Arden
Also, could you swing by after you're done? I want to talk about your offer.
It’s the second text that has my heart racing. That conversation in the cafeteria was my last chance, I felt it. I offered a deal so sweet, so ridiculously beneficial, that she’d be silly not to take it. If Arden doesn’t agree tothis,there is no world where she ever signs up for this whole scheme at all.
I might just get lucky here.
I tend to go straight back to the condo after weekday games on home ice. If I’m not going right to bed, I’m cracking a beer and playing a few hours ofCall of Dutywith the boys. Weekend games are a bit different. I like to enjoy my free time, and my favourite way to do that is going out with my buddies, spending time with beautiful women, and holding a frosty drink in my hand.
It’s a Monday.
I don’t do things on Mondays. Apparently, I’ll forgo my routine if it involves meeting up with pretty redheads who have pouty, perfect lips.
Me
Absolutely. Want dinner? I’m starving.
I haul my clothes out of my stall and start pulling them on, my head buzzing too loud to tune into the chatter around me. Saltzy’s talking quietly to Lowesy a few feet away. It looks serious, and Declan’s nodding along, but he’s wearing that expression he usually wears when Saltzy starts pissing him off.
Cap’s a difficult nut to crack. Sometimes, it feels like you’re talking to a machine. Lowesy hates that.
Boss is on my other side, fully dressed already, nose buried in his phone. Reno and Lark are trying to talk to him, but he’sbecome a professional at ignoring them now that they’re technically not rookies and have become less scared of him.
My phone vibrates again.
Arden
No, that’s fine.
I shake my head at nobody. What’s with women and their inability to make a choice when it comes to food?
Me
Fine. Hypothetically, which would you prefer? Chinese, burritos, or sushi?
Those three bubbles pop up in our chat, and fuck me, my heart does a little swoop. She makes me nervous. Me.Nervous. She has all the power here. I have nothing but hope.
It’s a bit strange, isn’t it? Being so far away from someone, but knowing they’re doing the exact same thing you are in this very moment. That they are staring at this same thread of messages, these words that you’re constructing for each other, trying to figure out what to say next.
I watch, facing my stall in nothing but my underwear and my dress shirt. Those three dots stare at me forminutes. Literally minutes. I don’t know what the hell she could be typing out, but my question wasn’t thatcomplicated.
“All good?” Lowesy asks me, finally breaking away from Cap.
I glance over my shoulder at him. “What? Yeah.”
He nods toward my phone. “You’re staring at that like it has the power to ruin your life.”
It does.
“Just Arden,” I say, lowering my voice.
His brows skyrocket. “She’s choosing to talk to you? That’s good.”
I don’t tell him that I practically forced her hand. That’s a need-to-know detail.
“She wants me to go over tonight to talk about our…relationship,” I tell him carefully.
My phone buzzes. I jump to look at it.
