Runaway Heart (A Game of Hearts #2) (14 page)

Or run. Faster this time.

“All right, all right, all right,” Myra said as she walked in and dropped a duffel bag on the floor. “Trying out and making the roster was the easy part.” She bent over the bag and hauled out rain boot after rain boot, tossing them to the three of us who made the team. “But the rain and the cold… that will be your biggest competitor. Tell me, ladies, are you ready for England?”

Cherry nudged me in the shoulder. “I know someone who is.”

Butterflies spiraled around my stomach, my impossible emotions riding their wings.

I grabbed the boots she gave me and held them up, smiling at the graffiti words and doodled hearts scribbled all over them. Laughter belted out of me. “Myra!” I said, my stomach clenching as I tried to speak through the giggles. “You do realize these words are French, right? We’re going to England!”

Myra gave a short shrug. “Yeah, well, they were half-price. I never said I was made of money.”

“I don’t care what they say!” Charlotte threw in. “This is the best gift I’ve ever been given.”

Cherry looked at her like she had two heads.

“I need you ladies to go home, pack, make sure your passports are ready, and then I’ll be calling you with all the flight and hotel information.”

“Oh my God,” I said as it really sank in.

“What?”

“The World Cup is in two weeks!”

Myra’s forehead caved. “Yeah…”

“I have to… I have to make arrangements. Have to cancel my classes. Have to pack. Have to—”

“Find your sanity!” Cherry said, giggling. “Jesus, if this is what the all-mighty penis does to a girl, then I definitely don’t want anything to do with it.”

Charlotte gasped. “Cherry!”

“What?” Cherry said without remorse. “You know I have no filter. No boundaries.”

I scooped up my boots and grabbed my book bag. “That’s an understatement,” I muttered.

“Where you goin’?” Cherry asked.

“Home. I have to get my shit together.” I ignored the groans the other girls made as they realized I’d be skipping yet another party.

“Catch you on the plane then,” she said as I headed for the door.

The plane. The plane that would take us to England where I may or may not run into Ed. Where I may or may not lose what little grip I have left on myself.

Lord, help me.

SMACK IN THE MIDDLE OF London, I sat hunched over my cup, stewing over the fact I’d been suckered, yet again.

I’d swore I’d never go back to London. I also swore a whole lot at Charlie when he waved over two girls and put them on either side of me at the table.

Violet, sitting opposite of me, kicked me under the table. My eyes snapped to hers and she pulled a face that said she was just as out of sorts as I was.

The girl to my left leaned close, blowing her ale-scented breath up my nose as she put her hand on my leg. Giving it a good squeeze, she said, “Charlie tells me ye’re single.”

Violet giggled, and I shot her a dirty look.

“I’m single for a reason,” I said, shifting to my right, bumping into the other girl beside me.

The other girl, Cindy, or Sandy… or whatever the bloody hell her name was, stopped talking to Charlie mid-sentence and turned, putting her hand on my shoulder as she flicked her fingers against my neck.

“Ye’ve a handsome friend here, Charlie. Is he afraid of girls?” She laughed when I jerked back from her touch.

I slid my chair back and pulled my wallet out of my pocket, tossing a handful of bills on the table. “I need some air,” I said to no one in particular as I lifted my coat from the back of my seat.

They called for me as I made my way around the maze of patron-filled tables, but I pretended I couldn’t hear them.

Outside, I pulled on my coat, stomped my feet against the cold, and ducked around the corner into an empty alleyway.

Why had I agreed to come back to London?

Because Violet asked me to.

Charlie, hearing her ask me, made arrangements for the pub so he could come with us. I should have known better. Charlie was dead set on putting any available girl he came across into my path.

What he should have concerned himself with was finding his own girl.

I never should have said anything about finding a girlfriend to him.

“That’s two more ye’ve blown off on me, mate.” Charlie came to a stop in front of me. “Mind telling me what was wrong with them?”

I backed up against the brick wall, stuffing my hands in my pockets with a deep sigh that coated the air in white steam.

It was bitterly cold in the alleyway. The air was sharp enough to cut straight through your lungs on a deep inhale.

