Page 34 of Bad Wolf

The time on the dash reads 12:55 and Knox is due out of the practice rink any second. I check my hair and subtle makeup in the tiny mirror—makeup that took me far too long to apply for an effect that is meant to look like you aren’t wearing any.

My breathing starts to become labored as my semi-rational head and lovesick, desperate heart war with one another.

I try to stay calm. Try to hold it together, but I want to cry and laugh and jump up and down all at the same time.

The heat of my clammy hands seeps through my jeans to my thighs and I swipe them a few times as my neck starts to heat, resisting the urge to flip the visor one more time.

Come on, Wren, you can do this.

With the window cracked, a laugh that sets my soul on fire sounds to the left. My head whips to the side, catching Knox as he fist pumps the air and starts to jog toward the car.

I take a fortifying breath and a leap of faith, grab for the handle, push open the door, and step out onto the concrete into the frigid day.

A gust of wind lashes at my hair and I sweep it all up and over my shoulder as I stand to full height. All five feet nothing. Hand clutched on the top of the door, heart pounding in my chest, I turn to face him.

He practically skids to a halt. His gleeful smile falling from his perfect face.

We’re caught in charged standoff, where I don’t know what to say and he’s scrambling to figure out what’s going on.

“She’s a beaut. You’re right,”. Casey says, unable to look anywhere but the car. “The photos don’t do it justice.”

“Wren?” Jason gasps as he finally catches up to his brothers.

“And who do we have here?” A teammate says reaching out to give me his hand.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Ad—”

“Don’t. Finish. That. Sentence,” Knox tells him, fury flashing through his blue eyes as he turns his head to take Casey in.

His stare burns into the side of his brother’s face, but Casey doesn’t buckle under the weight of it. A lesser man would be dead on his feet. Incinerated by the death glare Knox is giving him.

“What have you done?” Knox seethes, his fists clenching and unclenching as the muscle in his jaw pulses.

“What was needed,” Casey replies simply and then smiles at me.

“How was the drive up? She give you any trouble?” Casey asks, like he hasn’t just obliterated Knox’s life.

I can’t tear my gaze away from Knox to answer him.

Not with his jaw set and his shoulders practically kissing his ears, a scowl marring his gorgeous face, and his muscles coiled tight like he might combust at any moment.

Before I can open my mouth, Knox eats up the few feet between us.

“Hey,” I breathe, cricking my neck up to look him in the eyes. Eyes that storm midnight blue. My mind wasn’t playing tricks on me after I saw him at the club. He’s even more handsome now than he was at eighteen.

The air thickens between us and rumbles like the thunderous sky above, but it’s my body that feels like it’s been struck by lightning. Just being near him has my nerves firing all at once. My heart pumping faster in my chest.

“Keys,” he flicks his wrist, palm up.

“I—”

“Keys, Wren. Right now.” I jolt at his tone and step away, wordlessly holding them out to him. Our fingers brush when he snatches them out of my hand, and he flinches at the touch.

Then he pauses to survey the interior, his brows knitting together because you’d never be able to tell it had been driven at all.

“You’ve got three seconds. Grab your shit,” he growls, as he gets in and pulls on the door.

“Hold up,” Casey says, but he misses it by a fingertip and it slams shut. It’s what breaks me out of the haze and has me stumbling to the back of the car.

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