Page 19 of Grace on the Rocks

“Brandon Thorpe recently made headlines by holding out last minute instead of resigning with the Gulls,” Chip continued. “He wanted more money. Already a player that wasn’t, exactly, a fan favorite - though revered for his amazing skill in front of the net - Brandon Thorpe already has a notorious antisocial reputation, not only with fans but amongst his fellow players as well. It is highly unlikely that if Thorpe is innocent of Brown’s murder and Hanson does not offer Thorpe the option to resign, he will have an easy time finding a new team to play with. Just because Thorpe is arguably the best net minder in the Western Conference – possibly even the entire league – does not erase the fact that he was thought to be a murderer. This is disappointing because, God, the guy can play.”

The game resumed and the young ladies pulled their eyes off the television and placed them on each other.

“I cannot even imagine what I would do if I was that Hanson girl,” Ariel commented, taking a sip of her mimosa. “Inheriting a sports team I had no idea about, only to find out that one of my players is a suspect and oh, by the way, so is my uncle. Jesus.”

“Ahem,” Carrie said, crossing her arms over her chest and giving Ariel a look. “What’d I say about taking the Lord’s name in vain, Ariel?”

“It’s an expression,” Ariel retorted.

“Okay, I know this is going to sound weird and everything,” Michelle said, a light pink blush coloring her pale cheeks, “but was I the only person who thought that Brandon guy was hot?”

“Michelle!” Carrie exclaimed. “The guy is a suspect in a murder!” “So?” Michelle asked.

“That didn’t mean he did it.” Carrie looked like she was about to argue but Emma interrupted.

“Michelle’s right,” she said. “And Chip Donahue didn’t actually tell the entire story. I was at the game, the day Thorpe was brought in for questioning, and my dad already knew everything there is to know about it. As much as a civilian could know, anyway. But the way Chip was talking, it was like he was insinuating Thorpe was arrested, but he actually wasn’t. He was only brought in for questioning. Technically, he could have left whenever he wanted, and because he got to leave without being arrested, the cops probably don’t have anything on him.”

“Well, they must have something on him,” Carrie pointed out, “if they suspected him in the first place.”

“The motive is a good one,” Ariel added. “Wanting more money.”

“Yeah, but I’m sure another team would have paid him the same,” Emma said. “And plus, killing Ken didn’t guarantee that whoever inherited the team would give him that money. And if the team was sold without him resigning, he would have been screwed.”

“See?” Michelle said with an easy grin. “Hot.” Carrie rolled her eyes, still not entirely convinced. From the corner of her eyes, Emma noticed an extremely tall guy walk into the restaurant, heading straight for them. She couldn’t stop herself from letting out a groan.

“Guys,” she seethed under her breath. “Who the eff invited Vincent?”

Ariel pointedly avoided Emma’s eyes, Michelle smirked, and Carrie shrugged.

“He is our friend,” Ariel said. “Or have you forgotten?”

“Yeah, our friend who happens to like me a little too much!” Emma exclaimed as softly as she could.

Carrie started laughing as Michelle said, “Seeing the two of you interact is, literally, a better show than any 3D Imax movie.”

“Well, I’m glad my life amuses all of you,” Emma said in a rush just as Vincent made his appearance.

“Hey!” he exclaimed in a low, gravelly voice. He gave each of the four girls a hug, lingering on Emma a little too long, something that didn’t go unnoticed by anybody at the table. “Sorry, class got out late.”

Vincent was pushing six foot five, with short, curly black hair and a high forehead. He had crisp, brown eyes and a svelte form that was highlighted by his height. With a small nose, a small mouth, and broad shoulders, he wasn’t obviously good looking, but he had charm and he was hilarious which made up for whatever seemed lacking in his physical appearance.

Emma knew that Vincent would definitely make a good boyfriend. He was warm and funny and he seemed to genuinely like her. He was also a gentleman – always holding door open for her – and was sweet, not only to her but to all of her friends. But she wasn’t interested. Mostly because she wasn’t actually attracted to him, though she did admit that he was cute, but also because he could be annoying in his courtship of her. The first time Vincent asked her out, it was somewhat awkward due to their friendship but nonetheless sweet. The second time, it was pushing it. The third time, Emma promised herself that she would do her best to avoid him. Which was hard, because he was always hanging around the four of them. He, too, was in graduate school at UCI – his for some science Emma couldn’t pronounce – so he was local and actually could hang out if he wasn’t working. Emma tried to organize their catch ups when Vincent was working, but it didn’t always work and it wasn’t always Emma who put things together.

Today’s lunch date was thanks to Ariel. As such, Emma knew that Ariel was to blame for the surprise visit. All of her friends knew Emma was trying to avoid him as much as she could but if they all dropped him at once...

Well, Emma could understand the logic behind it, but that didn’t mean she was happy about it.

He waved at the waitress, ordering a beer and a burger.

Lucky bastard.

“Emma, was that the Kyle Underwood you went out with Tuesday night?” Carrie asked before Vincent could say anything. Vincent, who happened to be sitting right next to Emma, having pulled a nearby barstool over and placing it conveniently next to hers.

“Wait,” Vincent said. “You went out with Kyle Underwood? The hockey player? Like, on a date?”

Emma looked up, temporarily ignoring Vincent’s inquiries. There was actually a picture of Kyle Underwood – like Thorpe’s, it was this season’s team photo – and there it was, the skipping of the heart and the following ignoring of it.

“Yup, that’s Kyle,” Emma answered with a nod. She couldn’t deny that she was slightly proud of this fact. Kyle was cute and he was a hockey player. “But we both thought that it would be best to just be friends.”

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