“Yep.” She sits back down, showing no regret for her harsh delivery. “He looked super happy. Told me to tell you hello.”

  I nod. “Nice. Well, hopefully for her sake, he can keep it in his pants.”

  I’m not upset my ex is moving on with his life. Well, I am. But not because I want it to be me doing those things with him. I want to find my own someone to do those things with.

  And as we sit in silence for a moment, I’m reminded why my sister and I haven’t ever been that close. We’re too different. She’s petty and selfish and retaliates with a vengeance when she thinks someone has wronged her. I would never deliver news I thought would hurt her like that.

  “Aren’t you over him yet? Jeez, Ande, it’s been like a year.”

  “Try eight months.”

  She laughs and rolls her eyes.

  At this point, I want to change the subject. “You know what, Trevor was telling me about a club we should go to tonight. Why don’t I ask him if he wants to join us?” I get up to retrieve my phone from the bedroom.

  “Is that your gay boss? You know, you amaze me, Candy Ande. You’re hung up on an ex who treated you wrong, then you go and hang around men who won’t ever have an interest in you.” She shakes her head. “I wish you’d just live like me for one night. You wouldn’t judge when you’re screaming in bliss.”

  I smile. “Let me go call Trevor.” I snag the bag of muffins and retreat to my bedroom.

  Lucky for me, I have a friend like Trevor, who is willing to run interference between my sister and me. The three of us, along with Trevor’s new guy, Gregg, wait in line outside the club. Pattie is flirting with the bouncer, and surprisingly, it’s not working for her.

  “Believe me, we’ve tried. No one skips the line except superstars and athletes.” Trevor puts his hand on her shoulder.

  “I could’ve used my connection,” she mumbles, and I ignore her. I’m not into listening to her brag about her conquests at the moment.

  Finally, some people leave the club—or maybe they were kicked out, I’m not sure. They don’t seem happy to leave, but them leaving means me going in, so I’m thrilled. We file into the club and it’s smaller than I thought, but I guess that’s why it’s elite.

  Right away, Trevor has shots from the bar and he’s swindling his way into a booth a group of people are leaving. The dance floor is packed and I’m already dancing in my seat. I really hope tonight is a good night. I want Pattie and me to have fun together.

  “To York, welcome to Florida,” I say, and we all clang our shot glasses together before tipping them back.

  “I thought your name was Pattie,” Gregg shouts over the music.

  I laugh. “That’s just my nickname for her. Her nickname for me is Candy Ande.” I raise my eyebrows, waiting for him to put two and two together. Which never happens.

  Trevor swoops in and saves the day. “Ande, the little mint chocolate candies, and York, the peppermint patties? They’re named after candy.”

  Gregg’s mouth opens and his eyes widen. “Oh, I wish I would’ve thought of that. Brilliant. Your parents were brilliant.”

  “Actually, they were drug addicts and abandoners, but thanks.” York hops down from the booth, dancing in front of us. “Come on!”

  “Just go.” I wave her off and that’s all she needed to head out to the dance floor by herself.

  “Should one of us…?” Gregg asks right before she disappears.

  “No. She’ll be fine. Probably won’t even come home with me tonight.”

  Gregg gives me a look of sympathy and runs his hand down my arm. “I guess that’s why you don’t choose your family, but you choose your friends.”

  Trevor puts his arm around my shoulders and kisses my temple. “Damn right.”

  For the rest of the night, we drink and dance. York is always a few people away, never really interacting with the three of us, but I can tell she’s got her eye on some guy who seems to be floating between her and another woman on the dance floor.

  Trevor has a constant stream of drinks flowing, and we basically only see York when she comes to grab one. I have so much fun it isn’t until we decide to go home and leave the bar that the lack of lasers and booming bass alert me to how drunk I am.

  I stumble on the sidewalk and Gregg comes to my side, holding me up. “Your carriage just turned into a pumpkin, darling.”

