Page 16 of Pucking High School

She rolled her eyes and pushed me away. “Just get in the car,” she hissed before slamming the door in my face.

Well, okay then.

I sighed and opened the front car door, giving Dash a little wave as I did. “Hey, Big Man. Long time, no see.” I smiled, but as per usual, Dash didn’t return it.

As I slid onto the leather seat and buckled my seat belt, I paused when I realized Dash was still looking at me. “What?”

“Big Man?”

“It’s your new nickname because you’re this Big Man now.” I flittered my hand in front of his face. Seriously, it had been what? Two weeks since I last saw him, and I don’t know what happened, but he had suddenly turned into this rugged, sexy guy. Okay, maybe it wasn’t the elapse of time that did it. Maybe it was the fact that I started seeing him differently after he punched Henry. He wasn’t just my grumbly brother’s best friend anymore. He was my protector, now, and something about that made him hugely appealing.

Dash rolled his eyes at my antics, and as per usual, grumbled something under his breath. I glanced over my shoulder to the backseat, making eye contact with Tiff who just shook her head. I had no idea why. I was just being my usual self. Or should I say, mynewusual self because I refused to let any guy make me feel vulnerable again. They just weren’t worth it.

The ride to Tiff’s house was quiet, but Dash filled the void with a playlist that I could only describe as angsty and depressing. It was the type of music that the front man slurred his words so much; it sounded more like groaning than anything else. I guessed that was why Dash liked it.

After dropping Tiff off, he turned the music down, which was surprising. What wasn’t surprising was that Dash didn’t talk. So, I decided to fill the void and talked all about the gossip he missed out on over the last two weeks. There wasn’t much, andhe didn’t seem that interested, but I preferred that to sitting in an awkward silence.

As he stopped outside my house, I turned to him with a smile. “Thanks for the ride home, Big Man. You saved me at least twenty bucks on an Uber.”

“No problem.” He still wasn’t looking at me, which made it hard to know what to do next. “I’m, uh, just going to head inside now.” I pointed with my thumb out the window to my house. A couple of the lights were on, and I suspected my parents were still up, waiting for me and Cade.

He mumbled something under his breath, which I assumed was ‘okay’.

Leaning over, I opened the car door, but stopped when I thought I heard Dash say something.

“What was that?” I relaxed back into the seat, looking at him.

He cleared his throat. “I said you deserve better.” It was still a mumble, but I understood it this time.

“You deserve better than being kissed by a bunch of drunk idiots in the middle of some random house while you play a lackluster game of Spin The Bottle.”

“Um. Okay. Thanks.”

Where the hell did that come from?

Was this his way of trying to make me feel better about how he’d rather kiss anyone but me.

When he didn’t say anything else, I assumed that was it, so I opened the door. “I’ll see you later, Big Man.”

“You deserve to be with a guy that will make you their everything.” With my legs perched over the edge of the seat, I sat quietly for a minute and stared out into the darkness toward my house. “The guys you’re going after are only showing you an ounce of what you deserve. You don’t need to change the way you dress or act to get attention. You’ve already got it without trying.”

When I slowly turned to look at him, Dash was watching me intently.

“Make them work for it and only do things you want to do. Don’t come to parties just because you want to prove you’re over some idiot that wasn’t worth your time in the first place.”

I silently nodded. It was the first time in my life that I was rendered speechless because I’d never heard Dash speak so passionately about something before, and that something was me.

What the heck is going on?

“Thanks,” I finally mumbled, not sure what else to do. He didn’t say anything else, but his fingers gripped the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles were going white. “I, uh, guess I’ll see you around.”

I moved out of the car, shutting the door, and shuffling up to my house without looking back because I had no idea what just happened between us, but the fluttering feeling in my stomach was making me believe something else might be starting between us.

Chapter 5

Two Months Later

“The Atlanta Anglerfish choose Cade Bright, defenseman, as the tenth pick of the first-round.”

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