Reckless King

by Maya Hughes

  I envisioned Sam standing in the middle of the aisle of the train, dancing to her heart’s content while she typed that message. Maybe it was for the best I’d missed the train.

  Charles: She’s being a tad dramatic.

  Sam: Am not!

  Me: Aren’t you all on the train together?

  Anne: Yes. I’m sitting between them trying to keep the peace.

  Charles: Sam is the most amazing woman I’ve ever met and she’s part of the reason I’m bi. It’s all because I really want a chance at her.

  Charles: Damn it, Sam! How in the hell do you type so fast? I swear, she got the phone away from me for like 3 seconds.

  I laughed and shook my head. At least if I went out on my own, there would be no pressure to stay out forever and keep drinking. A celebratory drink. I didn’t drink too much. Being drunk off your ass more times than I could count as a preteen had left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth when it came to most booze. It also meant I could hold my liquor, not that I planned on a wild night out.

  Maybe not one drink. Maybe two, some tasty bar snacks and then back home, get into my pajamas, and tomorrow would be a new day.

  Throwing on the most passable going-out outfit I had, I checked my hair in the mirror. The best part about the winter was the low humidity. My wavy black locks turned into a poof ball of gigantic proportions during the summer, which meant I usually kept it braided or in a bun, but in the winter, I could let it breathe a little. Plus, my hair was an extra barrier between the frigid temps. Ear protection to boot.

  I toyed with the purple and pink strands that had escaped from my careful tuck. This is what I got for trusting Sam and her suspicious whispers last time I was at the hairdresser. The colors weren’t too noticeable, but if I had my hair up or the light caught it right, you could see the streaks there. Semi-permanent dye, my ass! The color was holding on tighter than Sam to the leg of that Henry Cavill-lookalike.

  I zipped up my ankle boots and got my jacket on, giving myself another once-over in the mirror. You’ve got this, Kara. A night out on your own is better than sitting at home and wallowing in self-pity. Today was a day for celebration, and I’d do it on my own terms. Ordering a taxi, I popped into the kitchen to give Mom and Lauren a kiss and a hug and then hopped into the car.

  We pulled up in front of The Bramble, a new bar in Fishtown. What had once been a run-down area was now thriving with awesome bars, cool restaurants, and a lot of foot traffic. I’d read an article about the bar a while ago, and I’d been looking for the perfect time to check it out. Apparently their bacon cheeseburger with onion relish was legendary already. This was the third location in the US. LA and NYC got the first two spots.

  Shaking the doubts from my head, I stepped out of the taxi. The wind whipped my hair around my head. Maybe I should have put it up. Closing the door, I took a tentative step toward the entrance

  I opened the door, and a flood of noise threatened to bowl me over. Second to that was the delicious smell of so much food. My mouth watered and my stomach rumbled. I hadn’t had anything to eat since breakfast. Glancing over my shoulder, I was blinded as my hair smacked me in my face. I grabbed the hair tie around my wrist and put my hair up.

  The place was packed, as you’d imagine, but half of the bar seemed to be taken over by a rowdy bunch to one side. They sat at the tables, laughing and joking together. I hesitated. Maybe a different place would be a better choice.

  My gaze skimmed across the crowd until it stopped on the one guy standing at those tables. My chest hitched as my gaze locked with his bright blue eyes. His tousled blond hair was mussed enough. The kind where you knew he hadn’t spent hours in front of the mirror trying to get it right. It was the kind from a guy who’d been out running or, if it weren’t freezing out, I’d have said had spent the day at the beach.

  The flutters in my stomach made my knees weak. I locked them so I didn’t melt into a puddle right there. Why the hell was Mr. Hottie looking at me? Please don’t let there be a freaking booger in my nose or something.

  Breaking the momentary connection, I stepped all the way in, getting out of the way of someone else coming in the door. I grabbed a spot at the bar, and the bartender plopped a menu down in front of me. Not trusting myself to steal a glance over my shoulder, I shrugged off my jacket and laid it across my lap.

  A couple drinks and some delicious food. And don’t ogle the guy behind you who makes you feel like you’ve been strapped into a roller coaster.

