“How have you been? You’re looking better than the last time I saw you.”

Jake wasn’t sure where to start the conversation. Kelly seemed satisfied clutching his hand as she stared at the ground while they walked down the concourse. He’d been surprised she accepted the hand he offered it. When she turned towards him back in the suite, she looked so pale that he was afraid she was about to topple over. He thought holding her hand would give him a heads-up if her steps turned unsteady.

Even with her ghost-like appearance, she looked healthier than he remembered when she’d attacked him in his car. At some point, she’d dyed her fair locks a warm shade of brown. When he’d first walked into the suite, he’d thought Nina had lied to him when she answered his text and said Kelly was with her.

Since she’d ignored every other text he’d accidentally sent her, Jake figured the fact that she’d answered was part of whatever joke seemed to be going on. Seeing the little blonde girl who looked the spitting image of her aunt, minus the new hair color, he’d realized the change had taken place.

“You mean I’m not embarrassing myself by diving into your car and stealing kisses from you, high as a kite?”

Jake shrugged slightly. “I guess that’s one way to put it. I suppose I was referring to your state of mind with everything going on that day. It seemed like you were in a bad place.”

He felt her hand loosening in his hold, so he squeezed harder. He was an idiot for bringing up the visitation, but they had some things to talk about from that day.

“I should apologize, since I don’t think I have yet. I can’t remember much of what happened at the visitation.”

It would’ve been nice if they weren’t walking, and he could watch her face as she spoke. He was curious if her words were factual, or if she was using them as an excuse to not admit her actions.

“Don’t worry about it. I was only upset you gave me the wrong number to text you. It sounds like you’ve found a good support system, though, so I guess I probably wasn’t needed.”

Kelly stopped in her tracks. Her slight weight barely pulled him back as he took two more steps. If Jake hadn’t decided a death grip was in order, her fingers would have easily slipped through his. He turned, his brow arched in question as he looked at the confusion on Kelly’s face.

It was easy to see why she’d been a successful model. Other than being a little skinny for his tastes, everything else about her made the front of his pants seem tight. If he let himself drift to thoughts of her and the kiss they’d shared, it was best he didn’t do it in public.

Her eyes were wide, showing her grayish irises normal compared to her pupils. He hadn’t considered she’d be high, but it was nice to see she wasn’t. Jake had spent enough time looking at various pictures of her over the years that he was pretty sure he could tell in each of them whether she’d been using.

Sadly, it seemed like most of them had a sign. It was usually her eyes, but sometimes her nose would be red, or she’d have an unusual sheen of sweat covering her skin. Not to mention the pictures where drug paraphernalia was visible.

“What do you mean, I gave you the wrong number?”

Jake had let his mind wander as he thought about the pictures of her. His eyes had drifted down and were focused on her small breasts. He couldn’t help thinking about how they would fit in his hands. It wasn’t the time or place for it, but he came to the conclusion that he could hold them both with only one of his large hands.

“Huh?” he asked as he looked up. He was a little embarrassed for being a perv, even if it wasn’t obvious what was on his mind.

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. It wasn’t his fault that her low-cut shirt showed off the smallest semblance of mounds he’d ever seen. Her perky nipples pushed the purple fabric out a fraction of an inch.

Kelly reached over and smacked his arm lightly. She could’ve probably hit him with all her strength, and it wouldn’t have felt like more than air brushing against his skin. He’d noticed she was thin before, but his memory had added a little extra flesh to fill her extremely defined cheekbones.

“Why did you just say I gave you the wrong number? I thought you’d changed your mind about me calling you if I needed something.”

Jake tilted his head, trying to figure out if she was joking. Her forehead creased in deep concentration. He supposed being a model might have included some actress work, so he wasn’t sure if he should buy the innocent feeling she was putting off.

“You gave me Nina’s number. For the past two months, I’ve been texting her, and she never says anything back.”

Scoffing, Kelly smiled and moved her head from side to side. She didn’t quite laugh, but Jake got the feeling she thought it was humorous.

“That sounds like her, but I’m hoping you’re joking. If not, you’ve got to think I’m the biggest idiot in the world. Either that, or I didn’t enjoy our kiss.”

Jake raised his brow as he cocked his head to the side. She’d already claimed she didn’t remember much about the day, but it sounded like there were at least some events that stood out. Since he didn’t have much to do with their kiss, other than return it as feverishly as she dished out, he couldn’t take a lot of credit for it. Especially, since it was only seconds until she passed out.

He liked to think he had a way with women, but that wasn’t his goal when it came to being intimate. Tiring a woman out was fine, but seeing Kelly lose consciousness had been one of the scariest moments of his life.

“Should I be happy you remember that?”

Kelly’s cheeks turned a little rosy at the question. Jake would’ve thought it was the lighting, but he’d been watching her closely enough that he knew she’d been white as a ghost up until that moment.

“You have no idea,” she said as she shook her head. “But, that’s not the topic we should be focusing on. Did I really give you Nina’s number?”

The concourse wasn’t too busy, with action currently out on the ice. There were plenty of people milling around, though, and Jake didn’t like them being the center of attention. He was new on the team, so hopefully not too recognizable, but there weren’t a lot of guys walking around in suits. He could maybe blend in with the guys from the front office that worked on fan relations and ticket sales. He was a bit stockier than them, and there was just something about his face that screamed he’d been in a few fights.

Rather than answer Kelly, he turned and pulled on her hand to get them walking again. She seemed to hold back for a second, but it was only a moment of indecision.

“According to the woman I’ve been sending texts, you gave me the wrong number. I should have figured it out, but I convinced myself you had a New York area code from when you worked here. Rumor is that is not the case.”

