Page 162 of Menace in Vegas

Allie nods. “If we see her, I’ll play it casual.”

I grin. “Casual? Like when you ‘accidentally’ knocked a piña colada off the bar when that woman flirted with me?”

“That was a reflex,” she says flatly. “My hand slipped.”

“Onto her drink. While growling.”

“It was very slippery. I just couldn’t hold it.”

I laugh and pull her closer. “God, I love you.”

She smirks. “You’re lucky I didn’t throw the whole blender at her.”

She doesn’t know it, but I love that about her—how fiercely she loves. I know it comes from a place of fear. Of being left.

And that thought circles right back to Peyton.

Who is she running from? Landon Cross?

He’s the unhinged forward from Seattle Vengeance, our rival team. Everyone on my roster hates him. Known for playing dirty on the ice… and even dirtier off it.

I glance back down the alley. It’s empty.

But something’s not sitting right.

It’s the kind of wrong that simmers quietly and slowly.

The kind you don’t notice until the storm’s already at your door.

And I’ve got a feeling… It’s about to hit.

69

ALLISON

There’s something magical about lazy afternoons by the water.

I’m curled up in a lounge chair with a cold drink, oversized sunglasses, and my bare feet propped on Connor’s lap.

He’s in board shorts, a backward hat, and wearing a look of pure concentration as he tries to untangle Gram’s floating flamingo cooler from a nest of beach towels.

I sip my drink, trying not to laugh. “You look very heroic right now.”

He looks up, squinting. “This flamingo is judging me.”

“He’s seen things.”

“He caused things.”

Connor finally rips the velcro apart and holds the cooler up triumphantly, like it’s a newborn lion. I clap lazily and raise my glass in his direction.

It should feel perfect. And it almost does.

The breeze is warm. The sky is blue. Gram is off somewhere “bargaining” with a street vendor for a fake Rolex and flirting with a man who sells keychains made of seashells and broken dreams.

Everything should feel light.

But there’s a thread of unease curling in my chest.

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