Page 149 of Miami Ice

Emilee reaches for her phone and swipes a few things. “Mason Clark. He’s American, drives for Collings Motors.”

She hands me her phone, and I accidentally hit something else and a very loud cat video with obnoxious music begins playing. “ACK!” I cry.

Emilee takes the phone and brings the picture back up. “Here.”

“Thank you,” I say.

“That’s Mason.”

I look down at the picture of a lean young man with thick dark brown hair and light green eyes. He’s dressed in a racing suit, half zipped down and hanging around his hips. “He’s good-looking.”

But he’s not Beckham.

She passes the phone to Ella, who studies him for a moment.

“I agree with Georgie. He’s good-looking, but not enough muscle for my taste.”

“Yes. Because Jordan has so much muscle,” I say dryly.

I would know. I’ve seen him naked, after all. Jordan’s body is nice, but not anything close to Beckham’s chiseled frame.

“He does! You’re just comparing him to a professional athlete, and that’s not a fair comparison,” Ella says.

I’m about to reply when Chloe appears at the table, pulling out the vacant chair and taking a seat. “I’m so mad I could … I could … spit!” she declares.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, concerned.

“My stupid ex, that’s what’s wrong,” she says, scowling.

“Wait, has Joel resurfaced?”

Joel was her boyfriend our last year at UM. I never liked him. He never put Chloe first, in anything, ever. He didn’t support her. Joel was good-looking, I’ll give him that. And when he felt like paying attention to Chloe, he was all-in.

But sadly, most of the time?

He was a self-absorbed ass. And for the longest time Chloe put up with it. She came up with excuses for him. Diminished the behavior by saying it wasn’t that bad. I never understood it, because Chloe is beautiful, funny, and smart. She didn’t deserve to be treated like an afterthought.

But something within her was convinced that this relationship was good enough, which broke my heart.

This past summer, they finally split for good. I’m proud to say that Chloe went to therapy, worked through some childhood issues, saw how they were influencing her decisions now, and broke up with Joel.

I was so proud of her. But now I’m worried.

“Joel slid into my DMs saying he missed me.”

I hold my breath. I hope Chloe isn’t going to go soft because it’s the holiday season and she suddenly decides she’s missing him.

“I hope you blocked his ass,” Emilee declares.

Chloe shakes her head. “I answered. I told him he was being ridiculous. You can’t miss something you never cared about in the first place.”

“Chloe! Yes!” I say, offering her a high five.

“He was probably drunk,” Ella suggests.

“Drunk and wanted sex,” Emilee adds.

“More than likely. I blocked his ass after that,” Chloe says, a pleased expression passing over her beautiful face.

---