  That’s it.

  3

  Heath

  The bar wasn’t too packed yet. It was still early for most people, but Declan and I had come right from our late afternoon workout. It wasn’t required, but we needed this season to be perfect. No more missteps.

  I checked my phone and opened the email before it even fully loaded. My dean was the least organized and most forgetful one out of the whole university.

  “I finally got my schedule,” I said to no one in particular.

  “Really? I got mine, like, a month ago.” Declan craned his neck to look at my phone.

  “Lucky you,” I grumbled, and the email finally opened.

  It was less than a week before the new semester started, and I still hadn’t gotten my amended class schedule. Nerves were getting to me. I’d already had to change classes three times because there were some professors who didn’t care why you missed class they wouldn’t budge on attendance requirements. Like getting our hockey team to the national championships four times in a row wasn’t a major accomplishment and good for the school. Maybe I should have stuck with kinesiology like the rest of the team.

  A distinctly feminine and scarily familiar voice called out Mak’s name.

  Mak, sitting beside Declan, whirled around in her seat and hopped up. “Avery!”

  Shit! Our early crew all skidded to a halt the second the new arrival showed up at our table. Everyone’s heads snapped up, and their eyes got wide, including mine.

  Mak rushed over and hugged Avery. Totally forgot those two were friends. I glanced out the door she’d come through and back down at my phone, checking the time. Emmett would be here any minute.

  I stared at Declan, and he looked at me like he was watching a car about to get demolished by a train.

  “What are you doing here?” Mak dragged Avery over to our table.

  “I was leaving the bakery and I saw your car parked in the lot.”

  I glanced down at her open coat with a thin layer of flour dusted on her clothes.

  Mak squeezed her arm. “Stay and have some drinks.”

  Avery glanced around at the rest of us, and the blood drained out of her face when she spotted me and Declan and the empty chairs at the section of the bar we’d taken over. She quickly checked over her shoulder.

  “I don’t think that would be a good idea. I’m beat and I have to be back at the ass crack of dawn for the morning rush. I’ve got to go.” Her words were fast and frantic.

  “Avery, come on. One drink.” Mak held on to her hand and tried to get her to sit down. Avery looked like she was a second from gnawing her own hand off to escape. With what was brewing, I didn’t blame her one bit.

  “Seriously, Mak, we can do a girls’ night some other time. Alyson’s at home, and I’m super tired.” Avery slipped her hand out of Mak’s grip, using her little sister as the perfect out. Peeking over her shoulder, she backed up. “Call me, and I’ll make sure I get the day off, but I’ve got to go. Bye.”

  I swore there was a trail of fire etched into the bar floor as she beelined it out of there.

  “Avery!” Mak called out to her, but she was already gone. Declan and I let out a sigh of relief.

  Declan tugged Mak’s shirt. “Books, calm down. It’s probably for the best anyway.”

  She frowned and sat. “Because of Emmett?”

  “Yeah, because of Emmett. Not many guys want to hang out with the chick who cheated on them.” I tipped back my beer, and Mak reached across the table and yanked it
out of my mouth. Beer sprayed all over me and the table. She slammed my drink down, spilling even more.

  “What the hell?” I grabbed some napkins to mop it up.

  “You have no idea what happened between those two, so don’t you ever say that about her again.” She looked ready to climb over the table and slam my head into it.

  I held my hands up in surrender and shot Declan a look. “Fine. I won’t say another word.”

  Declan whispered in her ear, and they had some back and forth in the chairs beside me. With Mak around a lot more, and her friendship with Avery, it was only a matter of time before Emmett and Avery crossed paths.

  A couple of minutes later the wave of laughter and loud-ass voices let everyone know the party had arrived. Emmett headed up the mob. Ford and Colm showed up with Grant, Ford’s little brother, and Olivia, Colm’s little sister.

  The group grew minute-by-minute. Some of Emmett’s teammates were there. All the Kings and some of the guys from our team, The Knights, showed up too.

