Page 5 of The Do-Over Girl

NASH

Icatch up to Rink after a few quick strides, not much of a challenge since he’s let himself go pretty much to seed, shamelessly dragging his dad-body across the walkway.

“That went well,” he says.

I snort. “’Bout what I expected.”

“You okay with that? With her holding that fiasco against you?”

I shrug.

“You ever going to tell her—”

“Nothing to tell.” I shouldn’t have to explain. She never should have put me in that position. A fucking ultimatum. In front of the entire senior class. She didn’t trust me after—fuck. After what we meant to each other, what we shared. The sting still burns me all the way down to my balls after all these years. I speed up my pace, forcing anger in to soothe the hurt.

Fuck me—after all these years? Really?

“Maybe I’ll tell her,” Rink says.

I stop short and grab his arm, pulling him to a stop with me a few feet from the doors of the old arena, which looks worse for the wear, I notice. I don’t bother looking up at the big block lettering above the doors announcing the building’s name.

“No. You tell her anything, and I’m out of here.”

“Shit, man. How are you going to work together if she’s holding a grudge—which she clearly is.”

“Maybe she’ll get religion and apologize.”

He barks a laugh. “You’re a piece of work.” He shakes his head like he feels sorry for me, and I arch a brow because…what the fuck? He says, “You haven’t learned a single damn thing about women in all these years, have you?”

“Hell, yeah, I have. I can tell you a dozen ways to make a woman writhe until she begs me—”

He throws up his hands. “No, don’t tell me. I believe you. But you know what I mean. You know nothing about having a relationship. It’s not the same as when we were kids and chock full of hormones and youthful exuberance.”

“No shit.”

“Shit. Yeah. Women can be complicated. You need to apologize to her—”

“Fuck no. Not happening.”

“Then how do you expect to work together? We’re counting on you—”

“Don’t worry. I’ll work with her. Either we’ll be cool and civil, or… maybe I’ll get her all hot and bothered.”

He shakes his head and slaps my back. “Put away your tom-cat hat, Nash. You’re not in Boston anymore. This is the same small town it always was, possibly smaller. And the gossip’s thicker than ever. We want good publicity. No nonsense. No scandals.”

“Too bad. We could bring lots of attention if we had a scandal. But for the life of me, I can’t think what would be scandalous about me hooking up with an old flame for the hell of it. I’m sure as hell going to need something besides coaching some kids to keep me busy.”

“Oh, there’ll be plenty to keep you busy. Forget about Kali Austin in your bed. The last thing we need is for you to blow up our plan to save the school. After the season is up, you’re on your own, and you can knock yourself out screwing whoever you want.”

I nod. “Message received.” We push through the rusty blue doors with the faded bull mascot logo in red and step into the rubber-matted lobby. The snack bar is on the left, where it always was, and the ticket window and pro shop are on the right. A pleasant sensation floods me along with memories of back when we were on the team, when my star was on the rise, and I was on top of the world with my future spread out before me like a sumptuous dinner—or a sumptuous woman—same thing, I suppose. Kali. What we had… I shake my head to toss aside those thoughts.

“Same old APA Arena,” I murmur.

He nods. “Unfortunately, the only changes are wear and tear.”

“Maybe that’s the first order of business before the season starts. Give the old APA Palace a facelift, rejuvenate the old girl.”

He snorts, and I follow him down the hall toward the coach’s office and the locker rooms. He unlocks the coach’s door and throws it open, allowing me to enter before him.