Page 6 of All I Want

“Stay away from her.” The words—and the growl—were out of his mouth before he realized, and Jake tilted his head in question.

“Why? You interested? What about Madison?”

“Maggie is an old friend,” Alex said. “And she’s off-limits.” He felt like an asshole, warning away his teammate, especially when Alex was dating someone, even if it was very casually. He’d known Madison for a few years and they’d been on a handful of dates in the last two months, but it wasn’t serious. She wasn’t Maggie. And now he felt like an even bigger asshole.

“Old friend, huh? Just a friend?” Jake asked. “Yeah, let’s see how the good doctor is doing.”

Jake turned and headed toward Maggie, chuckling when Alex muttered, “I’ll break your damn legs.”

Shit. He wanted to see her again, but in the middle of the bar, surrounded by his teammates was not where he saw this reunion happening.

“Maggie, right?” Jake said, sidling up next to Maggie.

She looked over her shoulder. “Umm, yes.” And then she spotted him. “Ahh, hi, Alex.”

“Hey,” he said, trying to gauge her reaction to him.

She offered him a small smile before she focused on Callie, whispering something that made Callie grin and take another sip of her wine.

Jake held out his hand. “Hi, I’m Jake. We met at the hospital. At Halloween.”

Dammit. He could’ve run into her over a month ago, but he’d skipped Halloween at the hospital because he’d been sick.

“Nice to see you again,” Maggie said, but her eyes were focused on Alex.

He sucked in a breath, getting trapped in her gaze. A gaze that held a mixture of question, nerves, and something else. Something he hadn’t seen in a long time. Her cheeks flushed under the low light of the bar before she turned her attention to Jake.

“So, Westie said you two are old friends,” Jake said, grabbing a new beer that Adam had pushed in front of him.

“Yeah. We grew up together,” she said, slowly.

“He was awkward, right? Still has that going on for him,” Jake said, and Alex did not resist the urge to elbow his teammate in the ribs. Jake laughed and stepped closer to Maggie.

Alex glared at his teammate. “I think Harty’s looking for you, Jake.”

“Nah, he’s busy with Penny,” Jake said, brushing Alex off before he offered to grab Maggie’s next drink.

“I’m good, thanks,” she said before she focused on Alex. “So, how are you? Great game tonight.”

“Thanks.”

“I know we didn’t get the chance to catch up the other night. I’ve been meaning to reach out—”

“Really?” he asked, cutting her off. Now she wanted to reach out? “Is that why you showed up here tonight?”

“What? No. I didn’t know you’d be here.”

“You didn’t know this was the team’s unofficial bar?”

Maggie’s cheeks pinked, and she turned to her friend. “Seriously, Callie? You couldn’t have warned me?” she muttered, but Alex hadn’t missed a word.

Neither had Jake, if that grin was anything to go by.

“Well, this is interesting,” Jake piped in.

“Hey, Jake, I have a few friends that want to meet you,” Callie said, tugging Jake away.

“Man, it was just getting good,” Jake complained as she dragged him along.

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