“However he was there?” Gray questions, nonetheless unable to wrap his head round it.

“He was,” Gary confirms, popping the chip in his mouth and chewing whereas I make some noise concerning the sport. He swallows, takes a sip of his beer, after which continues. “I used to be sitting within the stands with a teammate of mine. Wynter and her mother have been backstage, or no matter it’s known as, ready for her flip to skate. I regarded to my left, and up within the very prime row, hidden within the shadows, was Joe. I acquired up and sat beside him, and for the longest time, I didn’t say something. I simply sat there and waited him out. I wished to threaten him. I wished to inform him what a chunk of shit I believed he was. However I held my tongue, realizing he was as much as one thing.”

“What did he do?” Callan asks as he polishes off his beer.

“He instructed me he wished to see her skate in particular person, however that he didn’t need her to know he was there.”

“However why?” Zax questions. “I don’t perceive it. Why hassle flying all that means when you’re not going to make your presence identified?”

“He didn’t do it for her. He did it for himself. She was his offspring, and he was a competitor. A champion. He was additionally at her medical faculty commencement, the place she gave a speech to the category since she graduated on prime. Identical deal.”

I wipe a hand throughout my brow and absently level on the tv, simply in case we’ve got any curious eyes on us. “What you’re saying is he mainly stalks her for his personal ego, which I can completely purchase. I imply, he knew she moved as much as Boston. He knew what apply she was working for. Can we not assume he is aware of about Mason?”

“No purpose to assume that proper now,” he says. “To the very best of my data, he’s adopted her profession however hasn’t tracked her as an individual till she moved up right here.”

“Does her mother know?” Lenox asks, which, as at all times with him, is one other good query.

Gary shakes his head. “It might have upset her too, and I didn’t wish to smash these particular days for them. Plus, Wynter and Sonya are very shut. She by no means would have been capable of maintain that from Wynter.”

“However you’re telling Asher this for a purpose,” Zax surmises, glancing over his shoulder on the ladies after which again to us.

“All these occasions he confirmed up, he made positive it stayed a secret,” Gary maintains. “He didn’t wish to be in her life. He simply preferred how her accomplishments made him really feel. So why in any case these years has he all of the sudden modified his thoughts and made himself a part of her state of affairs?”

I scrub a hand over my face and shrug. “I don’t know. I don’t assume Wynter does both, and he’s been evasive when she’s requested.”

“You’re employed with him,” Gary asserts. “Your profession is nearly based mostly on him. Joe is methodical. He doesn’t do something with no purpose. I don’t know what his purpose for bringing Wynter again into his life is, however I do know he has one. Now you’re as wrapped up in it as she is.” He shifts in his chair, pinning me with this darkish gaze. “It may be nothing. It would simply be he’s lastly realized the error of his methods in any case these years and regrets the alternatives he made along with her. Or it could possibly be about one thing else. Simply maintain an eye fixed out. That’s all I’m suggesting.”

My buddies and I alternate seems to be. We’re not strangers to this form of factor. We grew up as well-known rock stars, our each transfer tracked by the paparazzi and followers. Now—except for Lenox, who lives off the grid, and Callan, who’s a physician—we’re all nonetheless well-known. Gray and I most of all.

However that is completely different.

This feels completely different.

I don’t get the sense that Gary would say something if he wasn’t suspecting that Joe was as much as one thing, and he’s proper. Why now?

* * *

Me: The place are you?

Me: Wynter? The place are you? Why can I not discover you after I know you’re within the residence?

With a growl of frustration, I wander from room to room. I had been hoping to coax my fairly girl again as much as the roof for a unadorned swim, however I can’t discover her, and he or she’s not returning my texts. Mason is asleep. Large man handed out early tonight—I feel it was all of the swimming and being handed round like a joint at a live performance from individual to individual all afternoon.

However meaning it’s grownup time, and it’s barely eight, and the place the fuck is Wynter?

The door to her previous room is closed and I faucet gently on the wooden after which plant my ear towards it. I don’t hear something, however I give it a strive anyway, turning the knob and getting into. The sunshine is on, and I hear noise coming from the toilet.

“Ice queen?”

She doesn’t reply, however I discover the sound of water sloshing. There’s a white gown on the mattress, and I contact the tender cotton, debating if I ought to go within the rest room. She’s clearly taking a shower, however why not do it in my bathtub until she desires privateness?

One thing on the ground catches my eye, and I bend down, discovering a series for a necklace I’ve seen her put on, nevertheless it’s lacking the jade stone that’s normally dangling from it. I search the ground and even beneath the mattress however come up empty. After I stand again up, I discover the nightstand drawer is open a tiny crack, and I ponder if possibly it fell in there.

I slide the drawer additional open, and a shit-eating grin splits my lips. No jade stone, however there’s a very fairly pink vibrator in right here.

Oh, ice queen. You naughty, horny girl. Lifting the graceful silicone machine, I run my hand over it. It’s not very massive, a number of inches at most, and formed like a bullet. My head swivels towards the toilet and the engaging sound of Wynter bare within the bathtub.

With a depraved grin on my lips, I stroll towards the toilet and slide the door open. “My queen?”

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