“I couldn’t tell ye what’s wrong with them. I don’t know them,” I said, trying my hardest not to argue with Charlie about it.

“Is it her? Is it Monica?” He hunched his shoulders against a burst of arctic air.

“Monica?” Her name came easily off my lips without a wince, or the ache that once threatened to buckle my knees when thinking about her. It felt oddly liberating.

“Christ, man! Yes, Monica. The one ye’ve been hung up on for the last four damn years. Is it her? Please, for the love of God, tell me it’s not her. I thought ye’d moved on, but it’s… it’s like ye’re worse! What the hell happened?” He practically growled at me.

I laughed.

“It’s not funny anymore, Ed! Ye walk around not talking for weeks on end. Then ye decided to talk, but it’s like ye’re not yourself anymore. Ye agreed to come back to London after you swore ye’d never return again. I don’t know what to think about ye now.”

“It’s not Monica. God, why would I even want her back? She’s moved on. I’ve moved on,” I answered, feeling myself sag further against the brick as I watched him wind up for another go at me.

“If it’s as ye say, and Monica is out of the picture… then what’s wrong with ye?”

I was ready to be done with the conversation. “Nothing… everything. I don’t know anymore, Charlie. I’m trying. Isn’t that enough?”

“Trying what though? What happened in Rum Cay?” He put his hand up when I opened my mouth to answer. “And don’t ye dare say nothing happened. Ye’re done lying to me, yeah? Or do ye forget I was the one who stepped in and stood beside ye when it all went to pot? I watched ye grieve a girl who promised ye the world and then ripped it all out right from underneath ye. Ye stopped talking, stopped eating, and then the next thing I knew, ye hopped a plane to America.”

I didn’t say anything back. What could I say? He was right.

“Ed, so help me… if ye don’t say something back, I’m done. I’ll walk away and wish ye well, but I’m done watching ye crash and burn.”

That pissed me off. “Ye bloody arsehole! I never asked ye to hold my hand through it all. You chose to do that. And why do ye push me to talk about things I don’t want to? Does it make ye feel better, knowing the reasons why? There isn’t a bloody soul can do anything about it.” I closed my eyes and let my head fall back against the wall with a bump. “Jesus, I would, if I could. I close my eyes and I see her. I hear her voice, calling to me, yet no one’s there. I can’t sleep because I know she’s waiting for me in my dreams. It’s like she’s a bloody ghost that follows me, and there isn’t anything I can do to make it stop.”

“Ed?” Her soft voice called to me.

I groaned. Why couldn’t I get her out of my head? “She haunts me, Charlie. Even now I can hear her.”

“Ed, is that you?”

“Well, if she’s a ghost, then I’m the queen,” Charlie answered, whispering as he grabbed my arm and jostled me.

I blinked against the cold as my eyes landed on her. “Hannah?”

My heart thundered in my chest as I vibrated against the need to reach out and touch her. Ensure she was real.

“Hey,” she said, taking a tentative step closer, worrying her lip between her teeth. “I heard your voice, but thought maybe I was hearing things.”

“Hannah?” a girl with long, blonde hair called from under the streetlight at the corner.

She turned and waved. “Right here.”

The girl marched toward her, flicking a curious glance between Charlie and me. “I thought you’d ducked out on us again, but Cherry said she saw you come this way.”

“No, I… I um… this is—” Hannah fumbled with her words as her fingers fluttered in my direction.

I pushed myself off the wall. Praying my knees would keep me upright. “I’m Ed.”

Charlie coughed a little too loudly, waiting for his introduction.

I pulled him alongside me. “And this is my good friend Charlie.”

The girl’s mouth opened in shock as she gaped at Hannah, and then quickly shut it, pulling herself back together. “Charlotte,” she said, sticking her hand out to me. I shook it as she turned to Hannah. “Are these uh… friends of yours?” She wiggled her eyebrows.

“Of mine,” I corrected almost too quickly. “She’s a friend of mine,” I finished, wondering how Hannah and I would explain how we knew each other.

Charlotte tittered. Charlie gaped.