“And you still came looking for me tonight? You’ve got to think I’m a moron.”

Jake shook his head as he led them to a table set off to the side of the concourse. There were four other small round tables, two with people at them, but he ignored them and stood across from Kelly. Keeping their hands held seemed overkill at that point, so he let her thin fingers slip out of his.

“I was leaning towards you not wanting to talk to me. You kept telling me you have a boyfriend, so I just figured he was helping with the changes going on in your life, and a new guy hanging out would only disturb things.”

He shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant about the whole thing. The fact that he’d finally been able to track her down and had offered her his hand, gripping it at times like he was afraid to let go, told a little different story.

She laughed, almost nervously it seemed, as her eyes darted to the side to follow the people walking by them, instead of meeting his. One thing the pictures he found himself staring at some nights didn’t show was the timid, vulnerable woman standing across from him. She always looked like she was the life of the party in the photos, with guys’ hands all over her. But, every time they’d met, she seemed sort of lost.

“When he told me he wasn’t going to come for the funeral, and there was no way he’d uproot his life to live in New York, it was the final straw in something that should’ve been over months ago.”

Kelly’s voice was quiet when she turned away from him as a group of loud teenagers walked by. She turned back to him with a frown on her face, telling Jake the catcalls were directed at her. He couldn’t blame the kids for voicing their feelings, since he couldn’t control his own reaction to the woman.

One of the reasons he’d chosen to stop and put a table between them was to try to get a handle on his libido. So far, it hadn’t worked. Seeing her only made it easier to picture the dreams he’d had of plowing into her in every imaginable way. He had to do a little adjustment to the images, with the new hair color, but they came in loud and clear.

He really needed to do something to get sex off his mind.

“So, no boyfriend in the picture?”

Just because she’d broken up with one, didn’t mean she hadn’t found another in two months. Through all the images he’d seen online, there were rarely the same guys in any of them. He wasn’t sure if that meant she moved on from guy to guy often, or if she just liked to party with different people.

“I’d like to think that even high, I wouldn’t have kissed you if there was. I’m not going to pretend I can say that with any certainty, though.”

Kelly looked down at the table, averting eye contact as she spoke. Jake didn’t blame her. Some of the things the internet said about her were rough. There were a lot of sites that had reports that all it took was a line of coke to get into the famous model’s pants.

“I didn’t necessarily mean him. It’s been two months since we’ve seen each other. A lot can happen in that time. Shoot, people have met and gotten married in just weeks.”

Her eyes moved up from where her fingers started tracing patterns on the table. The tips of her lips curved up into a small smile.

“I’ve been a little too busy to focus on a guy. Going from barely taking care of myself to having two kids rely on me has come with a giant learning curve.”

“I get the feeling Miss Fiona hasn’t warmed up to the new situation.”

The smile faded as Kelly’s brow furrowed. Since he’d only spent a few minutes with the girl, he imagined it was odd he’d come to that conclusion.

“I’m sure if she was any older, she’d be planning my death. How did you know?”

Jake shrugged, trying to play it off as a lucky guess at first.

“She gave up the information about you saying my name in your sleep a little too easily. There was a glint of glee when she said it that seemed out of place.”

Kelly rolled her eyes. Before saying anything, she looked over her shoulder, then behind Jake. He wasn’t sure if she was expecting someone or what, so he looked over his shoulder as well. It seemed like the stream of people on the concourse was picking up, but no one jumped out at him as very interesting.

“Yeah, well, she’s only six, so you can imagine how much I’m looking forward to her turning thirteen and all the fun years that follow. I’m not exactly the best influence.”

It was impossible to argue that point. So, Jake let the conversation drop for a few seconds. He had plenty he wanted to talk about, especially since there didn’t seem to be a boyfriend in the picture anymore, but a segue to happier topics took a second to figure out.

“I’m going to come right out and say it, since I’m sure it’s not much of a secret,” Kelly began before Jake came up with something to say. “I’m a mess. I am a recovering drug addict, and I’ve been diagnosed with anorexia. Both are habits I’m trying to put behind me, but being in this city doesn’t make it easy.”

She leaned her elbows on the table and kept her voice quiet as she relayed the information. Other than the part about New York making it difficult on her, Jake already knew the other stuff. Even if there wasn’t a specific diagnosis, her exaggerated bone structure made it clear skipping meals was probably still a common occurrence. She had gained weight from some of the pictures he’d seen, but she couldn’t weigh much over a hundred pounds. For someone who put away four thousand calories without blinking some days, it was hard to fathom.

“Then why are you still here? Couldn’t you just take the kids back to Texas with you?”

“Because their lives are here, and their parents, even though they’re dead, are still here. I can’t take that away from them, not yet, probably not ever. I can only imagine how much more of a six-year-old hellion I’d have on my hand if I told her we’re moving.”

Jake smiled at the idea of her sticking around. If she was hanging out more with Hannah and Nina, then there were sure to be more chances for them to run into each other. He wasn’t sure if a relationship was something on the table. She’d been willing to talk to him and hadn’t shied away from his touch, but she was in a fragile place, and he didn’t want to do anything to make things worse.

“Well, I for one am glad you’re still around,” he said as he held out his hand again and started walking. “As much as I’d love to keep the conversation going, I really am hungry, and we sort of promised Hannah we’d be back before intermission. Judging by the increased foot traffic, we don’t have much time.”

He could’ve gone without eating, but he wasn’t about to piss Hannah off. The mommy bear in her had made her appearance known as of late, and Jake wasn’t sure who she was protecting. Her husband claimed it was Jake, but from what he could see, Kelly was the one who needed someone looking out for her.