BrickWall_Kobo (18 page)

Shane rolled his eyes.
“Jesus…I don’t need any fucking help.
It’s over.”

Jake’s gaze narrowed.
“Can you honestly tell us you do not want her back?”

No.
“Yes.
I have more important things to focus on.”

“Yes, I’m sure you do.”
Lad snorted.
“Fine.
So tell us more about the game.”

Trying not to sigh in relief, Shane recounted everything he could remember.

And tried not to let Bliss totally dominate his thoughts.

* * * * *

The tickets showed up the next morning.

But not at her door.

No, they showed up at Mike’s.
And they didn’t come from Shane.

“Lissy, look what Jake sent.
Tickets for the game tonight.
Can we go?”

Her heart pounding in her chest, she took the envelope, hating the fact that she’d almost wanted them to come from Shane.
“How do you know they’re from Jake?”

“He sent a note.”

Hey, buddy.
I hope you can make it.
If you need a ride, just let me know.
Jake.

Definitely not Shane’s handwriting.

Damn it.

Not that she wanted it to be from Shane.
She was glad he wasn’t making this hard on her.

But she couldn’t say no to Mike.
Not when he looked at her with so much excitement.

“Sure.
But Mike…”

She hadn’t had a chance to tell him she’d broken up with Shane.
She told herself it wasn’t because she regretted her decision.
She didn’t.
She’d done the right thing.

But…

Shit.

“Mike…Shane and I broke up.”

The shock on her brother’s face made her heart hurt.
And her stomach clench.

He looked the way she still felt.
And she’d been the one to break up.

Which had been for the best, damn it.

“Why?
What happened?”

Yeah, what did happen?

She’d gotten scared, that’s what’d happened.

But it was still for the best.
Better to hurt a little now than be heartbroken later.

A little?

She wanted to tell herself to shut up but didn’t want Mike to think she was talking to him.

Forcing a quick smile, she shook her head.
“Nothing.
It just wasn’t going to work out between us.”

Mike’s head cocked to the side.
“How do you know?”

She shrugged.
“It’s just wasn’t.
It’s better this way.”

Mike frowned hard.
“Why?”

Because he would’ve left me anyway.
“Sometimes relationships just don’t work out.”

“Was he…” Mike frowned even harder, “like your ex?”

“God, no!
No, Mike.
Shane is nothing like Rich.”

“Then…” With a sigh, Mike shook his head.
“I guess I just don’t understand.”

Christ, now she’d dragged her brother down into the dumps with her.

“There’s really nothing to understand.
It just wasn’t going to work out.”

After a few seconds, Mike finally nodded slowly.
“Like me working at that restaurant.
That’s what the manager told me, that it wasn’t going to work out.
He didn’t like working with me.
So you didn’t like Shane enough.”

Blindsided, she went blank.
The real reason the manager had fired Mike was because he was a prejudiced asshole and hadn’t been comfortable around her brother.

“No, that’s not it.
I like Shane.
It’s just…”

“Complicated.”

Looking into Mike’s eyes, she saw an understanding she hadn’t expected him to have.
She shouldn’t have been surprised, though.
Her brother’s brain functioned differently than most people but he was practically empathic when it came to reading people’s feelings.

“Yeah.
It’s really complicated.
Especially for me.”

“Because of your ex.”

She wanted to deny it but she wouldn’t lie to Mike.

“Kind of.
I just…don’t want to be left behind when he moves on.”

The truth rushed out but it finally felt good to admit it to someone who wouldn’t judge her.
It truly sucked that she knew it was her own screwed-up emotions that had pushed Shane away.
It also sucked that she couldn’t think of another way to handle it.

Because the truth still remained.
He would eventually leave and she would stay.
And nothing either of them could do would change that fact.

Mike reached for her hand and squeezed.
“We don’t have to go to the game.”

“Of course we do.
Jake wants you to come.
And I know you want to go.”

“But—”

“No buts.
We’ll have a good time.”

Keep telling yourself that.
Maybe you’ll believe it in a year or so.

* * * * *

“Holy shit, we fucking
destroyed
those fucking gerbils,” CJ shouted as Shane walked into the locker room after taking a bow for being the first star of the game.
“The Brick Wall lives!”

Shane smiled as teammates started to chant, “Brick!
Brick!
Brick!”
and bumped gloves with Nate as he passed the other goalie on the way to his locker.

They’d clinched a playoff spot tonight with the win against the Maine Flying Foxes, whose mascot looked like the unfortunate mating of a chihuahua and a gerbil.

The game had been sweeter still because they’d played on home ice and the fans had gone crazy.
The team had missed the playoffs the last couple of years so this was icing on the fucking cake.

“You played like a man possessed tonight, Conrad.”
Cary smacked him on the back on his way to the showers.
“Keep it up and we’ll have that cup.”