  “Let’s get these two home.” Trevor helps York, who is coming home with me, much to my surprise. Then again, it wasn’t for lack of trying on her part. “Then we can go back to my place.”

  “To fuck? You’re going to fuck, aren’t you?” I get into the back seat of the waiting Uber. “I need to get fucked. Do you know how long it’s been? So long, and of course the last guy I had it with was just the best. He ruined me. He screwed hard, but then he could be really soft too. I don’t think I ever came so much in a week in my life.” As the words leave my mouth, I already know I’m going to regret them when I’m sober, but I can’t seem to stop myself.

  My head hits the headrest and I close my eyes, remembering what it was like to be with Cory. Maybe I should call him for a booty call.

  “Who is this guy with the magical dick?” York asks.

  “Just this guy who wants to be with me, but he’s scary.”

  “Scary?” York asks, slurring a bit.

  “She means emotionally scary. He’s a great guy.” Trevor leans forward and looks at my sister. “Too bad you weren’t in town yesterday. Ande could’ve gotten you tickets to the game.”

  I close my eyes from the nausea rolling around my stomach.

  “What game?” York elbows me in the ribs and I want to tell her to back off, but it feels like too much effort right now.

  “The Florida Fury hockey game. We went last night.” Gregg turns around in the front seat. “Talk about having sweet dreams after a night of watching all those guys and the testosterone they’re throwing around.” He fans himself, and I laugh.

  “You follow Florida Fury hockey?” York asks me, sounding almost skeptical.

  I shrug. “I know someone who plays for them.”

  Her eyes widen. “You know one of the players?” She says it almost like she can’t believe it.

  I straighten up in my seat, ready to accept the challenge in her voice. “Yeah, I do.”

  “How did you meet him?”

  Trevor cuts in. “It’s the perfect meet-cute. Vacation fling. They met at a resort and slept together all week. Then she gets transferred here and she doesn’t look him up but ends up running into him at the supermarket. Then somehow we got invited to a barbeque and we got to see Warner Langley propose to Imogen Jacobs. So wild, I swear.”

  “Which player?” York completely disregards Trevor’s story, her eyes narrowed on me.

  I narrow my eyes right back. “Why do you care?”

  “The guy I was with last night is a Fury player,” she says slowly.

  I wave her off. “No way.”

  “Yes way.”

  “Who then?”

  “Cory Freeman. The new center.”

  I freeze, then slap my hand hard on the window. “I need out. Now!”

  The Uber driver stops, and I open the door, rush out, and throw up on the sidewalk. This cannot be happening.

  I knew Cory was too good to be true.

  “Do you want us to stay?” Trevor asks when the Uber stops outside my house.

  I shake my head. “No. You guys go enjoy the rest of your night.”

  York didn’t stop asking me questions when I got back in the car, but I didn’t want to answer her with some random Uber driver present. Finally, Trevor told her to stop and wait until we got home. So now she’s on my porch with her hand on her hip.

  “Well, call me if you need me. I’ll check on you tomorrow.” He kisses my cheek and heads back to the car.

  I retrieve my keys and unlock my front door. Even throwing up and the news of Cory sleeping with my sister hasn’t sobered me up completely. All I want to do is go to bed and wake up to a time before I ever met Cory.

  “Now can we talk?” York follows me into my living room, beelining right to my liquor cabinet.

  “What do you want to talk about? The fact we’ve slept with the same guy? Or the fact that said guy has been pursuing me hard since we reconnected here and now I find out about this?” I lie down on the couch.

  “It’s you,” she says in disgust.

  “What’s me?”

  “Nothing. I need another drink and I think you do too.” She brings over two shot glasses and a bottle of vodka.

  “If we’re doing a shot, can we at least flavor it?” I ask.

  “You have slim pickings here.” She pours two shots and I sit up on my couch, accepting one of them. “When is the last time you slept with him?”

  “Not last night.” I down the shot. “And you know what? I was actually starting to believe his bullshit. That he’d changed. That I was someone special to him.”

