Page 33 of My Worst Pucking Enemy

“Uhh . . .” Mason’s voice trails off.

“You’d do that for her?” Rowan skewers me with a suspicious look.

“I’d do that for you guys. It’s no big deal. Basically, it sounds like you just need to buy some time for her so the police can do a real investigation, right?”

They both nod. Rowan’s panicked breathing slows down. “You’re a lifesaver,” she says to me.

“Let me talk to the lawyer that you’ve hired, so we can work out our story,” I say to Rowan.

There’s very little traffic today. It’s as if the universe wants me to get to the station as fast as possible.

Well, the universe and Rowan. Once I’d talked to the lawyer that Mason hired, Rowan rushed me out the door so fast, I think I left scorch marks. She’s really upset that she can’t come too, but Mason and I both convinced her that cancelling a promo interview for a children’s cancer charity would not be a good thing, and Ruby wouldn’t want her to.

And now... Ruby James is going to owe me big time.

I’m humming to myself in the back seat of a taxi when my cell phone rings. It’s my mother. She’s got a sixth sense about these things. She’s got Ruby-dar.

Well, I’m about to burst her bubble.

I answer the phone cheerfully. “Hello, Mom. Everything okay?”

“Yes, everything’s good on our front. You sound a little strange, though, dear. What’s going on with you?”

“Well, I hate to disillusion you, but that girl that you were so sure that I’m going to end up with, for no logical reason whatsoever?”

“That lovely Ruby James, the one you sent me all of those pictures of before you had your little tiff?”

I groan aloud.

“Mom, stay with me here. She’s not the sweet innocent you thought she was. She’s in jail. Police say she vandalized a man’s apartment.”

This is it. I am finally going to be free of her manipulative attempts to marry me off. I grin in fierce triumph. I just hope my mother’s not too embarrassed.

“Oh, my goodness.” My mother sounds scandalized. “I can’t believe it.”

“I know, right?” I crow triumphantly.

“So the poor girl has been framed?”

“Mooom,” I shout.

The cab driver glances back at me.

“Do you need me to help you with bail money? Should we hire her an attorney?”

I smack my forehead with my hand. I should be used to it by now, but it’s beyond frustrating that my parents still don’t take my hockey career seriously. They never offer my brothers money, but when it comes to me, they still try to pay for my plane ticket when I visit them. They don’t understand that in addition to my very generous salary, I’m raking in a fortune in endorsement money every year. Power drinks and energy bars and shampoo for the win.

“She doesn’t need bail because the police are going to let her go, and I don’t need any money because I’m doing just fine financially, but thanks for the offer,” I grumble.

“Oh, well, of course they’re going to let her go. It was all obviously a big misunderstanding. Also, do you know when her birthday is?”

August third.

“No, and I don’t care, either.”

“It’s fine. I can find out on my own.” She will, too.

“Mom, why are you so obsessed with Ruby James? I think it’s unhealthy.”

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