My brain snags on the last part of that sentence. “You lived with Ash?”
“Mhmm.” She smiles and nods. “When I came to live with Tyler, he had this tiny little one-bedroom apartment and Ash offered to let us move in with him.”
“That’s really nice.”
“It was. Ash is great.”
Grace’s phone starts ringing. “That’s Lane. Five minutes. Don’t start the movie without me.” She hurries down the hallway as she answers.
A comfortable silence falls between me and Everly.
I break the quiet first. “Thank you for inviting me to hang tonight.”
“Are you kidding? We’re so glad you finally said yes.”
“Really? I was afraid you were only asking because you felt like you should. It’s been a while since I had roommates, or friends for that matter. I was dating this guy and sort of lost touch with all my girlfriends.”
“Ah, yeah. Easy to do when you’re in love.”
I don’t like thinking about Gabe and love in the same thought. If that was love, I don’t ever want it again.
“What happened with the guy?”
“We broke up a couple of months ago. Right after I met Ash at the game.”
“Because of Ash?”
“No, no, no. Things hadn’t been that great for a while.” I clear my throat and avoid eye contact. “How’s his shoulder? Is he back to playing?”
Everly’s smile widens. “I’m not sure I can say.”
At my confusion, she adds, “When he asked me about you, I told him I wasn’t going to give him any details and that he should ask you himself.”
“He asked about me?”
“Yeah, I saw him last night after the game.” Her head bounces from side to side, the blonde locks catching on the light. “And since it’s public knowledge, I guess I can tell you that he hasn’t been cleared to play yet, but he is practicing with the team again.”
“That’s good. I’m glad.”
She studies me a little too long. “You should come to a game with us sometime. There’s one this weekend. Saturday night. I have good seats, and Tyler always hooks us up with drink and food tickets.”
“I’m back. Sorry.” Grace drops onto the chair. “What’d I miss?”
“I’m trying to convince Bridget that she should come with us to the game this weekend.”
“Oh yeah. The games are so fun.”
“I’m not sure,” I say, biting at the corner of my lip.
“Worried about running into Ash?”
“No,” I say too quickly, then amend my answer. “I guess a little.”
“He’ll probably be playing Saturday anyway, so the only way he’ll see you is if he looks up from the ice and spots you in the crowd.”
They both laugh, but Ash spotting me in a crowd is exactly how this all started.
12
LOST CAUSE
ASH
“Quit eyeing me like that, Kelly,” Declan says as he shifts his weight from skate to skate.
“I can’t help it. I want to rip off your clothes and skates, put them on, and go out there.” I’m standing in the tunnel with the guys as they get ready to head out for the game. I want to play so badly. This should be the last time I have to sit out, but it doesn’t make it any less painful.
“Whoa, buddy. You want to rip his clothes off?” Leo arches a brow. “That is, uhh…well, it’s something.”
Declan’s dark brows rise. “You’re looking at me like Jade looks at me when I—”
“Okay, yeah, no need to finish that sentence,” Tyler interrupts, then looks to me. “I thought you were going to ask Kennedy out?”
“I did, but then she had to travel for work and then when she got back, she was sick.” I shrug. To be honest, I’m not all that disappointed it hasn’t happened yet.
Not as disappointed as I am to be standing here in jeans and a T-shirt. I clench my fingers at my side. “I want to be out there more than I want to breathe. More than I want sex.”
“Shit. He’s a lost cause, boys.” Jack walks past me to get the team razzed up. He offers some fist bumps and others a few encouraging words. When he circles back to me, he bumps me in the stomach with the end of his stick. “I think that’s the guy they’re hiring to replace Richard.”
He jerks his head up to indicate behind me and I open my stance to check out our new assistant GM. We got the news yesterday from Coach at practice. Not totally surprising, we’d been hearing rumblings that Richard was going to be let go for misconduct. Which usually means someone did something sketchy and they don’t want the details to get out. That combined with our shit-tastic start to the season and none of us were that surprised.