Page 31 of Lucky Shot
“Mm,” he hums and looks at the water. “I’m not really sure. I think we both changed and while I didn’t necessarily start turning off with him, we decided we were headed in different directions and split. Not everyone is cut out to be a hockey husband.”
I nod. “That was recent?”
“No. He was a college boyfriend. The first of the three. I’ve chosen to remain single for a while, though.”
“Why?” I ask, looking up at him. Standing this close to him, I find he has a few inches on me. I don’t know why, but it makes me smile.
“It’s difficult to find someone who is interested in me and not what my career can do for them. Or my money. Or whatever else.”
I sigh and it sounds exasperated. “Yep, I get that. I’ve always mused that this is why athletes and celebrities usually date each other. We already have what the other does. The only thing left is the real stuff.”
“Yet, I have zero desire to date an athlete. They smell. And they’re dirty.”
I laugh and shake my head. “The fact that it took three days and three people after me for someone to figure out that the paint is more permanent than we thought only supports your claim.”
“I’ll give it to them that we’re in and out of the water all day but, yeah, no. Definitely not the same thing.”
“Not at all.”
We’re quiet as we approach the docks, and the moon continues to climb its way into the sky. “I think I’d enjoy this place a lot more if I didn’t always feel like I was being watched.” I absently touch the shells around my neck. “When you grow up with this kind of attention, sometimes all you want is for it to all go away.”
“I bet,” Elixon says. “You think you’d like it more if you came here with someone who was solely focused on you?”
“You mean, not Max or Azure who were clearly looking for someone to fuck but stuck to me because it was the nice thing to do?”
He chuckles. “Yep. That.”
I nod. “Yes. Honestly, I didn’t expect it or ask for it from either of them. I’m really kind of humbled by it. I literally pushed Azure into the crowd and ran for the beach, just so he’d go do his thing. You can say what you want about those two, but they’re good guys.”
“They are. I think because we’re thrown together so often and in a lot of ways, our experiences are alike enough, we bond over that shit. It makes us loyal and look out for each other, even if we’re not exactly friends,” he says. “Hell, you and I could have hung out since we’ve both been avoiding the same shit.”
“Hindsight,” I say.
We get back to the ship just as fireworks start to color the sky. I turn to watch and spot another couple on the beach. Only I think that maybe they’re a couple. It looks like they’re holding hands. Cuddling close. Maybe stealing a kiss based on the way their heads shift in the moonlight.
“Do you think your brother found his summer fling?” I ask.
“No,” he says, and I look at him. “I don’t think he actually wants a fling. He wants what everyone wants—to be loved. A random guy he meets here isn’t going to give him that.”
“Wow. Where’s your sense of romance?”
Elixon laughs.
“It could totally happen. That’s like basically the entire premise for that greaser movie full of pink jackets and motorcycles.”
“I think the summer romance takes place in Australia.”
“Which is basically a giant island,” I point out, making him shake his head. “But the idea is that summer romance can lead to more.”
“I’m willing to bet if we followed that couple after the movie, they’d have broken up within a month,” he says.
“Ooh. Anti-romance!”
He grins. “No. I just find them an unlikely pair. But I suppose I don’t disagree with what you’re saying. I just don’t think Roux is ready to find someone right now.”
“Why?”
Elixon shrugs. “It’s his story, but I think maybe he wants a distraction. And he wants what everyone wants; to be swept off their feet into a whirlwind romance. But unlike big screen romances that we all know would end within a few years, he wants the Hallmark movie. I just don’t think he’s ready for it yet.”
