Page 49 of Play Your Part

KENNEDY

Alexeiledmethroughthe party with his hand on my lower back. We walked in behind Zach, who carelessly waved his sword through the air while speaking in an overly exaggerated pirate voice. Gemma danced her way through the room, lapping up the attention and catcalls from a group of women who stood in the corner, sipping champagne. Her friends, I assumed, called her over and she obliged.

“Welcome to your first Wolves Halloween party,” Matt said, turning toward us. “Is it all you imagined?”

The house where this year’s Halloween party took place looked like it belonged in an interior design magazine with every piece of furniture, art, and decoration blending perfectly together to create an atmosphere that shouted cozy yet sleek. The room had been decked out in Halloween decorations—balloons spelled out Happy Halloween, decorated pumpkins lined the countertop, spiderwebs hung in the corners of the room, and a large talking witch stood next to the snack table. Every person wore a costume and clustered in groups around the room. Pop music blasted from somewhere, but not so loud it was difficult to have a conversation.

Did it look like a Halloween party fit for the Palmer City Wolves? Absolutely.

“Yes,” I said, winking. “But you know the real party will start later.”

Matt groaned. “Come on, Kennedy, you’re like a sister to me.” He pointed two fingers at his own eyes before turning them around to Alexei.I’m watching you.“You better take care of her, man.”

“I alwaystake careof her,” Alexei said with a haughty grin.

Matt groaned again. “You two are the worst,” he said before trailing after Gemma.

“He makes it too easy,” I said, laughing.

Alexei slipped his hand into mine, threading our fingers together. “It’s good you got that out of your system before you talk to anyone else here.”

I looked up at him, noticing the hard crease between his eyes. “You’re nervous,” I said, surprised. It was such a rare thing to catch him like this, maybe the only other time had been in my car when he apologized for our poor first date, when he worried I might quit on him and he’d have to handle the media on his own.

He bent over and whispered into my ear. “My hockey career, Kens. It’s kind of important to me.”

My stomach somersaulted. Right. This wasn’t revenge for him, or a way to get out of his normal routine. Convincing people of this relationship affected his career, the game he loved. He depended on me to help him, and for the first time, I wanted to do it forhim,not just to fulfill my end of the bargain. I tightened my grip on his hand.

“Don't worry, I’ve got your back,” I assured him with a smile. I nudged him with my shoulder. “Go hang with your teammates. I’ve got this.”

With that, I headed to the back of the room, to the intimidatingly large group of women, to convince them Alexei Volkov wasn’t actually the wolf he was dressed as. I grabbed a glass of champagne, then nudged my way into the group beside Gemma. She immediately introduced me to the other ten women, all wives or girlfriends of Alexei’s teammates.

“Thank you for hosting tonight,” I said to Arielle, a tall, leggy brunette in a seventies go-go dancer costume. “I love your home.”

“She’s amazing, right? Arielle’s been helping me design my home,” Gemma said. Her newly built home on the periphery of the city would be ready in January. Two months from now. By then, I hoped I would have a place of my own. Maybe I should tackle that item on my list before reaching out to a university to finish my degree.

“Interesting choice of costumes,” Maura said, sipping red wine. Winger Paul Coddler’s gorgeous wife wore a seafoam green ballet leotard over black leggings, her golden hair pulled up in a perfect, secure bun. For many people, the look would be too severe, but she had the kind of face that could pull off any hairstyle. Paul played with Justin when he centered the top line for the Wolves. “It’s almost like youenjoythe attention.”

“Seriously, Maura?” Gemma hissed.

I placed my hand on Gemma’s forearm. “Since we don’t have any control over the attention, why not have fun with it?”

Maura scoffed. “No control? Maybe don’t hit on your ex’s rival only hours after you broke up.”

“Have youseenhim?” My gaze roamed the group, briefly locking with each woman. Gemma discretely winked at me. “If any of you have the kind of willpower to say no to those dimples, I’d love to know your secret. Maybe it could help me finally quit eating Gemma’s cookie sandwiches too.”

A low rumble of chuckles sounded around the group. “And for the record,” I said, allowing a little bite into my tone, “Alexei found me crying because Justin had dumped me and blocked my phone number so I couldn’t reach him. He wasn’t hitting on me. He made sure I didn’t fall drunkenly down the steps or make a fool of myself at the party. That picture was taken out of context.”

“Then whatdidhappen?” A nurse with red hair asked. Shelly, I think. “How did you start dating?”

Alexei and I had agreed on this story, a variant of the truth. “Gem deserves all the blame for that. She invited Alexei over while I was crashing at her place. He asked me out that night.”

“Oops,” Gemma said with a facetious shrug. “But not really. Justin Ward was an ass. Did you know he made Kennedy hide their relationship from everyone?”

And so it began. Gemma took the lead on bad-mouthing Justin, which got the truth out there without making me look like a bitter ex. My gaze roamed the room. A few guys were playing Wii golf, others were chowing down at the snack table.

And then there was Alexei, sitting on the couch beside Matt, watching me.

He was every bit the wolf he’d dressed as. One after my own stupid heart.

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