His stomach sank at the look of utter betrayal on her face. She stared up at him with wary eyes.

"Let's go to your room and I'll explain everything, okay?" He reached for her hand and she snatched it away.

"Answer me."

He raked a hand through his hair and sighed. "I'm a professional hockey player. The goaltender for the Las Vegas Kingsnakes."

A stunned expression crossed her face. "The Kingsnakes? I’ve heard of them. That's not a minor league team. That's national."

"Yeah."

She swallowed and nodded toward the elevator. "And those girls…are they groupies?"

"Or puck bunnies, whatever you want to call them."

She let out a harsh laugh. "Puck bunnies?"

West rubbed his forehead, his temples already thumping with an oncoming headache. "Penn, if you let me explain—"

"And you slept with them?"

"One of them." He took a step toward her to close their distance. Every agonizing moment that passed, he felt what they'd shared slipping further away.

"Elena."

"Yeah. It didn't mean anything, Penn. She was just…available." It sounded awful saying it out loud. Judging by the look on Penn’s face, she agreed.

"Why didn't you tell me, West? Did you think it would be fun to put one over on the stupid farm girl?"

"No. God, no." Christ, the devastated expression on her face was almost unbearable. "Hey." He gently took her elbow. "It's still me, Penn. That hasn't changed."

She wrenched away from him. "How can you say that? I don't know who your version of 'me' even is. Some athlete that sleeps with a bunch of groupies? Someone who has no problem lying to me? Is that who you are?"

He winced at the sharp tone of her voice. "No, it's not."

She crossed her arms. "What are you hiding? Why did you feel the need to lie?"

"I'm not hiding anything. I just wanted someone to see me for me. Just once. And not focus on what I do."

"It wouldn't have mattered to me what you do. What matters is that you weren't honest with me. I feel like you tricked me. I thought you were a rich guy with a trust fund. Or someone who worked in his family's legal firm and wasn’t really happy about it. Maybe a guy who just dated a lot. Not an athlete who has groupies."

Her pretty blue eyes, so full of pain searched his face. "Did you really even have a brother?"

"Oh, fuck." He grabbed her hands. "Yes, Penn. Everything I told you about Drew was the truth. I swear to God."

"Then I guess it's just what you didn't tell me, then." Bitterness laced her voice.

Turning toward the door, she pulled out her room key. "I'm spending the night with Holly. I don't want to deal with this right now."

"When do you want to deal with it?"

"I don't know." She unlocked the door. "I just don’t know."

He took her arm and turned her around. "Don't shut me out, Penn. You promised you'd remember what things were like between us."

She covered her mouth with her hand. "That's why you made me promise? Oh, West."

It would have hurt less if she’d slapped him. "Penn." He pulled her close. "You have to let me explain. I swear, I was going to tell you. I tried to tell you last night, but you fell asleep."

"I trusted you." Her voice shook. "Everything with you was so different, even though we just met. You understood me."

"I still understand you, Penn." He held her tight against him. "I do. That hasn’t changed. None of that’s changed."

"Everything’s changed! You lied to me. Just let me go." She stepped away from him. "Please, West. Let me go."

Reluctantly, he released her. "I'm sorry." He slammed the side of the doorframe with his palm, and she jumped. "I'm so fucking sorry, Penn."

"I can’t do this. I have to go." She stepped into the room and closed the door behind her without looking back.

West sank against the door and slammed his elbow back into it, wincing at the pain, but not caring. Why the fuck did he even care what she thought? It’s not like they were dating. It’s not like they were anything.

He could keep lying to himself, or just fucking admit that she was different. Penn was the first girl he’d ever been able to really talk with. And like it or not, they shared a bond through their brothers.

He just wasn’t ready to let her go.

---

Penn sat on the bed, too stunned by what happened to even cry. Everything with West had been bright and vibrant—and incredibly exciting—over the past few days. She'd been able to set down her burden and be a normal twenty-four year old. Now it seemed as if all the lights had gone out, and she was alone again with her pain. It rushed over her once more, and she drew in a ragged breath.

He’d lied to her. He’d lied right to her face. How could she trust anything that he'd said?

A knock sounded at the door. She sank back on the bed and draped her arm over her eyes.

"Who is it?" she called. The last thing she wanted to do was deal with him right now. She'd barely been able to keep it together out in the hall.

"It's Holly. The fancy dude downstairs gave me my key card and told me what room you were in."

Penn breathed a sigh of relief and walked over to the door. Holly squealed and launched herself full-force into the room, tackling her in a huge bear hug the second she opened the door.

"Penny! Oh my God, I've missed you, Curly Cue." She tugged on a lock of Penn's hair. "I'd kill for these waves, you know that, right?"

Penn wrapped her arms around her friend, sinking into her warm embrace. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you right now. It's been way too long."

"Damn straight it has."

Holly grabbed her suitcases from the hall. "I'm going to leave these in here while we catch up. I'll take them to my room later."

"You look gorgeous, Hol. Unique, as always, but it works on you, babe."

Holly’s long, dark hair was streaked with bright neon colors. She'd paired a white lace top with hip-hugging blue jean shorts, black leggings, and purple converse sneakers. On anyone else, it would look ridiculous. On Holly? Incredible.

Holly batted her eyelashes, then laughed. "Thank you, darling." She glanced around the large suite and did a dance. "How in the hell did you pull this off? One of those hotel bidding websites? This place is incredible. I hope my room is this majestic."

