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Page 209 of The Striker (Gods of the Game 1)

My throat clogged at the familiar sweep of marble stairs and soaring windows.

“It is,” I said softly. “It hasn’t changed at all.”

He glanced at me, his gaze assessing. He didn’t condescend me by asking if I was okay, but I could feel his concern as we walked up the stairs toward the main auditorium.

Surprisingly, I reallywasokay.

I thought walking through the halls of Westbury again would be overwhelming, but other than my initial shock of nerves and nostalgia, I felt nothing except anticipation for Emma’s performance.

For years, I’d built the theatre up to be this monstrous symbol of my old life, but it was just a building. The small man to the great Wizard of Oz of my imagination. The only power it held was what I gave it, and I’d reconciled with my past enough to not give it any power at all.

In another lifetime, I’d be backstage right now, preparing for another performance as the star of the show.

Tonight, I was merely one of hundreds of attendees who’d shown up to support the next generation of dancers.

And I was more than okay with that.

“Asher! Is that you?”

Our heads turned at the same time. A beautiful redhead approached us in the hall with a tall, handsome Asian man in tow. Her face split into a wide smile.

“Itisyou! I haven’t seen you in ages. How are you?” She hugged Asher and turned to me, her eyes sparkling withmischief. “And you, the girl who snagged the infamous Asher Donovan. It’s nice to finally meet you in person.”

I smiled back and returned the sentiment. We only just met, but she exuded an infectious energy that was impossible to resist.

Asher laughed. “Scarlett, this is Jules, an old friend of mine.”

“And this is Josh, my boyfriend,” Jules added, gesturing at the man beside her.

“It’s great to meet you.” Josh gave me a warm smile that revealed a devastating set of dimples. However, his smile visibly cooled when he glanced at Asher. “Donovan.”

Asher looked like he was trying not to laugh. “Josh. Always a pleasure.”

“We were on our way to our seats when I spotted you. Itoldhim it was you, but he insisted it wasn’t. See?” Jules elbowed Josh in the side. “I was right.”

“You were.” He didn’t sound particularly thrilled.

Josh slid an arm around Jules’s waist and glared at Asher while we chatted during our wait for curtains up.

It turned out the American couple was on holiday from D.C. Asher met them at Queen Bridget’s wedding a couple of years ago (I still couldn’t believe he’d been a guest attheroyal wedding of the century), and they’d kept in touch since.

Well, he and Jules kept in touch. I could tell by Josh’s scowl that he was not an Asher fan.

Jules was a lawyer, and a London member of her firm had a daughter who was performing in the showcase. He’d bought tickets for every employee who wanted to attend, including those who were visiting from out of town.

“I’ve never been to a ballet, so I figured, why not?” Jules shrugged. “Anyway, it looks like the show’s about to start, so I don’t want to keep you any longer. I just wanted to say hi.” She lowered her voice. “And Asher, I heard about your situation fromour litigation team. I know I don’t practice that area of law, but if you need help, let me know anyway.” She raised her voice to normal volume again. “Enjoy the show! It was great running into you.”

We said our goodbyes, and I waited until they were out of earshot before I arched an eyebrow at a sheepish-looking Asher. “What situation was she talking about?”

He placed his hand on the small of my back and guided me toward our seats in the front row. “I was going to tell you later, but I finally found out who vandalized my car,” he admitted. “It wasn’t Bocci or anyone from Holchester. It was Clive.”

I stopped dead in my tracks. “What? Clive as in the rugby player? The one I went on a date with?”

Asher nodded. “Ivy called to tell me last week. Apparently, they rekindled their relationship after our double date. She heard about the car incident from Poppy, who heard about it from one the players, and she stumbled on a bunch of pictures Clive took of my car after he keyed it. The idiot was dumb enough to leave incriminating evidence lying around. He wanted a trophy, I guess.” He shook his head. “She asked him about it, and he confessed. His ego still couldn’t get over the fact that I beat him during last summer’s race, though admittedly, I hadn’t been too gracious a winner at the time.”

My head spun as we resumed walking again.

“That’swild.” Clive had seemed so nice when I met him at Neon, though he’d raised several red flags during our date. I hadn’t talked to him since then, so finding out he was the culprit behind the vandalization was a shock. “Did you confront him?”




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