Page 115 of Any Second Now
This is harsh, even for Harley. He’s not himself at all. I feel the need to jump in.
“Come on, Harley. You know he’s our new second line right wing.” I glance at Barrett, who looks at me with raised brows and a bright smile. Whatever. He needed my help. I’ll punch him in the arm later to set things right.
“He’s one of us now.” Lachlan reaches for the pitcher of beer and fills his to the very tippy top, then splits the last few drops between the rest of us.
“And I’m not sure of the second line bullshit,” Barrett says, but everyone at the table gives him a hard glare. “Woah, fine, okay. Second line.” He holds his hands up in mock defeat.
“What the fuck ever.” Harley shakes his head and looks away from Barrett.
“I don’t understand.” I stare at Harley. “What the hell happened with Emily?”
Harley showed up a few hours ago, back early from his summer in Maine. He goes back home every offseason to spend time with his long-term girlfriend.
Ex-girlfriend.
“I told you not to bring it up.” Lachlan lets out a frustrated sigh.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” Harley’s words are clipped and and angry. “I don’t ever want to talk about what happened with her.”
“I’m sorry, mate.” Lachlan lets out a deep breath. I swallow and nod. Barrett rolls his eyes.
“Sure, dude. Whatever you say.” I hold my hands up. We’ll find out eventually.
The whole world has gone absolutely insane if Harley is single. He’s thirty-five years old and is one or two seasons max away from retirement. He’s always talked about going home to marry his girlfriend and have a bunch of babies after hockey. There’s never been any drama or questions about his relationship. Actually, we don’tknow much about it because he doesn’t share many details. And Emily never came to Fort Collins. Not once in the entire time he’s been here, as far as I know.
Which, now that I think about it, is quite the red flag.
“Great.” Barrett scoffs. “Let’s not talk about this again. I’m on board with that. Ever since I arrived, one of you has been crying over a woman.” He shakes his head. I think Harley might actually go ahead and murder him now. Might as well get it over with, I suppose. “But the good news is that now everyone here is single. Think of the women you get to fu?—”
“Shut up, Barrett,” Lachlan growls with a sideways glance at Harley, who might have real steam pouring out of his ears. “Besides, Atticus isn’t single.” He waves a hand at me.
Everyone’s head swivels to me.
“You’re not single? Who the hell are you dating?” Harley’s eyes widen.
Well, fuck me. I didn’t want anyone to know Iwasn’tsingle, and now I really don’t want anyone to know Iam.
“I am single,” I say firmly, a stabbing in my chest saying the words out loud.
Lachlan’s brow creases. “What about Raleigh?”
“Raleigh? Lucy’s friend?” Harley’s eyebrows lift and he looks remarkably less destitute than he did just a minute ago. Turns out other people’s problems are a good distraction from our own.
“Yeah. She’s been in town.”
“Doing what?” Harley asks.
Harley, Lachlan, and Barrett all stare at me.
“Go on, Atter.” Lachlan waves his hand in the air to get me to continue. “Story time.”
Fuuuck. Much like Harley, I really don’t want to talk about this.
“We’ve kind of had a thing.” I grumble and chug my beer, hoping they’ll all magically disappear. “But it’s over now.”
“What? When did that happen?” Lachlan’s face drops. Helooks as devastated as I feel. Shit. I guess he was more invested in me and Raleigh than I thought.
“Today. She’s got drama with her ex-husband that she needs to work out in her head.” I attempt to sound casual, but I’m immediately filled with the urge to go punch that guy. “And she’s heading to the East Coast soon to start back at her job.”
