Page 338 of Power Play

He studied the vehicle as the doors opened. “No.”

Relief moved through me, tangled with something else I refused to call disappointment. Wanting to see her would imply hope. The hollow drop inside my chest was only my body searching for the person it had learned to expect.

My body would learn better.

“Want me to get the door?” Briggs asked.

“I’m not hiding in my own fucking lodge.”

“I didn’t say you were.”

I walked toward the entryway as the front door opened.

Bliss entered first and stopped beneath the vaulted ceiling. Her eyes widened as she took in the beams, fireplace, and enormous windows overlooking the lake.

“Oh my gosh.”

Cade followed with two grocery bags. His gaze found me immediately and moved from my black eye to Briggs’s swollen mouth.

“What the fuck happened to both of you?”

“Hockey,” Briggs answered.

Cade looked at the sunglasses resting on top of his head. “You don’t play for Flint.”

“Cross-organizational development.”

“You fought him.”

“I allowed Ryan to explore his emotions through movement.”

Cade’s eyes moved toward me.

“He trespassed.”

“In my defense, the door was unlocked.”

“The arena was closed.”

“Those sound like conflicting security failures.”

Bliss stepped closer and lifted her hand toward my bruised cheek without making contact. Her face crumpled for half a second before she controlled it.

“Are you okay?”

“No.”

She blinked, and I didn’t rescue her from the answer. Her hand dropped.

“I’m sorry, Ryan.”

The apology was so quiet that it almost disappeared beneath Cade setting the groceries on the floor.

I held her gaze. “You didn’t do anything.”

“I know, but I’m still sorry.”

Cade rested one hand against the back of her neck. Bliss leaned into him instinctively, and the tenderness between them struck a place inside me that was already bruised. I looked away.