Page 20 of Inside the Penalty Box

“Okay, tell me, this supposed hockey stepbrother…is his room covered in hockey posters and shit? Phil’s was until Candace dug her claws into him. It’s funny how suddenly they grow up.” She giggled, her eyes lighting up as our food finally arrived.

The server had barely placed hers down before she was snatching fries off the plate.

“Sorry I broke the glass,” she said, pointing to the floor.

“Not a problem. I’ll get that cleaned up and grab you both another refill.” He winked and took off in the direction in which he’d come.

“It’s not the way you envision it completely,” I muttered, swirling my fork around in the bed of pasta beneath the salmon.

“What isn’t?”

“The whole situation.”

“Okay????” She smiled. “Why don’t you tell me this little dream of yours?” She giggled again, shaking her head.

“You don’t believe me,” I said, looking over at my friend, who sat there smiling.

Lorelai laughed. “I’m sorry, Aurora, this story is a little much, especially for you. If it were coming from say Willow, I’d believe it.”

“I’m not joking, Lorelai. My stepbrother is the Dominator, and he is the guy I spent the night with in Cozumel.” I sighed, feeling one weight rise off my chest, only for another to press down. I knew she still wouldn’t believe me, so I pulled the neck of my sweater down to show her the light purple mark that was still on my neck. The mark he’d left the other night.

Lorelai almost dropped her fork, but her quick reflexes allowed her to grab it before it hit the floor. Lorelai studied me for a moment. “You’ve got to be shitting me?”

“Seriously, I almost died when I saw him.”

Lorelai sat there, still not knowing what to say. She studied me, then reached over and pulled my sweater down again and wiped her finger over the mark to make sure it didn’t come off.

“Wow, Aurora, I don’t really know what to say.”

“Join the club.” I sighed.

“What did he do? Did he recognize you? Never mind, that was a stupid question.”

I nodded, placing a piece of salmon in my mouth. “Sure was.”

“What was his reaction?”

I sat there, replaying the entire night over in my mind. Most people would have been mortified, but not Dylan.

“You don’t want to know,” I muttered.

“The hell I don’t.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. Even though she was my best friend, I was hesitant to tell her everything. I didn’t want her to think badly of me.

“He was all over me.”

Lorelai lifted her eyes and met mine. “Are you serious? In front of everyone?”

I shook my head. “Only when we were alone, but he made it obvious that he knew me in front of everyone, or at least I think he did.”

She almost jumped across the table at me. “What?”

“Yep, he wants to, um…continue things.”

“What did you say?”

Just then the server approached the table with our refills and was about to ask if we needed anything else, but Lorelai beat him to it by shoving her hand out toward him and immediately telling him we were fine.

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