“Did you sleep with him?” she demands, her eyes wide.

I laugh. “Jeez, Skylar, really? I wouldn’t even sleep with Allen, which reminds me, he gave Ellen crabs. They were fucking. But anyway, you think I’m gonna sleep with some guy I just met? I’m not a slut, thank you!”

She makes a face. “Ew, he gave her crabs? While messing with you?”

“We weren’t messing, just talking.”

“Yeah, but still that’s icky. You should kick his ass.”

I shrug. “I guess if I cared, I would.”

“True, ’cause if you’d cared you wouldn’t be asking about the sex-on-legs Jude Sinclair,” she says, waggling her eyebrows at me.

I laugh as I nod. “Yeah, you’re right. He is really sexy.”

“Oh, girl. I saw him go through his initiation last year at the frat, and let me say, it was mighty hard for him to keep his goodies in the boy shorts he was wearing. Not to leave out that the man is ripped, I think his abs have abs, but he’s also covered in tattoos.” She lets out a dreamy sigh. “He is… God, he is so fucking hot.”

I snort with laughter as I fall back on my bed. My body is automatically hot at just the image that is running through my mind. “Yeah, I saw him fully clothed, and it took everything out of me to look the other way.”

“Yeah, he has that effect on women.”

“So he says,” I add and she laughs.

“Oh yeah, he’s cocky as hell too, but that comes with being the best player on the Bullies team.”

I come up on my elbows, looking over at her. “He’s a hockey player?”

She nods, a lusty look coming over her face as her eyes darken in color. “Oh yes… He knows exactly how to handle his stick. Great hands. Wonderful hand-eye coordination.”

I can’t believe how hard I’m laughing, and soon she’s laughing with me. Rolling onto my side, I shake my head at her mischievous smile and ask, “Is he seeing someone?”

Her lips curve even more as she shakes her head. “No, Jude doesn’t date or see anyone. He sleeps with girls and lets them go.”

My smile falls. “You haven’t slept with him, have you?”

“In my dreams, yes, over and over again, but no, I haven’t had the pleasure. He says I’m too nice – I think he’s scared of my thighs.”

Skylar does have some monstrous thighs, but it’s muscle; she likes to ride bikes and dances, too. She’s superfit and most guys are scared of her, which is stupid, in my opinion. I laugh as relief floods through me. Thank God, she didn’t sleep with him. Girl code and all, I wouldn’t try, but now that she hasn’t touched him, I might consider it. Oh hell, who am I kidding? There was nothing to consider.

I want him.

“So he’ll be there Tuesday?”

She nods as she marks in an answer on the paper she has in front of her. “He’s the captain, of course he will be. His opinion matters a lot. He slept with Rachael at one point, and she does everything to make him happy in the hopes he’ll come back. Which he won’t.”

“Interesting.”

“That’s for sure, but what’s more interesting is that look in your eye. I usually only see it when you’re determined to get a dance done. Never saw it concerning a guy.”

I roll my eyes before lying on my stomach to place my head on the pillow. “It’s nothing.”

“Sure, it is,” she says back with a grin. “Something big, and I can’t wait to see what happens. Jude won’t know what hit him when you come strolling into his life.”

“Oh, hush,” I say, but then we start laughing like banshees because we both know she’s right.

The feeling that comes over me is somewhere between thrill and fear, but I like it.

I’m not looking forward to this dinner at all.

Jayden drives us out to our family’s home on the outskirts of Nashville. Dad wanted something secluded but also close enough to the city, and he got that in our huge country-style house. Growing up here was good, being only years apart, I grew up with two best friends instead of brothers. Yeah, we fought, and I’m pretty sure Jayden almost killed me once, but they are the two I would do anything for, after kicking their asses, of course. When we weren’t rough, tough hockey players, we were soldiers, hunters, and ninjas getting lost in the nature that surrounded our house. There wasn’t a time when my mom wasn’t hollering for us and when we weren’t constantly ganging up on Lucy. It was a great childhood, one with a great mom but an absent father.

Turning onto the driveway that leads us through the forest to our home, I pull out my phone to check my Facebook before I won’t be able to. My mom has a basket by the door where our phones and keys go. All the people we care about are in one room, why do we need a phone, she always says. Pulling up my search bar, I type Claire’s name and smile when her profile comes up. This isn’t the first time I’ve done this since seeing her yesterday, and I can’t help but feel the desire to look through her pictures. To know her. She has her stuff on private, so I’m only able to see tagged pictures and her profile pictures.

There are tons of pictures of her with kids and some of her in dance gear teaching little bitty kids. When I come to one of her wrapped up in a man’s arms, I pause. They kinda look alike; he’s huge with blond hair and blue eyes, but his nose is the same as Claire’s. They are both grinning, obviously happy, and nothing but love comes from the picture. It must be her dad, but he doesn’t look old enough to have a daughter her age. When I go to the second picture, it’s her with the guy and then another woman. She’s lean, but thick the way I like my women. She’s stunning, long brown hair and brown eyes that shine off the screen. She looks nothing like Claire, but she looks at her like Claire is hers. It’s weird, and I want to know who they are. I have a feeling I know the guy. I’ve seen him somewhere, but I can’t place him, my thoughts are too flooded with Claire’s gorgeous face.

When we finally reach the house, I turn off my phone and tuck it in my pocket, hopping out of the car just as Angie comes wobbling toward the car from my sister’s arms. She’s littler than most kids and just started walking a few weeks ago. Her brown hair is in spurts all over her sweet head. Her green eyes are shiny and wide as she screeches when she reaches me. She looks just like Lucy, which is good. We don’t want anything reminding us of that jerk-off, Rick.