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The event was being held at The Dunes. Leonard would have a heart attack seeing me back again, no longer just a lowly staff member he could insult but an honored guest and representative of HHU’s hockey team.
We’d only been inside the huge ballroom ten minutes when Marcus swore. “Winter at nine o’clock, asshole in tow.”
I took a deep drink of one of the cocktails they’d been passing around and turned to see the object of my obsession. She was standing beside Trent while he shmoozed with some older men. I’d have thought he’d forgotten that she was there, she was so blank and uncommunicative, like a lifeless doll, except he kept glancing over at her, reaching out to pinch her cheek or slide his hand over her lower back. The fucker couldn’t believe his luck that she was there, letting him touch her. But why was she? That was the most important question and one I kept coming back to time and again. Why? What had the motherfucker done to convince her?
Her eyes met mine across the room, and it was like being kicked by a horse in the fucking chest. My heart stopped beating and held its breath.
Trent seemed to notice she was distracted after a moment and followed her gaze. His gaze landed on me, and he smirked. Then he pulled her close and leaned in.
The dead man was about to kiss her. He was about to kiss my girl, and she wasn’t doing a damn thing to stop it.
I only barely held myself back from shouting across the room or tearing over there and ripping his goddamn head off. Instead, I forced myself to watch. Trent went to kiss Winter, and she abruptly moved her head so his mouth landed on her cheek. Other than that vicious head swivel, she just stood there, an empty bag of bones, staring at me.
When he pulled back, she clamped a hand over her mouth, like she felt sick. A moment later, she had disappeared, and I could bet on where she’d gone.
“Leave it, man. That business looks like a whole lot of trouble, and not the fun kind,” Marcus remarked, having watched the entire thing.
“I don’t care if it’s fun or not…Winter is my business, period. That motherfucker is the reason for all of this.”
Marcus cracked his knuckles. “So, we grab him, and make us tell him what’s going on.”
“No. Winter hasn’t gone to this much fucking effort for nothing. I want to know what’s going on and I want to know from her. She’ll open up to me willingly, or I’ll make her.”
“Who said romance is dead?” Marcus chuckled grimly and slapped me on the back. “Have fun.”
I turned and strode away in the direction of the bathrooms. I waited for a few ladies to leave the restroom before pushing in.
I got lucky, as only Winter and one other woman were in front of the mirror. As soon as I came in, the woman looked around, panicked.
I jerked my head toward the door. “Leave, now.”
I didn’t have to tell her twice. She scurried out of the room, leaving me alone with my Ice Queen.
She watched me in the mirror. Cautious.
“What is it, Ash? Trent will be expecting me.” Her voice was emotionless.
“That fucker can wait. I want to speak to my girlfriend.”
“I’m not your girlfriend anymore, and I never really was. It was just a game,” she muttered.
I crossed the room to her and hauled her into my arms, her back to the counter.
“Call what we had just a game one more time, I fucking dare you,” I growled at her.
She wet her lips. A pulse in her neck was thumping like crazy. She was nervous. Afraid? Why was she trying to stop me from slaying her dragons for her?
“Of course it was a game. I mean, what else could it have been?” she challenged.
She was trying her best to be cool, but I could see through it.
“It was the start of everything, and we both know it. You’re in love with me, DeLaurie, just like I’m in love with you — nothing you say can change that.”
She scoffed, while her creamy cheeks turned pink. “Love? I don’t even know if I’m capable of love, I’ve certainly never seen it demonstrated. Between my parents’ mutual apathy and your single-mom family, I’m not sure that either of us have any idea what real love should look like.”
“It looks like this, like us — because we love each other. That feeling in your chest, like something is missing every second we’re apart? That’s our love. I know you feel it, you’re not a good enough actress to convince me you don’t.”
She stared at me for a long time and then shrugged. “Well, I don’t know what to say, then. I think you’re projecting. I’m not in love and have never been. Love — what a joke. It’s just a fairy tale designed to placate the masses and make them think their lives have meaning when they don’t. Nothing has meaning, really, when you think about it.”