“Dude, you shut them
down
.”
Jake dropped onto the bench next to him and watched as Shane pulled off his gear.
“Guess getting dumped was actually good for you, yes?”

Shaking off his blocker, Shane gave Jake the finger without bothering to look at him.
He wasn’t about to respond to that.

“You had a great game,” Shane tossed over his shoulder.
“Congrats.”

“Ah, so we are still not discussing her.
Okay.
Yes, I did have a great game, thank you.”

Shaking his head, Shane listened to the other guys on the team razz Jake about his almost nonexistent humility while managing to compliment him at the same time.

Thinking he was safe from any more of Jake’s reminders of Bliss, he headed for the showers, where he stood under a scalding hot shower for at least five minutes.

It was part of his post-game ritual, which he’d let slide while he was with Bliss.

Should’ve been your first clue.
Don’t change the routine for a girl.

His dad had drilled that one into his head all through high school.
Not that he’d been in danger of that, but it’d stuck with him through juniors and into his years in the ECHL.

But he’d done it for Bliss and not noticed any harm.
In fact—

He shook his head.
Didn’t.
Matter.
Not one fucking bit because Bliss was gone.

And he was back to his routine and the team was winning and would continue to win.

“Hey, you heading straight home?”
CJ stuck his head into the shower room, already showered and dressed.
“I’m leaving now.”

“Yeah, I’ll be out in a few.
Need a decent night’s sleep before the game tomorrow.”

They had another game against the Wolves tomorrow, and the other team would be out for payback.

“Okay.
Oh, and just a heads-up.
Bliss and Mike are in the hall.
I’ll make sure Jake gets them out before you come through.”

His head shot up.
“What the fuck?”

Justin Perry, the defenseman they’d just brought up from the ECHL after losing Joey Constantino to an injury last game, shot him a wary glance.

He knew he had a rep for being intense.
Knew it was warranted.
He also knew there was a fine line between intense and being an arrogant bastard.
He’d always managed to walk it before.
The tide could turn though.

Especially when he thought about Jake hitting on Bliss.

“No need to go psycho, dude.
Jake sent the tickets to Mike.
He didn’t know Bliss would be here.”

No fucking way did Jake not expect Mike to come without Bliss.

Bastard.
Shane was gonna kill Jake.
If he so much as laid a finger on her—

Shit.
Shit.

Shane took a deep breath.
That wasn’t fair.
He knew Jake and Mike had hit it off.
Jake had a brother with Down syndrome, whom he missed more than he’d ever admit to anyone.
Except to Shane, one drunken night a few months ago.

“Sorry.”
Shane shook his head.
“Just…never mind.
You don’t have to do anything.
I’m fine.”

Shrugging, CJ waved.
“Okay.
See you at home.”

CJ disappeared and Shane hung his head, letting the water pound against the suddenly tense muscles of his back.

It’d been three days since she’d told him she didn’t want to see him again.
Three days since he’d let her go without a fight.

Because she’d been right.

Their relationship had been going nowhere.

“Fuck.”

“Uh, you okay?”

Justin shut off his shower and rubbed a towel over himself, carefully avoiding Shane’s gaze.

Shane let out a big sigh.
“Yeah.
I’m fine.
Good game tonight.”

“Thanks.
You too.
It’s good to be here.”

Shane didn’t want to be a dick but he had no interest in conversation.
No, he was much more interested in what was going on in the hall.

“Glad to have you.”

Luckily, the new guy didn’t say anything else and walked away a second later.
Leaving Shane alone in the showers.

He told himself he wasn’t standing here just so he could avoid her.
He was soaking his tight muscles.

Yeah, right.

With a muttered curse, he shut off the water, toweled off, and headed back to the locker room.

He glanced at the clock, figuring he’d give Jake another five minutes to say goodbye to Mike and Bliss.

And give himself another five minutes to tell himself he really didn’t want to see her.

* * * * *

“Do you mind, Lissy?”

Bliss smiled and shook her head.
“Of course, I don’t mind.
Have fun.”

Jake touched her on the shoulder.
“We’re just going to get something to eat at the West Reading Diner.
We won’t be out late.
We have a game tomorrow.
If you guys can make it, I’ll make sure you’ve got tickets.”

Mike’s smile widened and she knew she couldn’t say no.
It was almost like they were ganging up on her.
But she couldn’t deny the friendship that had developed between Mike and Jake.
She’d be suspicious of Jake’s motives if she hadn’t seen the way he treated Mike.
There was no way she was going to throw up roadblocks to their friendship.

“I can get the bus in if you don’t want to come tomorrow, Lis.”

Because she was weak, she said, “No, I’ve got nothing going on.
I can bring you.”

Jake nodded, his expression serious, but she could’ve sworn he was hiding a smile.

And then her brain fuzzed over.
Because Shane walked out of the locker room.

Damn it.
She’d wanted to be gone before he got out.
He was typically one of the last guys to leave.