Page 31 of A Shot at Love
She walked out of the bedroom and made a beeline for the door. Cam followed her, hot on her heels as he laughed, though she didn’t find anything amusing about the conversation.
“What’s the big deal? We’re both adults, Jules. Do you need me to give you the whole birds and the bees speech? Because I can.”
She covered her ears. “La la la. I can’t hear you.”
“Oh my god,” he groaned. “You’re suuuuuch a prude.”
”I am not!” Jules lowered her hands and slipped her feet into a pair of well-worn Birkenstock clogs. “I just don’t want to talk about sex with my brother because the last time I did, I found out that he’d slept with a woman who I had been seeing for a MONTH.”
“I didn’t know who she was!” He shouted in defence. “And I apologized!”
In all fairness, there was no way for him to know and Jules had been more upset at herself than anything because why would she ever allow herself to think someone wanted to be with herjustto be withher? That had been her first mistake, and one she strived to never make again.
“We’re not talking about this anymore,” she said, crossing the floor to give her brother a hug. She leaned into his taller frame and reached up to ruffle his shaggy blonde hair. “I love you, have a nice time in Miami. Remember, it’s only a three day trip so please don’t overindulge and I hope you bring me back a nice Christmas present.”
“A puka shell necklace?” He teased and Jules rolled her eyes.
“Guccisunglasses,” she countered, though she was only joking.
After one final goodbye, Jules stepped into the quiet hallway and looked around at all of the other slate grey doors. She knew Frankie lived on the samefloor as Cameron and she couldn’t keep curiosity at bay as she wondered which door Frankie could be behind right now. Her shoulders dropped and she shook the thought away then let out a heavy sigh and headed to the elevator.
Since the accident that took their parents, she’d never spent Christmas without her brother and it was easy to put on a brave face in his room, to joke and tease, to make light of a situation that he may not be as bothered by but as she stepped into the empty elevator to make the short trip down to her own floor, she covered her face with her hands and she let herself cry.
Chapter 17
Time seemed to pass by in a blur following the start of the Harbour’s inaugural season and Frankie had done her absolute best to stay busy because if she was busy, she couldn’t think about Jules. Her focus needed to be on her work, on her team, on keeping them in the top percentage of power play success in the league.
But the problem is…all shecouldthink about was Jules and the last time she’d seen her was two weeks earlier. She’d dismissed her at the practice rink as they’d passed by each other in the hallway and hadn’t been able to shake the crestfallen expression on the other woman’s face. They were friends, and she’d put that look on the face of someone she cared about.
Notjustfriends, but they were on their way to becomingclosefriends and then one day, when Frankie was feeling a little too much for Jules when they’d shared their moment over the hockey puck, she made the decision to stop things from progressing any further.
Jules didn’t deserve to be treated the way Frankie was treating her but she didn’t know how else to quell her own emotions other than to put up a wall between them, to keep things as surface level and as professional as possible.
Jules would understand if she knew why, she’d have to. Frankie was her brother’s coach and anything more than that was just too complicated.
And now it was Christmas. Frankie had a sense that this time of year was especially difficult for both Clarke twins, but what could she do about it? Send flowers? Call Jules to say she hopes she and her brother have a good holiday? She couldn’t do that, not after all of the time that had passed since that night in Boston.
With no family of her own around to spend the holiday with and her best friend staying in Sweden for Christmas and New Year’s, Frankie opted for a Christmas Eve workout in the condo's fitness centre, wanting to blow off some steam and hopefully expel some of her pent up energy.
She’d do a bit of boxing, hammer out a few sets of deadlifts, maybe even run on the treadmill until she couldn’t feel her legs anymore, until her lungs burned and she'd sweat out of her stress. If she were lucky, she’d work herself so hard that when all was said and done, her mind would be completely clear of anything related to Jules Clarke.
But when she stepped into the fitness centre and noticed another body, a very familiar body, on the far side of the room it seemed like the universe had other plans for her.
Jules was sitting on her ground with her back to the wall beside one of the large mirrors. With her knees pulled up to her chest and her eyes closed, she was seemingly lost in whatever must've been playing in her wireless earbuds.
Finding her this way, tucked into a shadowed corner of the room by herself was odd to Frankie and despite her own judgement, she crossed the room and came to a stop a few feet away.
Jules' cheeks were flushed like she’d just completed a workout but they also looked slightly tearstained, the fading tracks of salty tears running down the soft pink skin of her face and she looked so small sitting on ground curled into herself.
Frankie didn’t know if she should say or do something to get her attention but the decision was made for her when Jules let out a long, shuddering deep breath and slowly blinked open her eyes.
She wasn’t startled to find Frankie standing there but her eyes still widened in surprise before she swiftly pushed herself up off the floor and headed for the door without saying a word.
“Wait,” Frankie said, grabbing hold of her wrist to tug her back. The hold Frankie had on Jules was gentle and timid but she could still feel the same spark she felt anytime they were close.
“What do you want, Frankie?” Jules asked, deflating as she spun to face her. She took the earbuds out of her ears then stuffed them into a small pocket with her free hand before allowing her eyes to drop to Frankie’s fingers on her arm.
“I just…you looked – ”
