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I nod “Well, it couldn’t happen to two nicer people. They both suck.”

“Agreed.” He takes a sip of his iced tea. “So, you going to go after this guy or what?”

I sigh. “Cash? I don’t know. Probably not. He’s way too closed off for me. And I should keep things casual since he’s my brother’s teammate.”

“I’ve never known you to walk away from something you want,” he says dryly.

“That’s my professional personality. Personally, I’m not interested in changing anyone or setting myself up to be hurt. You should know me better than that.”

“Yeah, but this guy sounds…different.”

“Why? Because he plays hockey?”

“Because you’re still thinking about him.” His soulful dark eyes meet mine pointedly. “You can lie to other people—hell, you can lie to yourself—but don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not lying. I’m careful.”

“You say that with almost every guy you meet. He’s unavailable. He lives too far away. He doesn’t make enough money. He⁠—”

“Okay, stop. The thing with Diego wasn’t about money, it was about his lack of ambition. He didn’t want to work. Ever. All he wanted to do was surf all day and drink and fuck all night. That wasn’t my thing.”

Byron chuckles. “No, but did you ever notice that you seem to go for guys like that? Like you’re doing it on purpose, picking guys that have absolutely no chance with you, just so you can defend your choice to dump him.”

I roll my eyes. “Okay, Dr. Phil. Thanks for the free therapy session.”

He outright laughs this time. “No problem, girlfriend. But here’s my final thought on the matter. Just because your parents don’t love you the way you want to be loved, doesn’t mean that no one ever will.”

“I have my brothers and lots of friends. I’m perfectly happy with my found family.”

“Okay, then let’s go dancing tonight at Mira.”

Mira is a trendy new club that everyone wants to go to. There’s supposedly a list that’s miles long for anyone to get a reservation and as much as I love to dance, I’m not putting a thousand dollars into the hands of greedy bouncers so they’ll deem me worthy of getting in.

“I’m on the list,” Byron continues with a grin. “So, whatever you’re thinking is irrelevant.”

I guess there’s no reason not to go have a good time tonight. I’m completely single and I love hanging out with Byron. We joke about competing for the same guys since he’s gay, but in reality, we have very different tastes. Besides, I’m not interested at the moment.

“Fine,” I say with a playful smile. “Mira’s tonight.”

“That’s a good girl.” He pats my hand. “We’ll find you someone to make you forget all about that piece of hockey-playing deliciousness.”

I doubt there’s anyone, or anything, that can make that happen, but dancing is always fun.

“I’ll do your makeup,” Byron says, rubbing his hands together.

I laugh because he always does my makeup when we go out—and he always acts like it’s his opportunity to do something different.

“Of course.” I nod, suddenly a little excited about going out.

I’ve been in a little bit of a funk since my date with Cash.

In spite of everything, I like him. A lot. More than I should.

I think about him a lot too. Even though I shouldn’t.

Texting him about Shandy and Jake was probably unnecessary, but I genuinely didn’t want him to be blindsided or think I knew from the get-go and kept it from him. It shouldn’t matter but it does. He’s been betrayed by enough people in his life, and I don’t want to be another in a long line.

“Whatever you were just thinking about—don’t,” Byron warns.