Page 185 of Face Off

Recovery didn’t mean I would never become overwhelmed or that anger, fear, and uncertainty would stop affecting my body. Healthy people had moments when everything became too much. Feeling those things did not mean I was relapsing or transforming back into the woman Ryan left.

It meant I was human.

I pressed both palms against the cool stone railing and breathed until I trusted my legs again, but the question remained beneath every breath.

What didn’t I know?

I found Bliss and Aura near a private sitting area off the main hall with Cade and Easton nearby. Bliss had a clipboard in one hand and appeared to be explaining some wedding emergency while Aura listened with the expression she usually reserved for incompetence and misdemeanor offenses.

Bliss noticed me first. Her attention moved over my outfit before reaching my face.

“You freshened up for a suspiciously long time.”

Aura examined my mouth. “She didn’t spend that entire hour showering.”

Cade glanced toward the bar. “Ryan.”

Bliss grinned. “Seriously, how the hell did you two hide this before? You and Ryan are fucking combustible. The two of you made tacos look pornographic.”

Usually, I would have laughed. This time, I couldn’t.

“Stop.”

The word came out tighter than I intended, and Bliss immediately lowered the clipboard. “Charm?”

I looked at Cade, then Easton, before bringing my attention back to the two women who had known me longer than almost anyone alive.

“I need to talk to you and Aura.”

Bliss’s expression changed.

“In private.”

15

Charm

Ryan disappeared into the ballroom before I decided whether I wanted him to stay.

The groomsmen had begun their meet-and-greet near the east terrace, where former coaches, team executives, extended family, and enough wealthy strangers gathered to keep Cade trapped in handshakes for the next hour. Ryan paused when Rider called his name, his attention returning to me even while someone reached for his arm. The concern in his face made everything he’d refused to say on the patio hurt worse.

“I’ll talk to you later,” he said.

“You keep saying that.”

His jaw tightened. “Because I mean it.”

I folded my arms beneath my breasts and looked toward the ballroom before hope made me ask when later would come. “Go. Cade needs you.”

Ryan remained near the door for another second, watching me like he didn’t trust the calmness in my voice. I didn’t trust it either, but I’d spent too many years believing every difficult emotion required someone else to help me survive it. I could be angry with him without falling apart. I could hate what he withheld and still respect that he had the right to decide when his pain became a conversation.

None of that stopped me from wanting answers.

Ryan finally walked away. The backward hat made him easy to follow through the formal crowd, and my gaze stayed on him until Easton caught the back of his neck and pulled him into the circle around Cade. Briggs said something that made Ryan shove his shoulder. Rider handed him a drink without looking away from the man speaking to Cade, and within seconds, all five of them settled into the easy formation they carried everywhere.

They knew how to stand beside Ryan without asking him to explain why he needed them there.

The thought scraped across everything he’d said on the patio. I knew the events. I knew Ryan broke his hand, went to the hospital, and reported to Milwaukee early. I knew Briggs had been there for some of it and believed the bruises covering both men afterward meant they’d fought.