Colby notices.
“Sadie,” Darren says. Not warm. Not apologetic. Possessive.
I lift my chin. “Darren.”
His gaze cuts to Colby, then to Jillie, then back to me.
“This is getting a little ridiculous, don’t you think?”
Every nerve in me sparks. “Excuse me?”
He gestures between the three of us. “Playing house with a hockey player. Dragging Jillie into it. Letting the whole town watch.”
Colby goes very still beside me. Not angry. Worse. Calm.
Darren mistakes that calm for weakness.
He always was bad at reading people who didn’t need to raise their voices.
“I mean,” Darren continues, forcing a laugh, “come on, Sadie. We all know what this is. He’s passing through. Guys like him don’t stay for women like—”
“Stop,” Colby says.
One word.
Quiet.
The entire parking lot seems to notice.
Darren’s mouth tightens. “This doesn’t concern you.”
Colby steps forward just enough to place himself between Darren and Jillie.
Not dramatically.
Not aggressively.
Simply enough that my daughter no longer has to look at the man who once taught her how to build blanket forts and then left without saying goodbye properly.
“It concerns me if you’re upsetting them,” Colby says.
My breath catches.
Darren scoffs. “Them?”
Colby does not blink. “Yes,” he says. “Them.”
Chapter ten
Colby
The Jealous Ex
I have taken hits from six-foot-four defensemen moving at full speed.
I have played through a separated shoulder, broken ribs, and a concussion nobody caught quickly enough because playoff hockey turns everyone temporarily insane.
None of that has prepared me for the specific rage of watching Darren Hale smirk at Sadie in an elementary school parking lot.
