunner.

“Go eat. See you in what, like an hour?” I grin. There’s no way she honestly wants to go out.

But she runs her hand over Gunner’s plaid covered chest, “Maybe two,” she says, smiling up at him, and I try not to grimace at the look they’re giving each other.

Maybe they’ll enjoy a nice meal and it will give them a little space to reconnect after over a week apart.

A half hour later, and after Jack has regaled me with a shift-by-shift account of a game he played in last Sunday, and then fallen to sleep, I’m yawning as I go in search of food.

There’ll be no homemade lasagna warming in the oven.

There’s no way I deserved thatI think to myself when the gate buzzer sounds.

I move to the screen by the front door and have to do a double take. I smile and press the intercom,

“Can I help you?”

“Pizza delivery,” Wren says, beaming into the camera lens.

No one has ever unlocked a gate or opened a door as fast I do in that moment. I jog to meet her in the driveway, taking the pizza box from her and spinning her with my free arm.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I ask, resting the warm pie box on the hood of Coralie’s car.

“Eight days is a long time, Ace, and Coralie told me to come over and bring you dinner.”

I can’t help it, I kiss her. I kiss her long, and I kiss her deep. She whimpers into my mouth and my dick and my heart both give a kick at the sound.

Fuck, I missed her. And that’s all it takes for the final remnants of the fog to clear. For the worries to lessen, and my wants and needs to take over.

We’ve lost too much time already. My body craves her, I think about her every minute of every day, and I know what I want.

Placing her down gently I take a step back, “Will you be my girlfriend?” falls out of my mouth before I realize what I’m even doing.

She smiles but her eyebrows raise. “Thought we were friends who dated? Or, well actually, friends who went on one date.”

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