He couldn’t be more wrong. I busted my ass to put myself back together after my parents died, and where I was today was living proof of that work.
“Uh oh,” Grace said, and I snapped my eyes to hers. She and London and Savannah were looking at me with raised brows. “I know that look,” she continued. “Who are we scrapping with today?” she teased, pretending to roll up her sleeves.
“No fights tonight, London,” the bartender said. “I really don’t want to have to pick up another Reaper off the floor.”
London laughed, waving her off. “No fights, Echo. Promise.”
I huffed a dark laugh, but the anger over everything still sizzled in my chest. “I just…” I shook my head, my emotions storming too fast to form a coherent sentence. “I feel like it wouldn’t kill…some people…to say hello once and a while, you know? Like, would it really kill him to acknowledge that we work together and that maybe, just maybe, he’s gotten a killer deal out of the partnership?”
“It wouldn’t kill him, no,” Grace said, nodding along with my rant.
“He should definitely be more gracious to you,” London said, flashing me a pitying look.
And that—despite the kindness in her eyes—was something I so didn’t need. Her pity, because no doubt Sterling had told her everything, especially if Cormac had told him the full story. God, NHL teams were as gossipy as a high-school party.
“You could just go talk to him,” Grace stated the obvious, and it was like a lightbulb flicked on in my brain.
Yeah, I could.
Because I was a strong, independent woman, goddammit. I’d worked hard to become the woman I was today. I would not and could not let a man like Cormac Briggs make me feel…make me feel…well, like some lust-starved woman in desperate need of his services. I didn’t care how damn good he smelled, he was just a man. A man I worked with. A man I’d selected for a huge endorsement deal.
That’s it.
A man who nearly made you come from just a kiss.
Nope! I set down my empty drink, blaming it and the previous one for my internal ranting, and hopped off my barstool.
Grace laughed and clapped behind me while London whispered good luck.
My stilettos clicked against the hardwood, and I felt every step like a blow to the chest. And by the time I got to his table? The strong, independent woman inside me was floundering. Because he pinned me with a stare so intense chills skirted over my skin. With just a look, my knees trembled.
“Cormac,” I said, hating that my voice cracked.
“Bristol,” he mimicked my tone, taking a sip of his ginger ale. “Did you need another measurement or something?”
Sterling whistled and tried to hide behind his drink.
I narrowed my gaze, popping a hand on my hip. “No,” I blurted the word, sounding so much like a high school girl I cringed. “Are you too good to say hi to me?”
Caspian raised his brows, his eyes darting between me and Cormac.
Cormac shoved back in his chair, standing to his full height before he came around the table. Even in the four-inch heels, he towered over me. Prick.
“We do need to talk,” he said, jerking his head toward the back of the bar.
I followed him, because of course I followed him. I knew the odds of him throwing an insult or telling me off again for the past were likely, and still, I walked right behind him into a small room filled with extra tables and supplies, and watched him close the door behind us.
The breath in my lungs hitched, but he remained an arm’s length away.
“We’re not friends,” he said, and even though I’d told myself the harsh words were coming, they still fucking hurt.
“Really?” I mocked him, taking a step forward to meet his gaze. “I thought we were BFFs.” I rolled my eyes.
A muscle in his jaw ticked, his eyes lingering on the lack of space between us.
Good, he should be as uncomfortable as I was. I wasn’t going to bend over and let him throw insults at me anymore.
“We work together,” he said, and I swore he sounded breathless as he said it. “We don’t have a relationship outside of this contract. So, I don’t know why you’d expect me to say hello—”
“Because I’m a human being, Cormac!” I cut him off. “Because I’m not some villain cackling in the corner waiting to get you in the end. I’m the woman who offered you your biggest endorsement deal to date. I’m the woman who has spent years wondering how I can make up for what happened that night, and I’m the woman who you decided to plop on that pool table and kiss the hell out of. I know my brother was the one who hurt you, but I wasn’t alone in that room. I wasn’t alone biting my bottom lip and growling like some damn alpha. I wasn’t alone kissing myself like it would be the first and last and best. I didn’t leave myself wanting more and more and more for years—”