Chapter 3

Sidney walked down the street next to Bryce in complete shock. The girl walking beside him was not the Bryce Sirota he remembered. He knew it had been years since he’d seen her last, but this was a transformation he’d never seen coming. Could people really change that much in six years? He didn't even know how he'd recognized her.

The Bryce he was used to seeing was uncoordinated, short, a little overweight, and wore ill-fitting glasses. Her hair had always been pulled back in a ponytail and she hardly, if ever, wore makeup. She’d been the meek girl in school, keeping to the background, practically invisible to everyone else. The only reason he even remembered she existed was because she grew up just a couple houses away from him.

The Bryce that was walking next to him seemed to be the exact opposite of that girl. She was wearing a long tight fitting shirt over black leggings with knee high boots that made her almost as tall as him. The outfit did everything to attract attention to her obviously in great shape body. She had her long dark brown hair down and flowing behind her in the breeze. Her makeup was done in such a way that her emerald green eyes were the first thing anyone could notice. How had he not ever realized she had green eyes like that before? He didn’t even want to get started on her pouty red lips.

The Bryce Sirota walking alongside him right now was a knockout. No straight guy in his right mind would be able to walk past her without taking a second, third, and probably fourth look at her. She finally stopped doing whatever she was doing on her iPhone and stopped in the sidewalk to put it in her purse. The brief pause gave him the opportunity to really look her over.

Jesus, if he didn’t stop checking her out, he was going to have a hard time explaining the growing bulge in his pants to her and everyone else walking around downtown Pittsburgh. When she was done she looked up and flashed a smile at him before catching up. He couldn’t help the image of those red lips doing something else that popped into his mind.

“How are your parents and Taylor?” she asked as they paused to wait for a light to change at an intersection.

“They’re good, thanks. How’s your family?” he returned. He saw a flash of something, pain maybe, run through her eyes before she responded. It was gone as quickly as it appeared however.

“Good. Mom and Dad are still back home working and Kellen is at McGill working towards his law degree,” she explained.

He remembered Bryce’s brother, Kellen. He’d been almost the exact opposite of Bryce. Kellen had been athletic and popular. People had always been shocked when they found out he was Bryce’s older brother. The only thing the two of them had in common was their intelligence. It didn’t surprise Sidney to learn he was in law school.

They arrived at the coffee shop and Sidney opened the door first, holding it open for Bryce. She smiled and thanked him before walking through the door. He couldn’t help it. He paused at the door and watched Bryce’s ass through the skin tight material as she walked inside. Fuck, he’d do some dirty shit to that ass if he could.

“So what made you move to Pittsburgh?” he asked her when they’d sat down at a table as far from the others as possible with their drinks.

“My friend Harmony,” she replied, like that explained anything. He waited for her to elaborate, but she took a sip of her skinny vanilla latte instead. He nearly groaned when he saw Bryce’s tongue slide out from between her red lips and lick them. Was she doing this on purpose?

“What for?” Bryce’s eyes connected with his and she smiled over at him. The smile just oozed sex. Who was this girl?

“Harmony decided she wanted to open a restaurant in her hometown. I got tagged as her business partner. Don’t ask me how that happened, because I’m still not sure myself.”

“What kind of restaurant?”

“I have no idea,” she told him with a laugh. “I’ll let you know when Harmony makes up her mind. So what’s been going on with you the last few years?” Was she serious with that question? How could she not know what had been going on with his life?

“Playing hockey…..” She cut him off before he got any further than that with a wave of her hand.

“Yeah, yeah. I know about the Cup and the gold medal. I meant with you. Hockey can’t be all there is,” she said. He was both surprised and thrilled at what she’d said. There was actually someone out there that cared about him as a person.

“To be honest, not a whole lot. Hockey really is my life. I can barely step foot outside without being approached by people so I tend to stay home when I don’t have an obligation,” he told her.

“You’ve done pretty well so far today,” she commented, a hint of a smile playing on her lips and he found himself smiling back at her without even meaning to.

“It’s a freak occurrence, trust me.” She giggled and took another sip of her latte.

“So no girlfriend, fiancée, wife, or social life at all then?” she questioned. He shook his head.

