n P

ng against people I didn't bother to apologize

okay?" Grace's voi

les in my legs coiled tig

had been too sharp to dismiss as anger. Something was wrong. I didn't want to corner her or drag our past into the middle of a crowded party. I just neede

ing my momentum. "Carter! Heard you rearranged your

a defenseman with his arm in a sl

t now, Walker." I shoved his ha

other hand grabbed my shoulder. This

roduce you to the GM." Nathan stepped in

oulder into the house, but Claire was

ss-only tone. "Victoria "Tori" Brooks is waiting. You don'

growl escaping my lips. I couldn't blow off t

to stop moving.

Victoria "Tori" Brooks. I shook her hand, forced my mouth to form the rig

My eyes kept darting towar

The brunette woman-the one Claire had dragged away-was stand

ll here. They

Tori" Brooks off mid-sentence

walked away from the GM and my a

rying to block me, but I walked right pa

aw the back door slightly ajar, leading out to

r was cooler here, away from t

voice befo

hie! I need to leave right now. You

haking, thick w

even hatred-it wasn't this. She sounded frightened and close to breaking, and the need

She was standing there, her back to

. I stepped onto a dry twig. It s

o the grass. She spun around, her bac

ked like a trapped animal, her c

ugh and broken. I held my hands up, palm

r against the tree, her g

ked fear in her face stopped me. Whatever had happened between

ing from me?" I asked, softening my voi

h, a high, clear voice shatter

om

pped toward

est, and his light brown hair curled slightly at the ends. H

nd wrapped herself around him

ht embrace and looked over

art s

ue. Cornflower blue-the exact shade

the patio lights caught the d

dim

e's terror. The impossible m

in Claire's a