  Every eye in the bar was on us, but that wasn’t unusual when you hung with a crew like this. There were more than a few wide eyes and autograph requests once word got out there were NHL players here. Even if they were going up against the Flyers, at least no one threw anything at the group.

  The drinks flowed and plates of food were on a constant conveyor belt out to our table. For every two wiped-clean plates collected from the table, another five appeared. This was an over-exercised athlete's dream.

  The door to the bar swung open, and a sharp December chill flooded in. But it wasn’t the cold snap in the bar that caught my attention, it was the vision standing in the doorway. Her weight shifted from foot to foot like she was trying to decide if she should come all the way in or not. I hadn’t even realized I was on my feet until I caught the weird looks from the rest of the table. I didn’t care. My gaze returned to her. It wasn’t just the way she looked. She was gorgeous, a little on the taller side, maybe five-eight, five-nine, which was fine with me. I was almost six-three, so the taller the better. I hated the crick I got in my neck when I kissed a girl who hit me mid-chest. She had a small beauty mark on her left cheek and wavy black hair she’d done one of those messy knot things with that I couldn’t wait to unravel.

  Her eyes darted around the room in a way that told me she wasn’t there with anyone and she probably wasn’t waiting on anyone. She was putting on her brave face and going out on her own. I appreciated that. Don’t wait for other people to do your own thing; go for it, even if it was all alone.

  A steely look of certainty passed over her face. She’d made the decision. Committed to coming in even if I saw the bubbles of uncertainty under the surface. Taking a determined step through the doorway, she let the door close behind her while her eyes skimmed the crowd. Like she knew I was looking, her gaze locked on to mine. My hand tightened around my beer. The cool glass did nothing to stop the rising heat one look from her gave me.

  Her dark brown eyes made me think of a warm cup of hot chocolate on a blistery night. She dropped her eyes, but I couldn’t tear my gaze away. Her yellow scarf and the dark pinks and purples in her hair reminded me of my flowers. It was a subtle color, like she wasn’t trying to be flashy or showy, maybe doing it for herself.

  The door closed behind her, and the tension I’d had in my back released when I knew I wasn’t going to have to chase her down the street like a lunatic…any more of a lunatic than I already was, because I knew in a split second she was the one I was taking home tonight.

  “Dude, what are you doing?” Declan grabbed onto the sleeve of my shirt and tugged me back down into my seat.

  “I thought I saw someone I knew,” I said, absently.

  “Hmmm, more like someone you want to know.” Mak laughed and craned her neck to get a better look.

  But there was a time to go for it and there was a time to back off. She was sending out back-off vibes so strong they threatened to shift the tectonic plates of singledom underneath the bar. She needed to relax, and I needed to enjoy my time with my friends while we were all together.

  The mini tacos, ribs, everything was so good I think there was a solid ten minutes when no one at our table made a sound other than grunts of appreciation. After the workouts everyone's hunger pangs hit hard and fast. This food had our normally rowdy group nearly silent while they shoveled their mouths full. I wanted to wrap myself up in a tortilla and not leave the place until I’d put on at least a few hundred pounds.

  “It looks like you have an admirer,” Colm piped up, his gray eyes twinkling with amusement as the server dropped off a drink for me and pointed to a woman who waved from the corner.

  “Seriously? Out of everyone here she picks you.” Emmett shook his head.

  “What’s wrong with me?” I lifted my drink, choked down the super-sweet concoction, and slid the empty glass away from me. It was easier to accept the drink rather than try to return it. So much easier. I’d learned that lesson the hard way. I’d rather drink it than have it thrown back in my face. I’d learned in high school that I got a certain type of attention.

  “I mean nothing, if you go for that California guy, surfer-dude look. Me, I’m more partial to the dark and curly-haired guys.” Mak shook her shoulders and Declan kissed her on the forehead.

  I hadn’t even been in the ocean since my mom and I had left our house in the middle of night under the cover of darkness and driven nearly five days straight to the East Coast.

  “Declan’s mad because ever since we won our first State Championship freshman year at Rittenhouse Prep, they had my picture front and center in the paper.” I chucked a wad of napkins at Declan’s head.

