Page 167 of Puck Prince

Guilt washes over me in a hot wave. Even after everything Owen has done for me, I kept expecting him to be the worst version of himself—the person Ithoughthe was, instead of the man he’s shown himself to be. It’s why I didn’t tell him about the baby. It’s why I didn’t tell him about Spencer.

All he wants to do is take care of me, but I held him at arm’s length because I was scared I’d get hurt again.

But Owen isn’t Spencer.

“I know what it’s like to run from your past. I’ve been doing it for months.” My fingers are twisted in an anxious knot in my lap. “Even before I dated my ex, if you can even call what we did ‘dating,’ people thought I was some puck bunny, sleeping my way through the team. That's why I didn’t want to start anything with you.”

“Those people must not know you, then. You’re a hardass.”

For the first time in what feels like years, I smile. “Yeah, well… I wasn’t always. I used to trust people.”

He glances over at me, and I see his question buried just under the surface.Do you trust me?Can we fix this? Is there a path forward?

Then his eyes dart to the rearview mirror. “Motherfucker.”

“What is it?”

“The orange car behind us. It’s one of the reporters.” He looks back over his shoulder and switches lanes abruptly.

I turn around to look, too. “He’s following us?”

“Yeah,” Owen weaves in and out of traffic. “But don’t worry, I’ll lose him.”

Owen takes several turns, dodging and weaving around traffic until the orange car gets lost behind us.

Owen relaxes back in his seat, but I’m a little derailed by the idea of a reporter actually coming after us. Do they ever let up? How could an article about someone else’s private life be worth all of this?

But if it is worth all of this, they’ll keep coming until they get what they want. The truth will come out eventually. When it does, I’d rather Owen hear it from me.

“There’s a reason I haven’t told you what really happened at my last job, Owen… why I don’t want to say his name out loud.”

“Okay.” Owen is all ears, and I know there’s no going back now.

“I never planned on getting involved with anyone. Not him. Not you. I wanted to be respected in sports medicine. It’s hard to do when you’re…” I search for the right word.

“Hot?”

I toss him a look. “Young. A woman. Anyway, I wanted to keep things professional, but when I methim,I let my guard down. He was sweet, different from the other hockey players I’d met. Or so I thought. I fell for him, but he wasn’t?—”

“Fuck!” Owen cuts me off, his eyes on the rearview mirror again. “He’s back.”

I look in the side mirror. “Owen, he’s coming up fast.”

“I know.” He’s watching in the mirror, but we’re stuck at a red light. “Come on, come on…” Owen taps his thumb nervously on the steering wheel, his eyes shifting back and forth.

The car is quickly closing in on us, changing lanes to get right behind us. But the light turns green, and Owen punches it.

His tires squeal, and we take off, fishtailing through the intersection. In the side mirror, I watch as a minivan pulls between the orange car and us, blocking them.

I smile. “I think we lost?—”

The sentence is ripped from my mouth as a scream when the world jolts sideways.

Then there’s only the crunch of metal and the shattering of glass.

I think I hear Owen call my name. I reach for him, but it’s like we’re underwater. I don’t know which way is up.

Then the world goes black.

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