The pieces were falling together. I watched Charlie and Charlotte’s eyes darting between us and couldn’t help but feel something like hope swelling inside my chest.

Hannah had, at some point, talked about me to someone, which meant she hadn’t been as unaffected by our time together as I’d thought.

“Ed, what the hell? You left me sitting by myself and here you are ‘round the corner chatting it up… oh, hello,” Violet said, ending her tirade with a megawatt smile as she walked over and looped her arm through mine.

Hannah stiffened. “Well, it was good to see you again, Ed. Take care.”

I watched her walk away, feet cemented to the ground as wave after wave of longing rolled through me.

“What the hell are ye doin’? Go after her!” Charlie shouted at me, pulling Violet away and shoving me to move.

The soles of my shoes slipped and slid as I scrambled around the corner. They hadn’t yet moved on, but I realized it a little too late. Coming to a screeching halt, I caught Hannah around the middle and spun her in a full circle, trying to gain my footing.

“What the hell are you doing? Put me down,” Hannah said, swatting at me.

I noticed the glimmer of tears in her eyes and knew there was no way I was letting her get away from me again. “Hold still, yeah?” I set her down on her feet, not letting go.

She gave a half attempt at struggling, but gave up.

“What are you doing, Ed?” Her question came out as a sigh.

“Not letting ye get away from me again.” I felt a lopsided smile move over my lips.

She rolled her eyes at me. “I doubt your girlfriend would like that.”

I screwed my face up, wondering where she’d have come up with an assumption like that.

She tried to take a step back, but I held fast.

“Hannah, who is this guy?” a different girl asked over Hannah’s shoulder. She had short, brown hair and a tough air to her that spoke through her heavily, dark-lined eyes.

Hannah’s eyes went wide, face paling.

“I’m Ed,” I said when I realized Hannah wasn’t going to answer.

“Liza.” The girl’s scrutinizing eyes scanned me over. “But you can call me Cherry. You must be the English guy Hannah’s been so hung up over. I guess I can see why.”

I smirked as my chest expanded. She had definitely talked about me.

Hannah’s fists clenched at her sides. “Cherry, shut the hell up or so help me—.”

“Three beautiful American women, Ed? How’d ye get so lucky, mate?” Charlie called out as he approached us.

Hannah stiffened in my arms when Violet stopped beside us. She introduced herself to Cherry and said, “We’re heading back into the pub. Care to join us?”

I sensed Hannah’s reservations.

“Umm… I don’t think—”

“Of course she does. We had nothing else planned for tonight,” the girl Charlotte cut in. “Come inside when you’re done, Hannah. I’ll hold your seat for you.” She wasn’t giving Hannah the chance to back out.

I secretly wanted to thank her.

“Fine,” Hannah relented, not really getting a choice in the matter. Her shoulders relaxed as soon as they walked away.

“What brings ye to London?” I asked, absorbing every detail of her face like it would be the last time I’d ever see it.

“I thought you didn’t live in London?” she blurted.

“I don’t. Sorry to see me then?” I let go of her arms. Maybe I’d read her wrong. Maybe she wasn’t happy to see me. Maybe the tears in her eyes were from the bitter wind and nothing more.

Her hand rubbed at the back of her neck. “No… just surprised. I wasn’t expecting… I didn’t think—” She hugged her arms, tucking her hands under her armpits as she stomped her feet.

“Ye’re wearing rain boots? Your feet have to be freezing, love,” I said, pulling her against me.

She let me hold her briefly before pulling back. “Is this as awkward for you as it is for me?”

I thought about it for a second and shook my head. Awkward?
No.
There was nothing awkward about having her close again. Close enough to touch. Close enough she could no longer haunt my dreams because she was real and wouldn’t shift back into a mist that would hang over me.

“I’m really happy to see ye again. I’d wondered about ye. How you were doing. What you were doing. Haven’t thought of much else to be honest,” I said, putting my arm around her shoulders. “Now, how about I get ye inside to warm up and then ye can tell me what brings ye to London?”

“HOW EXACTLY DOES THIS TOURNAMENT work?” Violet asked as she leaned a little closer to Cherry.