Briggs (Carolina Reapers 7)

Love wasn’t the problem. Distance and priorities were.

I’d made her my priority. I’d shown up when she needed me. That wasn’t her fault.

“Fair point.” He nodded. “Then maybe instead of resigning yourself to a life of misery, you should look at some ways to be in the same area code.” His head nodded slightly toward the monitor.

Where New York was playing on the screen.

My entire body tensed and my heart jumped, the beat picking up until it was racing almost as fast as my thoughts. Was a trade to New York a possibility? Did I even want that? The idea of being in the same city as Bristol was flat-out intoxicating, but the thought of leaving the Reapers felt like a shot to the chest.

“We’d miss you,” Sawyer said slowly. “But we’d understand. I bet Silas could work something out if it was what you really wanted.

One by one, they all nodded.

“I’m not even sure we’re still together. I didn’t exactly say goodbye.” My thumbnail worked off another section of the label. Not that she had reached out, either, but we were both gifted with a surplus of stubbornness.

“I bet you have a way to find out, don’t you?” Caspian dropped a meaningful gaze on my phone, which was face-up on the table.

It wasn’t that I was against talking about Bristol. I just didn’t know what to say. I stared at my phone for a good breath or two, then grabbed it and nodded. “Give me a second,” I said to Caspian, who immediately slid out of the booth so I could get out.

Pulling up her contact info, I stepped through the door into the back hallway and the noisy bar faded into a muted background noise. Taking one more turn, I entered the room where I’d kissed Bristol all those months ago. Fuck, she didn’t even live here, but she was still everywhere. Our season was over, but I knew as soon as I stepped back onto the ice at Reaper Arena, she’d be there, too, laughing as I taught her to skate.

My chest went tight, threatening to break wide open with how much I missed her. I never should have left her that way in New York. I should have stayed and fought it out, found a way to work past everything that stood in our way, no matter how insurmountable it seemed. Maybe the answer really was as simple as eliminating the distance between us.

Before I could talk myself out of it, I hit the little green button. The phone started to ring.

“Cormac?” Bristol sounded surprised and a little…relieved? Then again, it was hard to tell with the music blaring in the background.

“Hey.” I leaned back against the wall. The sound of her voice was like a soothing balm on burned skin—I didn’t realize just how badly it had hurt to be without it until I had it back.

“Hold on one second,” she said, her voice rising above the music. There was a soft click, and the music disappeared. “Sorry, I had to come into my office. We’re working late and it’s just loud out there.”

“It’s okay.” Silence stretched between us, and I cleared my throat. “I just wanted to give you a call.”

“Thanks,” she said softly. “I would have called, but I wasn’t sure you wanted me to after the way we left things.”

My eyes squeezed shut. “You can always call. I just honestly wasn’t sure what to say,” I admitted. “And I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left that way. We’d said some pretty awful things to each other the night before, and my head was all fucked up. I know that’s the world’s worst excuse, but it’s the truth.”

I felt her sigh all the way in my bones. “It’s okay. I never should have asked you to stay—”

“I wanted to stay—”

“—or to do the shoot in the first place.”

I blinked, and words failed me.

“Cormac, I knew how much your career meant—means—to you. It was completely unfair of me to ask you to try and fit that shoot in between playoff games.” Her voice hitched a little, and the sound broke my heart all over again.

“No, Bristol. You’ve risked everything to get that new line off—”

“I never should have signed you to that contract in the first place.”

My stomach dropped out of my body and hit the fucking floor. “What are you saying?”

“I haven’t been fair to you from the start. And I had the best intentions, I promise.” There was that little catch in her voice again, the slightest break.

“I know you did.” I let my head lay back against the wall. “And that’s all in the past. I never expected to fall in love with you, but I did, and I think we owe it to ourselves to really look at what we want for our future.” A small smile spread across my face. I could do it—ask Silas to trade me.