bChapter /bb61 /b

I nce at Liam, finding him already watching me. His usual smirk is gone, reced with something softer something unreadable. It makes my stomach flip.

“It’s beautiful,” I murmur.

His thumb brushes over my knuckles, slow and absentminded, like he doesn’t even realise bhe’s /bdoing it. b“/bYeah,” he says, voice quieter now. “It is.”

The air between us shifts, the yful energy from earlier reced with something warmer, heavier. The kind bof /bmoment that makes it too easy to forget this is all pretend.

Desperate for a distraction, I clear my throat and tug him toward the sun loungers. “Come on, let’s sit for a bit. bMy /bfeet are killing me.”

Liam chuckles, letting me pull him along. “You do have a talent for dragging me ces.

I roll my eyes but don’t let go of his hand. If I did, I might actually feel the absence of it.

We’re sitting together, Liam’s hand warm in mine, when we finally getpany.

I bite back a groan the moment I see who it is.

Stone. And he’s already hammered.

It’s not even 7 PM.

He stumbles in, an overly giggly woman clinging to his side. Her fingers toy with the buttons of his shirt, but his attention isn’t on her anymore. The second he spots Liam and me–our hands linked, our bodies angled toward each other

-he stops dead in his tracks.

His drunken haze clears just enough for him to scowl.

“Didn’t expect to see you here, Calloway,” he says, voice thick with alcohol. His eyes flick to me for a split second, but it’s barely a nce–like I’m nothing more than background noise.

2

But Liam?

Liam gets his full attention.

“Didn’t know you were going on this trip tillst week,” Stone continues, ignoring mepletely. “Figured you’d be off training or something. You knowb, /bactually doing something worthwhileb./bb” /b

I bristle. My grip on Liam’s hand tightensb, /bbut before bI /bcan say anythingb, /bLiam beats me to it.

‘I am doing something worthwhile.” His thumb brushes over my knuckles in a small, deliberate motion. “Spending time with my girl.”

Stone snorts. “Your girl?” He finally gives me a proper look, and the way his gaze drags bover /bme bis /banything but ttering. Didn’t think you were the type to settleb, /bCalloway.”

Lim jaw clenches.

“That’s funny,” he says smoothly, but there’s a sharpness beneath his words. “Didn’t think you were the btype /bbto /btalk bout/bb. /bof your ass, but here we are.”

Stone’s date lets out an awkward giggle, shifting beside him like she suddenly wants to be anywhere else.

Liam leans back, calm and unbothered. “If you’ve got a problem, Stone, say it. But don’t waste bmy /btime throwing weak insults bat /bmy girlfriend just because you can’t handle your liquor.”

Stone’s scowl deepens, but he doesn’t say anything. Probably because, for the first time in his life, he doesn’t have a

time.

Liam gives my hand onest squeeze before turning back to me like Stone isn’t even worth another second of his

And somehowb, /bthat’s what pisses him off the most.

Stone tilts his head, eyes gleaming with drunken cruelty. “Don’t byou /bfeel even a little ashamed, Emmy?” His voice bis /bsoft, almost mocking. Then he chuckles, shaking his head. “Well, I guess you wouldn’t. Not when you went from being one hockey yer’s whore to another’s fling.”

My stomach twists.

“The biggest upgrade you’re capable of, yeah?” His smirk widens, sharp and ugly. “Fucking hockey slut.”

I don’t even get the chance to react before Liam moves.

One second, he’s sitting beside me, his grip on my hand steady. The next, he’s on his feet, towering over Stone, his entire body coiled with barely contained fury.

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