Page 101 of Runaway Bride and Prejudice

“Was it like this the whole time—with the fighty words and the snappy back and forth?” Parker asks. “I’m shocked youbothsurvived.”

Honestly, I’m not so sure I did. Not in one piece, anyway.

“Me too,” Van mutters, getting to his feet. “I’ll come back another time, Summer.”

And then he’s gone, and I’m left facing a two-person firing squad which shoots questions, not bullets.

“What wasthat?” Summer asks.

“Do I need to beat Van up?” Parker crosses her arms. “He’s got a mouth on him, but he’s a good guy underneath all the cocky bluster.”

Great. Now I’m thinking about Van’s mouth.

And the good guy Ithoughthe was underneath it all.

But I was wrong. Again. Now I’m zero for two in picking the right men to marry.

CHAPTER 19

Van

“We’re just askingfor a few details. It’s not like we’re asking you to kiss and tell,” Dumbo whines.

“Yeah, because there should have been no kissing of any kind,” Felix adds, giving me a look.

The kind that’s a little too assessing.

There’s no way he knows, I tell myself. But just in case, I turn my attention to my skates.

It’s been like this since I got back. I thought they’d let up. But they’re like a pack of dogs with a whole skeleton’s worth of bones. I was hoping something would happen to distract everyone. Is it too much to hope for a tiny scandal or an accidental pregnancy or … something? I’d take just about anything to take the spotlight off me. But heading into the playoffs, everyone has been drama free.

It wasjuststarting to fade until today—Amelia’s first day at work. Now, they’re starting back up with the same questions I’ve already answered.

I really hope I don’t crack and spill everything.

What’s worse than getting the third degree is that I just came face-to-face with Amelia in Summer’s office. Mills looked just as beautiful as she ever has. She also didn’t look like she’s been put through a blender, followed by a trash compactor, and then set on fire. Which is how I feel.

It’s official: today sucks.

“Come on, guys,” Alec says. “There was no kissing.”

Our captain’s confidence—or cockiness, if we’re splitting hairs—earned him the nickname Ego. I’d love to tell him exactly how wrong his cockiness is now, to really rub his nose in it.

But I can’t.

“We’d know if he kissed Amelia,” Alec continues. “One, because Van can't help but run his mouth. Two, because Coach would have already killed him. He wouldn’t be at practice but in a shallow grave somewhere.”

That part, at least, is true.

And I bet Dominik wishes I was in a shallow grave rather than here. Our newest player, young and with the kind of over-confidence you can only possess when you haven’t experienced enough failure, had been enjoying my spot as center on the first line with Eli and Logan.

But that was before Florida.

Without a word of explanation, Coach switched us back to our respective positions my first day back.

Which means Dominik didn’t just lose the line but also center, his preferred position. When the Appies picked him up, Coach wanted to try him as a winger but promised at some point he might move him to center. Dominik’s been biding his time since he got here, not all that patiently either.

Now that he’s had a taste of what he really wants, he’s more than a little bitter about losing it. Especially when he’s still playing better than me. I can’t even argue the point.

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