Page 81 of Date with a Devil
Reavo leaned over and opened a cooler. He fished a bottle of beer out of the ice water and offered it to Dane. “Here.”
Dane waved the bottle away. He didn’t want it. “Nah.”
Reavo shook it at him. “C’mon, D, take it.”
“I’m not in the mood right now.”
“This could be one of thelasttimes this group gets to hang out together.”
“I’m hanging out, but I don’t want the fuckin’ beer, Reavo.”
“Alright. Whatever. No biggie.” Reavo tossed the bottle back into the cooler with aharumph.“You know you’ve been pissy all day, right?”
“Leave the poor guy alone, Reavo,” Parisi said. “Trade deadline sucks enough as it is. I can’t even imagine what it’s like, knowingyou’rethe guy that everyone’s waiting to be moved. I’d be bummed as shit if I were D, too.”
“Fair enough,” Reavo said. “Sorry, D.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
Of course, Dane couldn’t tell his teammates therealreason why he suddenly seemed so surly and down. Everyone assumed he was bummed about the trade—fine.
But it wasn’t that. It was Austen.
Dane couldn’t believe she’d turned him down. Sure, she was right, they barely knew each other. And yeah, with his wealth, he could afford to take risks. She couldn’t—although he’d be more than happy to bail her out if things didn’t work. Still, he understood why she’d say no.
But if he’d approachedanyother girl and made her that same offer? It didn’t matter how bat-shit insane the idea was, they would’ve been all over it in a minute.
Then again, wasn’t that what he liked about Austen? She wasn’t one of those starstruck girls from the club, she wasn’t a puck-bunny. She hadn’t kissed him or fooled around with him because he was a rich and famous hockey player. She’d done itdespiteall of that—she’d done it because they had some sort of undeniable chemistry. And every step of the way, shehatedherself for it.
She was different.
Paradoxically—ifshe’d said yes—he knew that deep down, he would’ve secretly lost respect for her. In some way, that would’ve proved that shewaslike the other girls, all too happy to lose her head and get swept up by his fame.
Not to say he would’ve changed his mind on the spot, no. He would’ve gone along with it, and some part of him would cling to a hope that things would work out for the best. But with the seed of doubt already planted, his enthusiasm would begin to wane with every passing day. Maybe he’d start looking for little things that she did wrong, things he didn’t like, signs that she was only in it for the money. Eventually, all those things would add up to an ugly truth he couldn’t bear to ignore.
So what was the point? Why had he even bothered to ask her? If she said yes, they were fucked. If she said no, it meant she was a good girl, but he couldn’t have her. He knew they didn’t have enough history to survive any amount of long distance. It was hard enough for established couples. Why would either of them want to be loyal to someone they barely knew? They weren’t even dating.It didn’t make any sense.
All that mattered was that he couldn’t have her. The more Dane thought about it, the more it hurt—until he finally hit the bottom of his own personal despair.
Jesus,he thought, shaking his head at himself. It wasn’t like him to mope around because of a girl. The hell had gotten into him?
He looked around at his party. These boys were hisfamily,the guys he loved, and this could very well be their last time together like this.
It was never going to work with Austen. There was only one thing left to do—cut her out and move on with life.
Dane suddenly stood with purpose.
“Where you goin’, D?” Reavo asked.
“I’ll be right back.”
He went inside, grabbed his phone, and texted Austen the recipe she’d asked for. And then he deleted her number from his phone and went back to enjoy his last night with his teammates.
***
A little while later, Dane took off his chinos and joined his teammates in the pool. With a group of Dallas Devils splashing around in the pool and drinking beer, it was only a matter of time before the first single girl stripped down to her panties and cannonballed into the water.
And once she jumped in, her friends quickly followed suit. Dane’s bachelor teammates swam after the hot girls in their panties like sharks after bait.
