Page 152 of Sin Bin

She stared him down.

He stared right back. “He loves you, Cynara. He always has.”

Something raw and vulnerable flashed in her eyes. “He loves you,” she said bitterly. “You’re the son he never had, his precious hockey prodigy. I overheard him and Mom arguing that night years ago. He fought harder to keep you than he ever fought for me.”

“That’s not true,” Logan argued. “It broke his heart to lose custody of you. You have to know that.”

“Do I?”

“You should. I hope you do.”

She held his gaze another moment before her stony mask slid back into place. Then she gave a careless shrug, downed the rest of her wine and set the empty glass on the table with a sharp clink.

“It’s been fun, Logan, but I have things to do.” She got up and headed for the door, tossing over her shoulder, “Good luck tomorrow.”

He gave her a sardonic look. “On the game? Or my birthday?”

She glanced back, her eyes meeting his. For a moment, he thought he saw a glimmer of sympathy before she turned away without responding.

He stood and followed her, watching as she opened the door and nearly collided with Hunter, who had his hand raised to knock.

Both of them froze, staring at each other across the scant few inches that separated them.

Long seconds ticked past.

“Excuse me.” Cynara shoved on her designer sunglasses, shouldered past Hunter and strode off quickly down the hallway.

He stared after her, looking completely dazed.

Logan cleared his throat to get his attention.

Hunter turned to look at him, his green eyes unfocused.

Logan grinned. “Wassup, bro?”

Hunter slowly stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. “Who was that?”

Logan’s grin turned wry. “That was the Duchess.”

“Santino’s daughter?”

“Yup. That’s the one.”

Hunter nodded slowly, glancing back at the door as if Cynara were still there.

Logan cocked his head to one side, studying his best friend. “Hey, man, you okay?”

“Hmm?” Hunter murmured distractedly, lifting an unsteady hand to rub his beard-darkened jaw.

A slow smile spread across Logan’s face. He’d never seen Duchene so rattled and disoriented. It was…fascinating.

Hunter looked at him. “I thought you said she was in school at Cambridge?”

“She is. She came home for the weekend. She does that sometimes,” Logan said with a dry smile. “As much as she loves England, she gets really homesick and she misses her mom like crazy. They’re super close. Like, they Skype or talk on the phone every day.”

Hunter nodded, digesting this information. “How do you pronounce her name again?”

“Who? The Duchess?”

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