“I don’t have the time for one even if I wanted to,” he told her truthfully. She looked at him with an eyebrow raised in question.

“Interesting choice of words ‘if I wanted to.’ Why wouldn’t you want that?” He sighed and took a sip of his coffee.

“Because I can never tell what anyone’s intentions are. People pretend they don’t care about who I am, and I always find out later that they do. I hate having to try to guess. It’s stressful and not worth my time.” She nodded like she understood.

It was strange of him to confess all of this to anyone, but for some reason he felt comfortable with Bryce. He didn’t know if that came from the fact that they’d grown up in the same town, just houses away from each other. Maybe it was knowing who she was in high school that made him think she wasn’t as superficial as others. There was something though, that made him feel like she’d get it, get him.

“I guess the Notorious B.I.G. was right. Mo’ money mo’ problems,” Bryce cracked. He couldn’t help but grin over at her. “I am sorry though. It can’t be easy to live like you do.”

“It’s not,” he sighed. “Sneaking around hotels in visiting cities, not being able to go places and do what I want, needing to have handlers, having to be always politically correct. It fucking sucks.” He heard the bitterness in his own voice. He was taken by surprise then when he felt Bryce’s hand settle onto his and give it a squeeze.

“If it helps, you do an amazing job at playing the poster boy despite how difficult it must be. It has to take an incredibly strong person to be able to do that day in and day out,” she told him.

There was something there this time when he looked into her eyes that was more than just sex. Until now he’d been imagining Bryce in all sorts of different positions he could put her into. This time he felt something tug at him that made him want to know her. Really know her. He hadn’t realized he’d done it until he glanced back down at the table, but at some point he’d turned his hand over and interlocked his fingers with hers.

“Okay, enough about me. What have you been up to the last few years? Last I heard you were graduating from high school as the valedictorian,” he said, changing the subject and pulling his hand away. She took another sip of her latte as she shrugged.

“I went to Stanford University where I just graduated in June with degrees in both Math and Economics,” she explained.

“Wow. Isn’t Stanford a really good school?” he asked, completely impressed with what she’d just told him.

“Yeah, it is. Depending on where you look, it’s always ranked at least top 5 in the nation.”

“I’m not at all surprised. You were always so good at school.” He watched as her eyes narrowed at him after he said that. Had he struck a nerve? Why? A moment later the look was gone and she was smiling back at him again.

“Yeah, well, there wasn’t much else for me in Cole Harbour.”

It was a pointed comment and he understood it. They both knew she’d been an outcast in school. Her statement also made him feel a little guilty, like he’d just been reprimanded by his mother. It wasn’t like he’d made her the person she was in high school, but he suddenly felt like maybe he hadn’t helped either.

“Speaking of Cole Harbour, do you get back often?” he asked, changing the subject. He saw the same flash of whatever that emotion was in her eyes previously at the question and he felt like a complete asshole, even though he didn’t know why.

“Not really. I double majored so I was at school year round to keep myself on track to graduate in four years. Now I live here, at least for now. I only get back for holidays, and even then it’s usually just a week or so,” she told him. Something told him that there was more to her not going back than school, but he didn’t push.

They sat there talking until their drinks were gone. As they stood up to leave, Sidney decided that he didn’t want this to be the last time that he saw Bryce. When they got outside and began to walk back to their cars Sidney began to build up the confidence to ask for her number. He’d never been good at that sort of thing.

“It was really nice running into you today,” Bryce told him, turning her head to smile over at him. Sidney took his chance.

“We should do it again sometime. It’s nice to have a familiar face around,” he replied. Her smile grew and she nodded.

“What’s your number?” she asked, taking out her phone. He gave it to her and a moment later his phone vibrated, signaling he had a message. “Call me when you find some free time.”

With that, Bryce flashed one last sex-filled smile before turning and walking over to her car. Sidney watched her go, unable to keep his eyes off of her ass. When she got into the car he continued to walk to where his was parked. The whole trip to his new house he couldn’t keep her off his mind. It still baffled him that this was the same girl he’d grown up near, because this Bryce Sirota was drop dead sexy.