Page 2 of Just Friends
“Thanks, you guys. But I’ll be fine; I don’t need a place. Actually, that’s partly why I rushed over here to tell you the news.”
Camille raised an inquisitive eyebrow. “Hm?”
I bit my lip, struggling to hold back a spreading smile. “Jax asked me to go with him.”
“Wha’?” Camille stammered. “He asked you to move to Dallas?”
I nodded. “And I think I’m going to do it, too.”
“No shit!” Beau broke into his infamous troublemaker’s grin. “Hell yeah. Why not? That’ll be fun. Warm weather, too—you can take the top off your Jeep and cruise around like that all year.”
I nodded excitedly. “Right? I was just thinking that, too!”
Camille, having gone quiet, slouched and slowly folded her arms. “Hm.”
“I know that look,” I said. “You don’t like it. Tell me what you’re thinking.”
Before she could say anything, Beau began shouting into his phone. Apparently, he’d started a conference call with his teammates, and his booming voice dominated our conversation as he paced the room.
“Hey! You boys heard the news?Yup.The Big Rig is going to Dallas. Can youfuckingbelieve it? … Why’d we trade him? Fuck if I know! Yeah, he doesn’t put up the numbers he did back in Junior, but so what? He’s a soliddefenseman,he doesn’tneedto score to be effective …”
Camille led me to the living room, away from Beau, so we could actually talk. Still, we heard him shouting from out in the foyer.
“Dallas, man,Dallas,” he groaned, his disappointment growing by the second. “We traded him to theDallasDirtbags! I KNOW! DeHardt, Reaves, Hathaway, Vaughn—now thosecompletescumbags are gonna have Big Rig backing up all their smack talk. Ugh, I hate ’emall! Can’t forget that Russian farm animal, Niko-stalin-okov, or whatever the hell his name is. Clowns, every last one of them …”
She shut the double sliding doors, muffling Beau’s ranting.
“So … Dallas, huh,” she said and joined me on the couch.
“You think it’s a mistake to move with him, don’t you?”
“Honestly?” Her face was a portrait of worry. “I’m not wild about the idea.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t leave until you’ve hired and fully trained my replacement.” I worked as a floor manager at the restaurant Camille opened in Cherry Creek, a job she gave me the day I moved to Denver. But ever since my condition worsened, it was a struggle to work the hours she needed from me. “I know I haven’t exactly been the model employee, but I’d never screw you over.”
She banished any business-related concerns with a swipe of her hand. “It’s not that.”
I frowned. “Then it’s something about my friendship with Jax you don’t like?”
“Piper, you know I loveyou and Jax both. And if you two were dating, I’d give you my blessing in notime.” She sighed. “But you’renotdating. You’re just friends. Is it really a good idea to move hundreds of miles away with a friend?”
“Well, sure!” I cheered. “I mean, we’re both young, single and unattached. And I’m not exactly setting the world on fire here in Denver. I’ve been wanting to make a change for a while, so—yeah, why not?” I shrugged. “Besides, he’s my best friend in the whole world. You know that.”
“I know,” she said quietly. “And Jax is a great guy. It’s just—” She paused, searching for the right words, before giving up with a frustrated huff. “It’s just a littleweird,Piper. You know? I understood it when you two moved in together—minus the buying-a-condo-together part, anyway.”
I jumped in to defend our joint purchase. “It’s in a great area, we both had the money, and we got a great deal on it. Really, it was an investment, and we would’ve been dumb tonotjump on the opportunity.”
“Okay, sure. But now you’re following him to Dallas?”
“I followedyouto Denver, didn’t I?”
“That’s true,” she had to admit.
“So what’s really the issue, Cammy?” I asked.
She let out a deep breath. “Piper, I want you to be honest with me.” She stepped closer and stared into my eyes, deeply probing for the truth. “You and Jax. You’re stilljustfriends, right? Or has something changed?” She squeezed my hand and lowered her voice to a whisper. “You’re not fucking him, are you? Look, we both know how these hockey players are—sopleasetell me he’s not toying with your heart.”
“Oh my God, no.” I laughed and shook my head. “Really. We’re truly just friends. That’s it. That’s all we’ve ever been since day one.”
