Page 27 of Securing the Pucking Rebound

I watch her go, shock still ripping through me.

She’s almost at the elevator when I remember how to speak.

“Sienna?”

“Yes,” she hisses over her shoulder.

“When did you move in?” I knew that she was moving. Rett mentioned that we should help if we could, but the date clashed with their road games. And I would have been…well, fucking useless in a house move. But still. How the fuck did I miss that she’s my new neighbor?

“The day before the game against the Blackhawks,” she says, before the elevator doors open and she disappears from my sight.

“Shit,” I hiss once the doors have closed and she’s taken back downstairs.

Slipping back into my apartment, I close the door as quietly as I can—which is a joke, because my music had started back up while we were talking.

I race to my gym and hit pause on my cell.

The apartment falls into silence. The only thing I can hear is the pounding of my heartbeat in my ears.

Sienna Wentworth lives downstairs.

Like an idiot, my gaze drops to the floor as if I’ll be able to see through it.

Obviously, I can’t see fuck all, but I do the best I can, imagining her shuffling through her apartment and crawling into bed.

Fuck.

Sienna Wentworth lives downstairs.

I spent years convincing myself that I’d never see her again, that she was only going to be a distant memory. But now, all these years later, she’s literally within touching distance.

The only problem is, she doesn’t exactly give off the vibes that she wants me anywhere near her.

A smirk kicks up the corner of my lips.

Challenge accepted.

I lie awake for hours thinking about her.

I flick between wondering what she’s doing right now, if she’s getting the rest that she needs, and drifting back to memories of that summer.

It feels like a lifetime ago now. I’m not sure about her—I haven’t had the chance to spend all that much time with her—but I know that I’m a very different person to the boy she met back then. I guess it makes sense that she doesn’t recognize me. Fucking hurts, though.

I eventually drift off to sleep, but it’s not all that much different from being awake, because it’s full of dreams of her, and I wake up both frustrated and concerned.

Since the first moment I saw her in the club that night, all I’ve wanted is an excuse to get close to her. I guess I got my wish—she let me dance with her for a bit. But she made it more than clear it wasn’t going any further.

Fuck, was I jealous of Rett that night. I’d have given my left nut to take Sienna out the back and get a taste of what I wanted all those years ago.

A bitter laugh spills from my lips.

Even if I had the chance, I never would have done that. She deserves so much more than a drunken fumble in a club. A woman like Sienna deserves the world—more than me, or possibly any man alive, could give her.

I wasn’t good enough for her before, and I’m not good enough for her now. It’s not gonna stop me getting close again, though.

Even if it’s just to get her to remember.

I need her to look at me like she did back then. Like she thought I was something special. Like I had something to offer her. I didn’t; I had fuck all. But that didn’t matter to her. She wanted to hang out with me exactly as I was. It was a head fuck, considering I was trying to live a life where I didn’t fit in. I was like a square peg that was being forced into a round hole, and it just didn’t work. But with Sienna, I was just me. It’s been a long fucking time since someone has looked at me like that. Now, everyone wants something from me. Money, fame, a night to brag about. It’s exhausting, and despite loving my life and my accomplishments, I crave the easiness of that summer with her.