“What’s your problem, Sinclair?” Nick demanded. His voice was muffled, nasally. Maybe his nose was broken. It certainly seemed like it.
“Sorry.” I cracked my knuckles. The advantage of a headbutt meant keeping your hands clean, literally. “I think I mistook you for someone else.”
Nick scoffed. “Are you fucking kidding me? You broke my nose because you thought I was someone else?”
Asher stared at me like he didn’t believe a word I was saying.
“Yeah,” I sighed. I wasn’t about to get into it with Nick. The fucker didn’t deserve an explanation.
I pulled my keys from my pocket.
“Well, accidents happen, eh. Let’s just pretend it happened on the ice. No hard feelings, mate,” I said to Nick.
He watched me with his mouth hanging open.
Marcus sighed and shook his head. “Yeah, fuck it. I don’t care about this. See you at practice tomorrow.” He made for his motorcycle parked at the curb.
“Not me, I’ll be in London,” I reminded them. “Keep my spot warm, and try not to suck too bad without me.”
“Fuck you.”
I held up the middle finger as I walked away, heading for my car.
Selena would be home by now. It was time for a little reminder of the rules, it seemed, since she couldn’t seem to stop breaking them.
I stepped into the kitchen half an hour later and narrowly dodged an apple flying toward my head. I grabbed it out of the air, my hockey reflexes serving me well, and looked at my attacker.
Selena stood behind the island in the middle of the kitchen. She’d taken off the oversized cardigan she’d had on over her black tank top and jeans. Her hair lay in ribbons around her shoulders, well brushed for once. She’d made an effort for that guy. She didn’t look like herself. It pissed me off even more.
“You dropped this,” I said to her.
She narrowed her eyes at me and picked up another apple, throwing it at me with a far-too-accurate aim.
It bounced off my shoulder and fell to the floor.
“Don’t waste food, heathen?—”
“Why? Is it against your rules?” she challenged.
“Because it’s fucking rude and ungrateful,” I corrected her, grabbing the apple off the floor and holding it up for her to see. “You can have this one. Don’t let it go to waste.”
“Brody!” Selena banged her hand ineffectually on the countertop. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
You.
I set the fruit down and shrugged, rotating my tight shoulders.
“I told you not to break the rules, so I had to remind you of what happens when you do. Simple.”
I leaned back against the counter that ran around the kitchen. Selena slowly rounded the island, heading for me.
“You told me not to break your bullshit rules and then decided to assault someone to make it stick?”
I shrugged. “Why not? He’s a hockey player. He gets hit in the face all the time, couldn’t you tell?” I waved a hand in the vicinity of my face. “It’s all messed up. That can’t be his first broken nose.”
“Are you seriously just insulting his looks now and taking no responsibility for hitting someone?”
“Why don’t we try this?” I lifted a finger and poked Selena in the shoulder. “Youtry taking responsibility for once.”
