“You’re not. I am.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, doing her best to ignore that twinge in her gut warning she was making a mistake. The decision was made. She just had to stick to it. “I’m going to New Orleans tomorrow. The Cajun Rage offered me a deal I’d be a fool to walk away from, but the catch is that I have to start right away.”

“Is this because of that hockey player?”

“No.” She fiddled with her six-year coin in her jacket pocket. “Why would you think that?”

He chuckled and shook his head. “Because I know you.”

And that was the thing about a good sponsor—and a good friend—they always did. She’d have better luck lying to herself than to Roger. “I love him.”

“You’d think that would be a reason to stay.”

She blinked back the tears that pricked her eyes. “He doesn’t love me, and even if he did, he’s not at the right place in his life for that. He’s got some stuff he needs to work out. The fresh start will do me good.”

They hugged, putting six years’ worth of ups and downs, triumphs and tragedies into one huge squeeze.

“You’ll always be my favorite Mustang.”

She swallowed over the lump of emotion clogging her throat. “Love you right back, Roger.”

Another quick hug and she hustled out of the gallery before she started crying. She’d never imagined leaving Harbor City. It was her place. However, she couldn’t turn around without seeing something Ice Knights related and she just couldn’t deal with that. Maybe in a few years she’d come back, but she couldn’t deal with it now.

A text buzzed on her phone confirming her Uber to the airport tomorrow. That was a good thing, right? She was moving on to bigger and better things. She could learn to love a new city and a new team. As for learning to love another man, she hoped she never did that ever again.

…

The sun was barely up when someone started pounding on the cabin door. If Ian had been asleep—or had fallen asleep at all—he would have been pissed. As it was, he was half in the bag and staring blankly at the now-roaring fire when the knocking started. He ignored it, but it didn’t stop. There was only one person he knew who was that obnoxious and he wasn’t going to stop until Ian answered.

The room didn’t spin when he stood up, which meant he needed more scotch. Still, he took his time getting to the door. It was the least he could do to be equally annoying.

His brother didn’t wait to be asked in; he just pushed his way past Ian and into the living room.