  “They cut my face in half!” Declan slammed his beer down.

  “Poor baby.” Colm laughed and took a sip of his drink. “And all those girls were there to mop up your tears. Not as many as there were lining up for Heath, but still.” A fry bounced off Colm’s forehead and landed in his glass.

  “What can I say? I’m irresistible.” I gulped down my beer.

  I would never say walking up to a woman and knowing there was an eighty percent chance you could walk out of there with her wasn’t a rush, but I preferred a challenge. Or at least someone who wasn’t going to tackle her way through three of her friends to get to me. Someone who wasn’t a pushover and knew her own mind was exactly the kind of woman I was after.

  “Holy shit, can I have your autograph?” Everyone turned to see the beaming woman bouncing on the balls of her feet beside Emmett’s chair at the end of the table.

  “Sure.” Emmett reached for her paper and pen, but she snatched them back.

  “I...I didn’t mean you. I wanted to get Blanch’s.” She held out her paper toward an oblivious Ford. Ford’s head whipped up.

  “Me?” The words were halfway between a croak and a choke as beer sputtered out of his mouth.

  “Definitely. I saw the goal you saved in the last game. It was intense, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a goalie get back in the net so fast and make a save like that. It was amazing.” She stared at him like he’d hung the stars and his cheeks burned a bright red under the beard. I was surprised he didn’t keel over. He was the perfect wingman for Colm because he never said much. Stood there and looked all huggable, which was the senior superlative he’d missed out on in high school. Most Huggable. We’d had a field day with that one. He quickly scrawled his name and ducked his head as she went screaming back to her friends that she’d gotten Ford Blanchard’s signature.

  “Dude, better get used to it.” Colm clamped his hand onto Ford’s shoulder as he grumbled something and went back to his food.

  The guys were rowdy as ever. Rowdy but not destructive. Burning off some excess energy during the few days off was even better when you had a patron like Emmett bankrolling the whole thing. While everyone had been focusing on Ford, Emmett had slyly slid his credit card to the guy behind the bar and gestured to our motley crew that had taken over half the bar.


  Plunking down in the chair across from me, he rolled his eyes when I smirked at him. Ford and Colm had only agreed to the night if they all split the bill.

  “Don’t say anything.” He pursed his lips, knowing I’d spotted him.

  “What? I’m not going to say anything.” I crossed my finger over my heart and took a slug of my beer.

  “Your ability to keep secrets is right up there with a toddler with chocolate smeared all over their face telling you they didn’t eat any cookies.”

  I clutched my chest in mock outrage. “I’ll have you know, I have kept secrets for about as long as a six-year-old found surrounded by candy wrappers.”

  He snorted. “Right. Keep it quiet. They will give me shit if they think I’m throwing my money around.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure to keep quiet for at least the next…” I glanced down at my phone. “Ten minutes.”

  He laughed. “Here, take this in case I forget later.” He slapped a bright and shiny hotel room key card into the palm of my hand. I quirked up an eyebrow at him.

  “Rooms for everyone. It’s right across the street. I wanted us to play tomorrow, and I figured if everyone was close, then there was less of a chance of losing someone.” He had a sad look in his eyes. It was hard for him being away from everyone. Declan and I had each other; and Colm and Ford were up in Boston together, thrusting their way through all the single ladies.

  Emmett was the only one flying solo in LA. He’d run away long and hard after the breakup with Avery. So long and hard he hadn’t even gone to our high school graduation so he could avoid her. Avery had been a no-go topic of conversation since.

  “Of course we will. Nothing is going to keep us from playing tomorrow.” The Kings reunited once again.

  We were now taking up more than half of the restaurant and bar. A few ladies were still trying to catch my eye, but not the one I wanted.

  Colm and Ford flanked Olivia like a couple of bodyguards. Grant sat on the other side of Ford and kept trying to get Olivia’s attention but generally only managed to piss Colm off. Colm’s little sister had blossomed in her senior year of high school, and it seemed Colm was taking no chances with her. Made sense. She was the only family he had left. But from the deep frown on her lips, she was not happy about it.