Breaking Away (Assassins, #5)(81)

“Dude, stop staring at your phone and look at the rack on that Asian hottie.”

Phillip looked up to Karson, who was grinning at him, pointing out the woman he was speaking of. He was right. She was hot and did have a great rack, but she wasn’t Reese. Phillip could sit there and point out all the things that Reese had better but instead, he said, “Not in the mood.”

“What’s up with you? You’ve been weird lately.”

Shrugging, Phillip looked back down at his phone. “I’m not being weird; I just have no interest in any females right now.”

“He’s crushing on my sister-in-law,” Erik said, nursing a beer.

“Oh, what’s her name, Reese? Yeah, she’s super hot.”

Phillip looked up and glared. Within seconds, he was madder than hell and wanted to gut Karson with a hockey stick. Yes, he understood that might be very hard to do since it was a blunt end, but he was mad enough to make it work. Setting Karson with a look that could kill, he said, “And mine.”

Karson was taken aback but grinned anyway, while Erik laughed before saying, “Actually, that has not been confirmed. Last time I checked, you two were just having fun.”

“Shut up, Erik, no one was talking to you,” Phillip sneered, before flipping his phone over. He was going to drive himself crazy staring at it like a lovesick teenager.

Erik and Karson shared a good laugh over this, while Phillip downed a beer and then called for another. He needed to slow down, but he couldn’t. All he could do was think she had moved on without telling him, but that just seemed wrong. She was feeling him, and they were together. Even if it wasn’t official to everyone else, it was official to him and maybe even her. Looking out at the bar, he watched as Jordie Thomas, who they called JT, moved from female to female. They called him ‘JT’ not only because of his name, but also because he had the swag of the real JT. He was a cool dude but careless. He got hurt a lot and didn’t take care of himself the way he should so usually it resulted in another injury. Despite that though, everyone liked him, especially the ladies.

When Karson cupped his shoulder, he shook him off, taking a long swig of his beer.

“Dude, it’s no big deal, didn’t mean to piss you off.”

Phillip let out a breath. “No worries.”

Karson leaned on the bar, looking over at him. When Karson first came to the Assassins, Phillip didn’t like him. He was competition on and off the ice. The guy had a killer wrist shot and Coach liked that, replacing Phillip on the first line, but that only fueled Phillip to work harder. Soon, he had his spot back. Karson was also a ladies man, and usually pulled the women that Phillip wanted when they went out, but it didn’t matter to Phillip anymore. Things changed, Claire came into his life, and he stopped messing around with the women he used to go after. He fooled with the same women over and over again in different cities. Then he met Reese. His world was blown to smithereens, and he didn’t want anyone but her. He just wished she realized the same thing and would make them official, so everyone would shut the f*ck up and know she was his.

Because she was, at least in his mind. Anyway, Phillip didn’t mind Karson anymore. He actually liked the guy most the time, except for right now. At that moment, he was annoying.

“You know, being in love blows.”

Phillip scrunched up his face. “What the hell, man? I’m trying to drink a beer, and unwind before getting on the plane. I don’t want to talk about this shit.”

Karson laughed. “I get that, but you are also the poster child for a lovesick fool. You’ve looked at your phone at least nine times since we’ve sat down. If she’s ignoring you, there are at least six gorgeous babes we can get right now.”

Phillip shook his head. The bar was filled with beautiful women. He had noticed, but he didn’t want them. He wanted a f*cking text from Reese. How pathetic was that? “I’m good.”

“I get that. I was you once, but I decided I loved hockey more than her or, really, I was forced to choose hockey over her. But that’s the way the cookie crumbles, you know? You don’t always get what you want, even when you work so f*cking hard for it. It all just blows up in your face, and then you’re left with nothing but your stick and a puck. At least we’ll always have hockey, huh?” he said, holding his beer out to cheers.

Phillip tapped his beer to his, knowing that there was a story there, but Phillip didn’t know if he wanted to know it because Karson was right. It did blow being in love, especially when that person doesn’t want to love you back. So many things were clear indications that this thing with Reese wasn’t going to work, but he still allowed himself to fall, to want her more than his next breath. He couldn’t help it.

Nodding his head, he took a long swig of his beer as Erik said, “I love my wife.”

Karson and Phillip both looked over at him, but he just shrugged his shoulders before draining his beer and laying a five on the bar. “And because of that, I’m going to go call her and make sure her and my kiddo are good. Goodnight, boys.”

They watched him walk away and then turned back to the bar, both draining their own beers before ordering another. Phillip looked over at Karson and said, “Sometimes I think I should give up, but it’s not who I am. I know what I want, and it’s her.”

Karson nodded. “Yeah, Lacey was that to me but, in the end, I had to protect her. I know I hurt her and I know she probably hates me, but I had to leave her because I couldn’t give her what she deserved. I’ll never be the same without her, and I’ve accepted that to protect her.”