~~Gage~~
Alisa was going out with that asshole hockey player. I couldn’t believe it. Couldn’t fathom what she saw in him compared to me. I knew her rep for breaking hearts and sauntering away while leaving men groveling at her feet. Now I was one of the grovelers, vying for any scrap she might throw my pathetic direction.
My life was going to shit from football and personal to academic. I probably wouldn’t graduate. I couldn’t come back and finish because I had no money. What a difference a year made. Last year I was flying high, big man on campus. All the guys wanted to be me, and the girls wanted to be with me. I had it all.
Then I didn’t.
I flopped on the couch in the living room and checked my watch. She should be coming downstairs any second for her date. The jealousy ate at me from the inside out. Somehow in the back of my deluded mind, I’d always seen myself with her in the end. Once I’d made it in pro football and truly had the money everyone thought I had now. A girl like Alisa would never settle for a guy who had nothing to offer. Right now, that was me.
Meanwhile, that asshole Easton was some kind of hockey phenom. Even worse, he actually wasn’t an asshole. Speak of the devil on skates, he walked into the room as if he owned it. He sat his butt on the edge of the end table and regarded me with unreadable eyes.
“Yeah?” I said grumpily, in no mood to play games with him.
“Are you okay with this?” To his credit, he honestly sounded concerned.
“She and I don’t have anything going. Why would I care?”
“You obviously do care, dude.”
I glared at him. He looked back, his expression completely benign.
“She’s free to go out with whoever she pleases. Leave it at that.”
“Whatever you say.” He shrugged.
Alisa sashayed into the living room at that very moment as if on cue. My heart caught in my throat, and my dick stood at attention. God, she was stunning in a pink mini with a flowered, formfitting top that scooped low in front. I swallowed and licked my lips.
“You are fucking beautiful.” Easton stumbled toward her as if his feet forgot how to take steps. I wanted to beat the bastard to a pulp. Taking a deep, cleansing breath, I forced my gaze away from the happy couple and back to the television. I couldn’t have told you what was on it, but at least I looked as if I was watching it.
“Good night. Don’t wait up for us.” Easton’s laughter followed him out the door.
“Fuck you,” I muttered, unable to prevent my gaze from straying to the two of them as they walked close together down the sidewalk toward the street where Easton’s compact car was parked. They were laughing and talking like they were having the time of their lives.
I was dying inside. Their obvious interest in each other was killing me slowly, like shallow stabs to my gut.
Alisa was supposed to be a hookup. We’d had a good time last year. The sex had been epic. Her body was exceptional. The things she did to me were mind-blowing. Only there was something else, and I’d refused to acknowledge that something last year. Her refusal to have sex with me was only part of it. She’d been my go-to person, someone I’d leaned on, and I hadn’t even realized it.
I watched as Easton opened the car door for her and helped her into the passenger seat. He shut the door behind her smiling face and hurried to his side and got in. They didn’t leave immediately, but I couldn’t see what they were doing because of the tinted windows. I dug my fingernails into my thighs. Were they making out already? My blood boiled in my veins. She was mine. Damn it. Not his. Yet I had no claim on her. Never asked for one. Never made anything permanent, despite her having been there for me day and night when I lay in that hospital bed. I’d thanked her by leaving and not contacting her once.
No wonder she was done with me.
I’d never asked her out on a real date.
I’d never considered she might want to date me. Perhaps that’d been my fatal mistake.
~~Alisa~~
What was I doing on a date with Easton? He was a genuinely nice guy and my roommate. Last year, I would’ve hooked up with him because he was hot. This year, I’d sworn off hookups. I had to do so, as the soon-to-be-revealed Princess of Cuthbert. I’d begged the royal family to wait until I graduated from college with my bachelor’s in art history, which was the end of this quarter.
Besides, random hookups didn’t do it for me anymore. God know I’d tried a few times to purge Gage from my head, but nothing worked. I couldn’t go through with it, and I compared every guy to Gage.
Just as I was comparing Easton right now. He was a brawny guy with the big thighs and muscular ass of a hockey player I’d admired countless times. Gage was taller and leaner. More like a gazelle compared to an elk. Gage had always been the charmer, the golden retriever of the group. He didn’t seem to be golden this year but more along the brooding lines. I wasn’t sure about Easton. He was always ready with a smile and a dumb joke. He seemed comfortable in his own skin, where neither Gage nor I ever were if the truth be told. That underlying insecurity had been what had endeared him to me.
The waitress delivered a pizza to our table, and we ordered another round of beers. One beer wasn’t enough to give me a buzz, and no amount of alcohol could change my present position. Not only was I hooked on Gage, but I had to behave like a royal in order to prove my worthiness to the rest of my new family. My father, Prince Bennett, had hired a team of PIs to investigate my past. I’d been properly chastised for my escapades, applauded for my ability to sit a horse, and forbidden to do anything that would shame the family, which pretty much wiped out all my past vices.
“Alisa, you haven’t heard a word I’ve said.” Easton studied me over the rim of his beer glass.
“I’m sorry,” I said simply. He’d caught me, and I might as well own up to not listening to him.
“This isn’t going to work, is it? Logan and Mason warned me that you were still hung up on Gage, and I can already tell you’re not into me.”
“Easton, I’m—” I shrugged, unable to explain all the shit I was going through.
“I get it. It’s fine. Friends, okay?”
I nodded. He really was one of the good guys. Too bad my heart and my body were wrapped up in one of the bad guys. “Sorry.”
“No need to be sorry. I get it. You guys have history. Must be hard living in the same house.”
“You have no idea. We’re friends.”
“Definitely friends.” He grinned at me, showing a deep dimple in his left cheek. The girls on campus were going to be all over this guy come hockey season. He wouldn’t be lacking for female company.
“I hope Gage realizes how lucky he is.”
“It’s complicated.” I didn’t want to go into details of our weird non-relationship last year. The less said, the better. “I’m going through some life-changing stuff right now, and I think dating isn’t a good idea for me. It has nothing to do with you.”
He sighed heavily. “That’s what they all say.”
“I can’t believe women tell you that.”
“You’d be surprised, Alisa. Very surprised. I seem to know how to pick ’em.” His smile was wry, and his eyes were sad. I wanted to know why, but I didn’t press.
“I’m here if you ever want to talk,” I said with utmost sincerity.
He reached across the table for my hand and squeezed it affectionately. “Same here. I think you’re hiding something, and it’s killing you.”
“Not hiding exactly. It’s a secret I don’t have the rights to reveal. It’s out of my hands.”
He frowned, looking as confused as I felt. “Okay.”
I gently extracted my hand from his. “I’m thankful for a friend like you.”
“And so am I.”
My only date of the year ended on that note. As I’d been conditioned to do, I glanced around for cameras as we left the pub but found none.