  York flips off her heels and sits cross-legged on the chair. “Men are pigs. See why I don’t let feelings get involved?”

  “Definitely.” Anger makes my cheeks heat.

  She pours another two shots and I down the second one without waiting to clink my glass with hers.

  “Slow down, you’ve already thrown up.” She tilts her head back and gulps down her shot.

  “That was because I found out we’ve slept with the same man!” I stand and grab my computer, pulling up images of Cory. Turning the screen to her, I ask with the hopes we’re wrong, “This is him? The guy you slept with last night?”

  She nods and tips the bottle to fill another round of shots. I let that one sit there because pretty soon I’m going to pass out and I’m way too angry to pass out.

  “Argh!” My hands fist at my sides. I want to punch something. Preferably Cory’s stupid face. I push the computer away. “I want to call him up right now and scream and yell and shame him for making me think he was a different kind of guy.”

  “It won’t do any good. That’s just the way guys are. I’m not sure why you think differently all the time.” York almost looks smug.

  I’m starting to think her way of living is way better than mine. She’s not having her heart ripped out and broken time and time again.

  “I want to get back at him.” I lean back on the couch. “Make him feel like I do.”

  I rest my head on the back of the couch cushion and close my eyes. Disbelief still courses through my veins, but I can’t stay in the dark any longer.

  Cory Freeman is a player.

  He played me on vacation and he’s playing me now. And that idiot doesn’t even know he slept with my sister last night. Probably thinks I’m still considering his stupid offer!

  “You said he’s been coming on to you hard lately?” York asks, pulling me from my thoughts.

  I open my eyes, pick up the shot glass, and take the last one. “Yeah. Jackass.”

  “Tell me about the vacation fling?”

  I spill the entire story to York. From meeting on the bus ride to the resort to the last day. How I slept with him and how the day he left the resort, I got offered a job here. That I thought it was creepy to contact him and doubled down on that when I saw all the action he was getting. Then how we ran into each other at the grocery store, the whole pretending Trevor was my boyfriend thing, and Cory calling me out once he figured out it was a lie. Lastly, I tell her about the conversations I’ve had with him lately. How I thought I might put myself out there and give the casual relationship he offered a try.

  Her eyes light up at that part.

  “What?”

  “That’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to lead him on, make him fall for you, and break his heart.”

  How did I not think of that? He can get a taste of his own medicine.

  But my excitement quickly fades. I don’t go around and purposely hurt people. “That’s not me.”

  “For once, do something for yourself, Ande. He totally played you and deserves it.”

  “But what if I fall for him?” I voice my biggest fear.

  She laughs. “I can see where that’s a concern of yours. I’ll make sure you don’t.”

  I bite my lip and she pours another two shots, lifting her glass up to me.

  “Let’s give him exactly what he gave us.”

  I pick up my glass and clink it with hers, downing more vodka and agreeing to deceive Cory. York is right. He didn’t think anything of playing me, so why not dick around with his emotions and see how he feels about it?

  “Now, one last thing.” York picks up my phone and hands it to me. “Text him that you’re all in.”

  I grab my phone and pull up his contact. I type out the sentence and my thumb hovers over the send button.

  “Just send it!” York says.

  I press down on the screen and off goes the message.

  No turning back now.

  I’m midworkout, unable to stop smiling, when Kane and Warner walk into the gym.

  “What’s got you so fucking happy, eh?” Kane asks, stripping off his sweatshirt.

  Warner stretches. “You’d think your fairy godmother just came to visit.”

  Kane stares at Warner with scrunched-up eyebrows. “What?”

  Warner shakes his head. “Fuck, man, Gen’s got me all messed up. We got in this big argument the other day about how Annabelle doesn’t need a fairy godmother to get what she wants. She can go after it just like every man in this world does. Suddenly, Gen’s telling me that she doesn’t wear heels for me, she wears them for herself.” He runs his hand through his hair, clearly stressed. “I know she was torturing me with those heels on purpose before we got back together, man.”

  Kane glances in my direction. “Is this real? Couples argue about shit like this?”

