Page 12 of Rowdy Hearts

“I think the lady’s above your station, dude.” Rebel’s tone heldno trace of snark. I couldn’t really argue with him, and that really pissed me off.

“Let’s just change the damn tire and get back.”

I shoved my door open and got out before my best friend and my brother could continue to piss me off. Their razzing was getting on my nerves, but what pissed me off more than anything was the fact that they were probably right. The beautiful blonde who’d fallen into my arms tonight looked like she had places to be, and those places definitely didn’t include St. David.

And this was where I belonged.

I tuned out Kane and Rebel, who continued to talk shit as I got the spare and the jack from the trunk, and we jacked up the car to change the tire.

“I don’t know, man,” Rebel said to Kane. “He kinda looks like he got struck by the stupid bus.”

“I guess you’d look like that, too,” Kane grunted as he worked on the lug nuts, “if a woman who looked like her fell into your arms.”

“Fuck that shit.” Rebel huffed. “I don’t need a woman falling anywhere around me right now. I got too much shit going on as it is.”

“Good thing none of the women around here want anything to do with you, then because you’re a moody SOB. And what shit do you have going on anyway?”

Kane and Rebel kept up a steady banter, but I tuned them out as we changed the tire. The damaged one was going to need a new rim, and she probably didn’t want to drive back to wherever she’d come from on the donut. Which meant she needed a mechanic. And the only mechanic in town didn’t work on the weekend.

Maybe she’d be sticking around a little longer than expected.

Once we got the donut on, I threw the jack and the flat in the trunk then headed for the driver’s side door. I was just about toopen the door when Rebel planted his ass on the door, arms crossed over his chest.

“All right, asshole.” Reb glared at me. “What thefuckis wrong with you?”

I blew out a hard sigh, shaking my head.

“Move your ass, Reb. I don’t have time for this shit with you.”

He didn’t move, eyes narrowing as he stared at me like he could read my mind. “You haven’t had time for anyone lately. And now some random woman drops into your lap, and you’re ready to take my head off. What gives? I know you haven’t been happy lately, but damn, man, you’re not acting like yourself.”

I didn’t have the slightest clue what to say to that because, one, my brother rarely discussed anything serious unless he was talking about hockey. And two… well, Reb wasn’t wrong. And when my brother noticed something was off, everyone already knew. Because Reb wasn’t known for being intuitive.

Turning to Kane, I got the same look. Except Kane looked much more relaxed about the whole thing. Rebel never looked relaxed about anything. Kane always looked like he was idling in neutral. Until he got on the ice and then he kicked some serious ass. Some players had been known to skate the other way when they saw Kane headed for them.

I shrugged. “Nothing’s wrong.”

“Yeah, that’s bullshit.” Kane spoke before Reb could open his mouth and say something that would truly piss me off. “We all know something’s been eating at you for weeks.”

“Hell, even Dad’s noticed.” Reb snorted. “So you know it’s gotta be bad.”

Shit. Our dad was pretty fucking oblivious most of the time unless it had to do with the team or the business. Not that he ignored his kids. Or his wife. Reston and Raffi Lawrence had had a legendary love affair. From their almost twenty-year age gap to their late-night elopement and her parents’ attempt to get theirmarriage annulled, even though she’d been twenty-four at the time.

“Has everyone been talking behind my back?”

Rebel shrugged. “Pretty much, yeah.”

Well, fuck. Just what I didn’t need. The entire town all up in my business. Not that they weren’t most of the rest of the time, but usually I could shrug it off because it was all surface shit. Who I was dating, how bad the team was playing and why it was my fault. I was the team captain, after all. And this team was woven into the town’s DNA, so everyone had an opinion and the feeling that they had a right to it.

And right now, I had something on my mind I really didn’t want anyone to know about.

Shaking my head, I used the key fob to open the door. “We don’t need to talk about this now.”

“No,” Kane nodded, “we don’t. But we will later.”

Fuck that shit. I had nothing to talk about. That phone call I’d gotten last week didn’t mean anything to anyone but me. It wasn’t like I was going to take the job I’d been offered. I couldn’t. I belonged here.

“Let’s get back to the bar.”

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