"I didn't do anything." Penn took a seat on the king-sized bed. "We had a way more modest room an hour ago. Until someone intervened on our behalf, that is."

Holly raised an eyebrow. "Do you mean Mr. Incredibly Gorgeous? I was so excited to see you, I forgot about him. Where is this mystery man? When do I get to witness his epic beauty?"

Penn paused, surprised by the tears that sprang to her eyes. Embarrassed, she blinked and gave a shrug. "You won't be seeing him any time soon. It's a long, ridiculous story."

Holly put her hands on Penn’s shoulders. "Hey, what happened? Did he hurt you? If he did, I'll personally rip his balls off and stuff them down his throat." Holly's gaze narrowed. "And I'll take supreme pleasure in doing it, too."

Penn cringed at her description. "No. It’s nothing like that. He just…well, he lied to me."

"Spill it." Holly took a seat next to her on the bed.

"He told me he worked in the legal field. Then I found out today that it was a lie. He's actually a professional hockey player for the Las Vegas Kingsnakes. In the elevator, two girls offered him sex while I stood right there. I'm still stunned."

Holly's mouth dropped open. "Wait. What? This guy plays for the Kingsnakes?"

"Yeah."

"I can't believe this. I just can't fucking believe this," Holly muttered. "What's his name?"

"West Keller. He's the goaltender."

"Oh, Penn, no. Oh, shit. Not Keller." Holly fell back on the bed and covered her face with her hands.

Alarmed by Holly's theatrics, she pulled her friend's hands away from her face. "What do you know about him?"

Holly propped herself up on her elbows. "Well, I told you that I'm doing some freelance work right now, right? One of my gigs is for a blog called Lucky Bounce. They have a large female following, and they want the nitty-gritty details about the player’s lives. It's what they're known for, more than actual hockey news."

"Get to the point, Hol."

"West Keller is part of The Players Club."

Penn frowned. "What's that? A gambling thing?"

"No. See, one of my jobs is following these guys around to the local clubs and hot spots. I watch their dating habits and that sort of thing. I gave them that nickname in one of my blog posts, because there's a group of them that are total players. They go home with a different woman every single night."

Penn's stomach sank. "West is one of those guys? The Players Club guys?"

Holly took her hand and squeezed. "He’s one of the worst ones, Penn. Though Eli Donnelley beats all of them. Ugh."

Penn's heart sank. "I met Eli today. He came over to talk to West when we were downstairs in the lobby."

"Eli's here?" Holly asked. "Fucking wonderful."

"Go back to what you were saying about West."

"I've seen Keller leave clubs with more than one girl at a time."

Penn drew in a breath. "He said he played the field, but that's…"

"Yeah, I know. Ménage-a-puke, right?"

Penn's lower lip began to quiver, and she turned away.

"Hey," Holly said. "Hey. I'm sorry, Penn. I shouldn't have said that. Tell me what happened with him."

Penn swallowed. "I shouldn't even care, right? It's not any of my business who he's slept with. We aren’t together."

"But?" Holly prompted gently.

"Holly, it was so different with him. I know that sounds totally cliché, but we really connected. His brother, Drew, killed himself three years ago."

"Holy shit. That's awful. I can't believe I didn’t hear about that at work."

"Yeah. We bonded over the whole miserable experience, I guess."

"Again, but?"

Penn sighed. "After I found out he lied, he said he kept it from me because he didn't want me focusing on what he did."

"More like he didn't want you to find out what a complete and total player he is with women, because any normal girl like you would tell a guy like that to fuck right off."

"I don't know." Penn lifted her shoulder in a shrug. "Things were really intense between us. They still are."

"Did you sleep with him, Penn?"

"No. I mean, we...did other stuff. I wanted to sleep with him, Hol." She met Holly's eyes. "I wanted to, but he didn't have any protection."

Penn tried to block out the memory of her first night with West, and how hot things had been between them. She couldn't let her thoughts go there now. There wasn't any point.

Holly put an arm around her. "Penn, this isn’t like you. You don't move this fast. Are you falling for Keller? Is this more than some crazy Vegas fling for you?"

Penn hadn't wanted to analyze anything that had happened between her and West. But after what had transpired in the elevator and the hall between them, she was back to her old habit of picking things apart and analyzing everything. It sucked, and she didn't want to do it anymore.

"After what happened, I'd really like to say no." She brushed a lock of hair from her face. "But I'd be lying. Whatever it is I feel for him, I don't think I can shut it off. I really like him, Hol. I liked the side he let me see, anyway."

Holly sighed. "Damn. What are you going to do?"

"I'm not sure. From what you’re saying, it was probably only a fling to him. Even if it seemed like more than that to me."

Holly knelt down in front of her. "I think you have to talk to him, Penny. I’m not this guy’s biggest fan, but if you don’t give him a chance to lay everything out there, you will have trouble letting him go. Besides, you need to give him a piece of your mind."

"Maybe. I just want to decompress for a while, though. I’m too freaked out right now."

Holly gave her a sympathetic look. "Do you want to order some room service and just hang out for a bit?"

"Yeah. I can't think about this right now. I need a distraction."

Holly ordered cheeseburgers and fries from the kitchen while Penn went into the elegant, oversized bathroom. She turned on the sink faucet, splashing her face and praying the icy cold water would slap her back into reality.

Any high she'd sustained from the previous few days had passed, and she was back to square one, feeling overwhelmed, stressed, and tired. And West Keller could take the blame for all of it.