I gave a small nod before straightening from the wall. “Know you.”
Barclay and Atwater shared an uneasy look.
I played hockey. He played soccer. One of those sports leaned heavily on the violence whereas the other didn’t.
He raised his chin up. “Not here for you.”
“Then why are you here?”
He gestured inside. “You’ve not met Zeke yet. I have a dumbass friend.”
“That doesn’t explain why you’re here.”
“Look, I have no problem throwing down if that’s the situation here.”
“Is it the situation?” I was facing him square because I also had no problem throwing down. He was registering that, and he was doing it with some surprise.
He nodded, slightly, edging back a step. “Not here for that reason.”
“Also aware of that.”
His eyes flared again.
The subtext was that he just told me he wasn’t here to get back into Mara’s pants, or to keep someone from not getting in there. I let him know that I was aware. That’s what surprised him.
“Not sure of our problem here.” His head cocked to the side, a glimmer of a frown there.
“Our problem is that you’re here. I don’t want you here.”
I was mostly an easy-going guy. Mostly. Here was the other side of me. Get me on the ice, and I was a dick of epic proportions. This guy, he was being introduced to the hockey side of me. Mara was already messed up because of her mom, because of me, and now an ex here? It wouldn’t help.
A car pulled into the lot, parking in a spot near us.
A second later, Mara was hurrying for the door, but drew up short seeing our situation. She stuffed her hands in her pockets. “Seriously, Blaise?”
He stepped back, his gaze skirting from her to me and back again. He held his hands up. “Not here for you.”
She moved so she was standing directly between us, her back to me. Her tone was cold. “I told you that I’m not going to hurt your sister.”
His gaze skirted from her to me. “I believe you. Or I believed your message. Again, that’s not why I’m here.” He kept looking at me, a new assessing look coming over him.
That surprise was still there. He was reassessing me.
“Why are you here then?” Mara asked.
His hands lowered, and a grin appeared. “You do know Zeke, right? You were the one who called me when he was arrested in Cain. Can you imagine the shit he’ll get into here? End of the day, somehow his jeep will get confiscated and I’m not driving three hours to pick his ass up from jail. I’m here to keep him out of trouble and also to see my sister. That’s it. Season is over, and I thought why not a road trip?”
She didn’t answer right away.
Mara was one of the strongest girls I knew. She could stand alone. I was here anyways, and she knew it. This guy knew it too, and he seemed somewhat transfixed by the undercurrents going on.
Then the door opened. The music from inside blew loud before the door slammed shut again, quieting it.
The muted silence didn’t last long.
The driver from the jeep came out, frowning, but that changed the second his eyes fell on Mara. “Daniels!” He took three steps and swooped her up in his arms.
“Agh! Zeke! Put me down.”
He went in a circle, his arm clamped around her legs over his shoulder. “Not on your life. Hell yeah, Daniels! Your roommate inside is being all shady, not letting us know where you live. Came out to collect my boy, was going to have him GPS your phone so we could roust you up for some fun tonight, but no need. You’re already here!” He was still circling, going a little faster each time.
She pounded on his back. “Put me down.”
He kept laughing, until a growl erupted from me.
He stopped, glancing back and did a double take. “Oh, shit. It’s the guy you’re banging.”
That earned a second growl from me.
He put Daniels down, a wide smile on his face, and held his hand out. “Hey, man, hey! I’m a huge fan. For real, I am. My frat does fantasy hockey, and I snatched you up as soon as you joined the team. Dude. You’ve made me so much money. You have no idea.”
This guy was…interesting.
Mara grinned at me, relaxing a little. “If it helps, I think of him as Cain’s equivalent to our Gavin Miller.”
I cast her a sideways look. “That doesn’t help.”
She shrugged, sidling more to the side.
I shook the guy’s hand and his grin widened. “Awesome.”
Blaise DeVroe moved up. “You should know that Zeke’s got a tendency to be borderline stalker when he zeroes in on an idol.”
Atwater stifled a snort.
Zeke didn’t seem to care, gesturing to his friend. “Yeah. Mason Kade got me through junior high and high school. The guy’s a fucking legend. You follow the NFL? Know who Kade is? I keep hearing rumors that he’s going to transfer out, but I don’t believe it. Not for a bit. Nah, man. He won’t go until his last year or two playing. Free agent, and his team will fuck up. They’ll let him go. What a bunch of dumbasses, if you ask me.”
Mara’s eyebrows rose. “Zeke.”
“What?” He cast her a frown but shrugged. “I’m a lot of things, but I’m not ashamed of my fanboy idols. Mason Kade is legit. He kept me on the straight and narrow until your ass came back to town.” He slapped his friend’s chest with the back of his hand.
“Straight and narrow? You were a douchebag bully until your dad handed you your ass this last summer.”
Zeke shot his friend a disgruntled frown. “Let’s not talk about that. I’m trying to block that out.”
Blaise coughed, his head lowering. “Taz told me you were a bitch to her. What’s that about?”
Mara’s head jerked backwards. She looked like she’d been slapped.
Zeke’s eyes closed. His head folded down. “You really need to work on your segue abilities.”
Mara was blinking a few times, but she edged back. “I apologized. That’s between me and her.”
“Taz?” Barclay spoke up.
DeVroe nodded. “My sister.” He gestured to Mara.
“Oh yeah! Race Ryerson’s girlfriend. She’s super nice. That’s your sister?”
“Yeah.” He said the word slowly, and his voice dropped down, to a whole more warning level.
Barclay caught on, lifting his hand and moving back a step himself. “Ryerson’s a friend of the team.”
I went back to watching Mara, whose gaze was downcast, but she edged closer to me another step. And she did it again. At the same time, her gaze was skirting to the door… Like she didn’t want to go in there.
Or there was someone in there she didn’t want to see.
Back to me.
An inch to me.
To the door.
She paused but repeated until I’d had enough.
“Okay.” I had my keys, everything on me. I went to her front and bent over. Fitting my shoulder to her stomach, I straightened with Mara slung over me.
She gasped. “Cruz!”
“Right on!”
I ignored the Zeke Allen guy and said to Barclay, “I’ll be at Mara’s. Can you get a ride back?”
“Oh yeah! I can get a ride back. Don’t forget we got a game tomorrow.”