Page 81 of Justice for Puck Bunnies

“When was the last time you stretched?” he asks.

“Like, in a gym?”

“Yes, in a gym.”

“Weeks. Months. I haven’t exactly had time and my calves burn from cleaning the house as it is.”

“First, you should be stretching if you have muscle soreness, regardless of the cause. Second, I want you to stretch.”

“You want me to distract Mason.”

“Are you comfortable doing that?”

Chapter Thirteen

“Are you comfortable doing that?” Trick asks.

I smirk at Mason, and Trick slaps him in on the cheek with the punch glove.

“Focus, man,” Trick chides.

Mason stretches out his jaw, but they return to the rhythm they’d set up.

For several minutes, I work on stretching out sore, overtaxed muscles. My face warms with the slight exertion and Mason gets tagged again.

“You’re never gonna stay on the team if you don’t get it together. You survived your first two games, but the crowd gets bigger each time.”

Mason rolls his eyes but never slips in the rhythm.

“I’m dead serious. You can’t be looking at any pair of tits that walks by the glass.”

I narrow my eyes at the back of Trick’s head. He can’t know I’ve directed my ire at him, but his shoulders hunch all the same.

“My tits are the best in the arena, so if he can focus with mine, he’s golden.”

They bump fists and grin at me, then go back to it.

Circling the room, I pretend like they aren’t even there as I strut around them.

There are a lot of things I’m not good at. I’m not the smartest or the strongest. I’ve never been the girl others come to for advice.

But I’m scrappy as fuck and proud of it.

As I walk the room, I stretch my arms overhead and unbraid my hair. It’s still slightly damp from last night’s shower, but it’ll do.

I fluff up my hair and whistle casually while I walk.

Trick’s eyes go to me, and Mason slaps him on the cheek instead of sending a punch.

“Very funny,” Trick says.

“Focus, man,” Mason teases.

When I reach the water bottles again, I snatch one and toss it into the air.

Mason remains fixated on the gloves. The boys murmur to each other, but I can’t hear it from here.

So I twist the bottle open and take a long, luxurious gulp of the water. A few more deep pulls and the bottle’s already half gone.

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