Page 14 of Come Back To Me

Bodies filled the bar, not surprising for a Saturday night. But I was lucky enough to snag a booth in the corner all to myself. Lately, I seemed to be doing a lot of things on my own, case in point. Although it was because of Staci that I even left the house. Her band was playing tonight, and she was about ready to kick my ass when I told her I wasn’t in the mood to go out. She’d thrown her hands in the air, far more dramatic than I’d ever seen her, and said, “You’ve been having this pity party for over a week, and I’m calling an intervention. You’re coming with me to the bar.”

After an intense stare down I gave up. I’d been a pain in the ass this past week, even the guys on the team had said so, but I didn’t really care what anyone else had to say. If I was honest, I didn’t really care about much at all.

“God,” I muttered derisively, taking another sip of my lukewarm beer I’d been nursing for over an hour. “Pathetic.”

Stacie and her band took the stage, and everyone flocked to the dance floor. They were pretty damn good.

I was staring at the rim of my bottle, fiddling with the wrapper when the bench opposite me creaked. I looked up from beneath my lashes, and all but scowled at the person who decided to join me.

Fucking Aiden.

Bad enough I had to see him at the rink all the time. Now, he’d taken it upon himself to invade my personal time.

“You get lost?” The question came out as more of a bark, and before he responded the waitress stopped by our table. He ordered a round of fresh beers while the waitress looked at him seductively. He winked, and she returned the gesture with fuck-me eyes. She wasn’t unattractive, but she was a brunette, and brunettes were not my flavor of choice. Maybe if she piqued his interest enough he’d leave me the fuck alone. Even if I wanted company, he’d be the last person I’d invite to my table.

“Saw you sitting here all sad and shit, thought I’d keep you company.” The bastard smirked.

“You can leave,” I said dismissively. “I’m fine.”

The waitress reappeared, dropped our beers onto the table, and not-so-subtly passed Aiden a napkin with her phone number on it. She smiled, and strutted off. Aiden, however, was too busy staring at me to stare at her ass.

I resigned myself to the possibility that he wasn’t going anywhere, so we sat there in silence until I couldn’t take it anymore.

“Say what you want to say, Aiden. We both know this is not a ‘friendly’ visit.”

“Can’t a guy check on his Assistant Coach? You haven’t exactly been yourself this week.”

“Hmmm.” Our track record made me think he’s speaking through his ass.

“Seriously, man.” Aiden sat back, and fiddled with his beer bottle, but kept his cool, penetrating gaze trained on me. “We’re worried about you. You don’t hang out with the team anymore, and you’re snappy when we’re on the ice.”

I bristled, his observation too thorough for my liking. A denial was futile because lately I’d been giving the guys hell when they were on the ice, but what had me flummoxed is that Aiden didn’t seem to know why. In fact, nobody seemed to know why. Except Staci, but I considered her one of my best friends so I told her everything. I shouldn’t have to tell Aiden, teammate or not.

“The fact that I have to explain myself to you of all people says it all.”

I glared at Aiden, and he simply folded his arms across his chest, unfazed by my petulance.

“You really love her, huh?”

My body froze. Kenzi hasn’t been spoken about since the day I found out she was out of the hospital. Every Davis man carried on like was no big deal, like I wasn’t just as affected by Kenzi’s accident. They looked at me with indifference in their eyes because I guess nothing I had with Kenzi was real to them. But it was too me. And seeing her in the weight room the other night only fueled my anger, hammering in the realization that I was no one to her now, not even a memory. It wasn’t her fault, and it was unfair to hold her responsible for that, but it still hurt like a motherfucker.

“I’m not even going to answer that.” My jaw clenched. “Why are you really here, Aiden?”

He let out a ragged breath, and pulled his hands through his hair. He looked tired, dark circles under his eyes.

“Because we made a mistake,” he replied sullenly. “I didn’t think you meant it when you said you loved Kenzi. I thought you just wanted in her pants -”

“I don’t need to listen to this.” I started to rise from the booth, more than pissed, but Aiden grabbed my wrist.

“Let me finish, King.”

He dropped my hand, and kept talking, despite the aversion I had to sitting down and listening to whatever he felt the need to say.

“In about fifteen minutes, my sister is going to walk through those doors,” — he pointed to the front door of Stella’s - “On a date.”

My inhalation was sharp, an unwelcome pain lancing across my chest. I knew there was a chance this would happen, but fuck, I didn’t think it would be so soon. Fuck fuck fuck.

“Why are you telling me this?”