Free Collide by Juliana Stone Page A

good this past week. Funny, her life
was down in the toilet and yet, he had rallied. His mind was good,
his eyes bright, and his appetite had returned.
    She just wished she could enjoy it.
    A sigh escaped her lips as she pushed her
tangled hair out of her eyes and watched—with disinterest—twin
beams of light cut through the thickening gloom outside. A black
truck pulled up behind Bobbi’s own modest car and the doors flew
open. Logan Forest and her sister Billie, stood together for a
moment, their bodies touching in the way that lovers did, hands
caressing a cheek, bones melting into flesh.
    Her sister rose onto her tip toes and sank
her fingers into Logan’s hair. They kissed a long, lingering kiss
and his hands fell to Billie’s butt. He pulled her into him as the
two of them took their time to taste each other.
    When Logan slowly let her sister slide
down--when he broke their kiss and claimed her hand inside
his—something twisted inside Billie. The emptiness of her bubble
was no more.
    She was filled with something fierce and hot
and painful.
    She bit her lip so hard that she drew blood
and when Billie and Logan entered the house, she turned away from
the foyer. She had seen enough. She didn’t need to see anymore.
    “Hey.”
    Shit. Guess Billie wasn’t on the same
page.
    Bobbi turned, pasted a surprised look on her
face and attempted a lame smile.
    “Hey yourself. What are you guys doing here?
Did you come for Gramps chili?”
    Billie nodded. “Sure did. We’ve got a game at
eight and I just got off the ice with a bunch of girls, so we came
for carbs and then we’re heading back to the twin pads.”
    Bobbi stared at her sister and hoped like
hell the jealous ball of pain inside her didn’t show.
    Billie Jo had returned home from Europe the
previous fall, her career playing professional hockey over much too
soon. She’d been labeled injury prone and her last concussion had
pretty much signed her walking papers. For a woman who had
represented her country in two Olympic games and then played in the
men’s league in Sweden, it was a tough blow.
    And yet, she’d bounced back. She had returned
home, conquered the local men’s hockey league and managed to find
love. Currently working her ass off running her very own hockey
training school, Billie Jo Barker had moved from displaced sports
hero, to up and coming business woman of the year.
    Bobbi loved her.
    And she hated her too.
    “Why don’t you come and watch?” Billie asked
quietly.
    Bobbi glanced at Logan Forest, suddenly aware
of just how awful she looked. She pulled her blanket a little
higher and murmured. “I think I’m coming down with something.”
    “Some fresh air might do you good, Bobbi,”
Logan offered. “It’s not good to stay cooped up inside, especially
in the winter.”
    “I’m fine right here, thanks,” she said
frostily. She didn’t care that Logan was Billie’s boyfriend. What
gave him the right to come in here and offer advice?
    “I’ll meet you in the kitchen,” he said and
kissed Billie on the cheek before disappearing down the hall.
    “Bobbi,” Billie said.
    “You better go,” she inserted. “Betty is in
there and who knows what the hell she’s wearing or even if she’s
dressed. She’ll be all over Logan and you know it.”
    “I know.” Billie smiled and shrugged. “But I
also know that Logan only tolerates her because she’s my sister and
because her need for attention is so pathetic it’s sad.”
    Bobbi shrugged. “She’s not as pathetic as I
am these days.”
    “That’s true,” Billie said. “And she smells a
hell of a lot better than you do.”
    Annoyed, Bobbi threw a pillow at her sister
and they both watched it land on the floor next to the antique
grandfather clock.
    “You can’t stay in here forever you know,”
Billie said quietly. “You have to come out and play and you may as
well get it over with. Come watch us play tonight. We’re heading to
The Grill for beer and wings afterward.