Page 16 of Irresistibly Wild

“It doesn’t.” She laughs. “I’m trying to evoke some emotion out of you since you’ve let me ramble on and on without interrupting to give me advice.”

“I’m fine,” I say. “I wired a thousand dollars to your account a couple hours ago. I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure you never miss another competition. I promise.”

“It’s okay that I missed this one, it’s just an expo.” She pauses. “Your bank’s error actually saved me a twelve-hour car ride with Hayden, and expos don’t count toward the rankings.”

I unlock the door to my room, feeling too damn guilty to tell her the truth.

“Should I use some of this money for a bus ticket to come see you?” she asks.

“No, no, no,” I say. “Don’t spend any of it on me.Ever. Don’t ask Hayden to buy you travel tickets either. Focus one hundred percent on your skating career, and that’ll make me happy.”

“Okay.” She sighs. “Since you mentioned Hayden, do you have any other friends who can serve as my pseudo big brother while you’re away? Someone who’s not a man-whore with an ego the size of the moon?”

“Hayden’s not that a man-whore,” I say. “He’s just…”

I can’t bring myself to finish that sentence. His reputation with women has always been terrible, and he’s far worse than I ever was.

He’s worse than anyone I know.

“Exactly!” Penelope scoffs. “I’m thankful my coach is letting me rest these next few days so I don’t have to deal with him. Not only is he a terrible person, but he’s delusional enough to believe he’ll be abillionairesomeday.”

“I’m aware.” I make a mental note to catch up with Hayden later this week. “Speaking of rest, Crown, I really need to hit the ice bath. I’ll call you tomorrow night, alright?”

“Wait.” She pauses. “If something was going wrong in your life or if you were ever in any trouble, you would tell me, right?”

Wrong.“Of course, Crown. I love you.”

“Love you, too. Talk later.”

I wait until she ends the call and then fill my tub with ice.

Sinking down to my neck, I try not to think about how many fights I’ll need to take to keep me and Penelope afloat for another month.

* * *

Half frozen,I’m studying the current welterweight champion’s workout routine onThe Snarky Gloveblog when a new text message appears on my screen.

Text from Tatiana:

Hey.

I squint, making sure I’m not imagining things.

Me:

I thought you blocked me…?

Text from Tatiana:

I did, but now I’ve temporarily unblocked you. (Keyword: temporarily)

Me:

How can we make this arrangement permanent?

Text from Tatiana:

We can’t. Anyway, I’m only messaging you because my stepsister can’t seem to shut up since seeing you at the afterparty. She really wants your phone number, so is it okay if I give it to her?

---