Page 70 of The Wingman

“Uh, everything okay?” I ask.

“Of course not.” She steps closer. “What did you say to Jules?”

“I…” God, just hearing her name is ripping me wide open. “What are you talking about?”

“She left your room crying.”

My pulse jumps and I try to sit up. “I…why was she crying?”

“You obviously said something to hurt her?”

“I’d never do anything to hurt her, Lindsay. I love her,” I blurt out without thinking.

“I know you do,” she says, and Kane comes back into the room.

“We all know you do,” he says.

I frown. “You do?”

“Of course,” Lindsay says, exasperated. “That’s why Kane and I let you believe Alek was interested in her.”

“I don’t get it.”

“No surprise there,” Lindsay says, and shakes her head. Okay I get it she thinks I’m dense, and I can’t disagree with her on that one. “Look, Rider. You love her, she loves you and we had to do something to push you both past your fears so you’d fight for each other.”

Sweat breaks out on my body. “What?” I ask, as my mind slows, the tumblers falling into place. “Oh, shit.” I’ve spent years feeling like an outsider in Kane’s family, thinking that I was only loved because of hockey. But Jules, well, Jules loved and lost, and has demons of her own.

“She loves you, Rider,” Lindsay says quietly. “Seeing you like this scared her half to death, but I know she’s tired of being afraid. She’s ready t

o take a chance on life, a chance on love…a chance on you.”

“I fucked everything up.”

“Yeah, you did.”

I lay back and stare at the ceiling. “She must hate me.”

“Then go fix it,” Kane says.

15

Jules

“Why are we here?” I groan and glance around Nelly’s bar, which is crazy busy tonight. For a second, I think I see one of Rider’s teammates and then another. I must be hallucinating. I’ve never seen them here before, so why would they all show up tonight? Honestly though, this is the last place I want to be. It reminds me too much of Rider and all the great times we had together. That man…the things he did to me, taught me, the way I opened up under his care.

Get it together, girl.

“Because I’m tired of you moping around your place.” Lindsay toys with her straw. “You need to get out and meet people…meet guys.”

“I don’t want to meet anyone,” I say. How can Lindsay possibly think I can go out with a guy when my heart belongs to another? It’s been a week—the longest week of my life—since Rider woke up in that hospital bed. The doctors had run some tests, and chances are he’s home by now. Not that I know for certain, and I’m not about to ask Lindsay. After he was admitted, I took a much-needed vacation—I just couldn’t face him every day after he pushed me away. As he rested, his team played their next game without him, and won. I’m thankful for that and I really hope Rider gets a clean bill of health so he can play the season’s last few games. I know how important hockey is to him. It comes before everything else.

“How about that guy over there?” Lindsay says and points to Tate. “He looks like your type.”

“Rider’s his type,” I say, and curse myself for saying his name out loud, for loving the way it sounds on my tongue.

Lindsay makes a face. “Huh?”

“Rider was my wingman, remember?” I remind her. “He set me up with that guy and all he did was talk about Rider until I sent our safe word.”

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