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Winter smiled at me, taking a sip from her water bottle then setting it down.

“Seriously, though, you should go for it. As far as I know, you haven’t gone there since everything happened with that motherfucker, Trent.”

And his friends.

“I haven’t,” I confirmed. “I haven’t even thought about it. Honestly, I barely missed it. Until lately.”

Winter’s eyes grew round. “Wait, you’re serious? So youdolike him then. Something is going on between you two?”

“I don’t know,” I confessed. “I don’t know what’s going on, or whatcaneven go on… but yes, there’s something.”

Winter leaned over, pulling me into a sudden hug. It was surprising because she really wasn’t a hugger.

“I’m so happy for you,” she murmured into my hair.

“You’re making it into a way bigger deal than it is!” I protested.

“No.” She gave me a squeeze. “It is a big deal.”

Yeah, maybe it was. Tears pushed at my eyelids. Was I seriously tearing up right now? Yes, a little.

“Wow, ladies, is it good news or bad news?” someone said behind us.

Winter eased back, and we turned to see Nick standing there. I gasped. His face looked even rougher than the last time I’d seen him, with bruises from tonight’s game already popping up along his jaw. And that had been with his cage on.Ouch.

“Oh God, are you okay?” I asked and stood.

“Yeah, well, apart from the fact that we’ve got a total psycho who can’t remember we’re on the same team, I’m fine.” He rubbed at his jaw. “It looks worse than it feels.”

“Good.”

“Here,” he said and passed me a drink. “I got you a drink. I thought we could hang out. As friends, you know.”

I had a creeping suspicion that it was us hanging out as friends during intermission that had gotten his face busted up, but that couldn’t really be right. Surely not? Brody wouldn’t take his jealousy that far, would he?

“I could use a friend to talk to right now,” Nick added, laying on the guilt.

“Of course,” I replied and nodded to Winter. “Just going to take a lap with Nick.”

“The guys will be here soon,” she reminded me.

I knew she meant Asher and Brody. Brody and Cal had both effortlessly drifted into the company of the Ice Gods. That was just what happened when two players like them appeared. The cream of the crop always rose to the top.

Winter narrowed her eyes at Nick and shrugged. The move screamed that it was his funeral to be caught with me once Brody arrived. So, I wasn’t the only one who thought he’d smashed Nick’s face in during the game for no good reason…

We walked over to a nearby sofa and sat.

Nick glanced at the drink in my hand. “Don’t forget your drink.”

I looked down at the drink and gave it a quick sniff. The too-sweet smell of the cocktail hit my nose and put me off. I hadno interest in starting to drink again. But I also didn’t want to hurt Nick’s feelings, especially when he was having such a shitty night. I guessed it was time to pull out my acting skills.

“Are you okay?” I kept the lip of the glass around my mouth, making it look like I was sipping it. I didn’t feel like defending the fact that I didn’t want to drink right now.

“I mean, since Sinclair joined the team, not really,” he sighed. “Brody, not Callahan.”

“He goes by Cal,” I found myself saying.

“Right. He’s fine, an amazing player, doesn’t interfere in other people’s business. But Brody, that fucker thinks he can run the world.”