  Leave it to Kane. Sometimes I wonder if he’ll ever find a woman to settle down with. He’s a veteran in the league, stuck in his ways, and clearly not going to entertain his wife dictating how he can talk to his daughter.

  “Unfortunately, yes. If by chance our baby is a girl, I’ll treat her like a princess. But sure as shit, she’ll be on skates as soon as she’s walking. She’ll be going to spas with Imogen and playing hockey with me.”

  I situate myself under the bar and motion Kane over to spot me.

  “Enough about me, what’s up with you, Jet?” Warner stares at me while Kane heads to the top of the bench.

  “Ande’s finally agreed to see me. Got a text last night that she wants to give a casual relationship a try.” I push up the bar and lower it back down, but I don’t miss the look exchanged between the two of them.

  “I thought you wanted to get serious with her?” Warner asks.

  “I do. But this is all she’s willing to agree to right now.” I grunt as I lift the bar again.

  “Is she close to Jana by chance?” Kane deadpans.

  I crinkle my forehead. “No.”

  Warner waves. “That would be my wife she’s becoming besties with.”

  “No shit. I meant it as a joke,” Kane says.

  “Then laugh.” Warner raises an eyebrow.

  Meanwhile, I’m breathing out harshly with every rep and my arms grow tired.

  “I don’t laugh at my own jokes.”

  “Why not?” I ask.

  “Because that’s lame.” He looks at me. “Two more, Jet.”

  “Then you need to change your inflection. You’re all monotone, and what the hell is going on with you and Jana anyway?” Warner changes the subject.

  I’d be lying if I said I’m not intrigued as well. Supposedly the guy hates the woman, but anyone can see the way Kane looks at her.

  “Nothing is going on with us.”

  Warner nods. “Okay then. Jet, don’t tell him shit until he decides to open up to us.” Warner sits on the bench next to us.

  “What are you, five?” Kane shakes his head.

  I push up my last rep and Kane helps me get the bar back in place before I sit up and grab a towel. “What’s going down?”

  Kane blows out a breath and waves for me to get up off the bench. I do and he lies down in my place, Warner standing to spot him. “There isn’t anything going on. She’s the owner’s daughter. No way can she get involved with a player. Even if that player might retire this year.”

  “What?” Warner asks, looking at me with disbelief.

  Kane is older for the league, but he’s still got great performance on the ice.

  “Come on, guys, don’t act like you don’t notice it. I’m off. Just a bit, but off.”

  “No, I haven’t noticed. You saved thirty-five shots last game,” Warner says.

  “And let in three.” His voice is filled with disgust.

  “It’s not like we’re making playoffs anyway,” I grumble.

  “I haven’t said anything to anyone. I’m still mulling it over.” Kane finishes his reps and sits up. “Nothing’s final, so don’t mention this to anyone.” He gives Warner a stern glare because we all know he shares everything with Imogen.

  He’s quick to hold up his hands. “I promise, man, but retirement? You’re too young.”

  Kane snickers. “You only think that because you’re not too far off from me.”

  Which is probably the truth. I can’t imagine not playing this game. Every time I’m on the ice is a pinch-me-I’m-dreaming moment. But too soon, you’re not the young guy anymore. Soon you’re injured more than healthy. Soon you’re warming the bench with the rookies. And that’s a hard pill for any athlete to swallow.

  I get where Warner’s head’s at. He’s not old by any means, but he’s on the walkway to the door while Kane is already knocking on the door. I wonder how I’ll handle that when the time comes.

  “Enough about this depressing shit, tell us where you’re taking Ande for your first date?” Warner lowers himself onto the bench.

  “You know it’s gotta be big,” Kane says, sitting on the other bench while I spot Warner. “She’s finally given you a chance. Now you have to prove you’re worth it.”

  I shrug. “I just want to be alone with her.”

  “Okay, rookie, one piece of advice—do not try to sleep with her the first time you guys go out together.” Kane wipes his face.