Page 47 of Hat Trick

“Oh, hey!” If I squint hard enough, I can see Zoe standing in the window of her living room waving at me. The curtain is pulled wide and her shadow is illuminated by the living-room light behind her. “Listen, I’m so glad you’ve decided to give my girl a chance. She really likesyou.”

“That’s . . .”Good, I finish in my head. But “good” doesn’t even begin to cover how I’m feeling right now. Fucking anxious does a better job of it, and, even more appropriate—I feel shocked that Zoe knows something like that. Gwen is notoriously tight-lipped when it comes to her emotions, but I do think I’m slowly knocking down those steel walls aroundher.

Finally.

“Hello?”

My hands inadvertently squeeze the steering wheel at the newcomer’s voice—Charlie Denton’svoice.

I jerk my gaze to my teammate. Harrison only shrugs and palms his phone to his opposite hand. “I thought she’d feel left out if we didn’t include her. She’s known Gwen thelongest.”

“That’s right!” Charlie says, and I have a feeling she’s pointing at the phone. “I have known her the longest, and I think we can all agree that our Gwenny has come a long way, and if you break her heart I will break your dick,Hunt.”

Well, things just escalatedquickly.

Straightening in my seat, I bite out, “I have no plans to break herheart.”

“We’re honestly more worried he’ll forget how to have sex he’s soexcited.”

There is only one thing keeping me from punching Andre and it’s the fact that we have ladies present. “I think I’ll be okay, guys. Now can you please, for the love all things holy, get thefu—”

“Wear a condom,” Charlie tells me, followed by Zoe piping up, “She’s on birth control because of lady issues but best not to get sloppy on the first go-round. Strap up,Hunt.”

“Out.”

My two teammates erupt into laughter as they grab their duffel bags by theirfeet.

“We’re being dismissed,” Harrison tells his girl as he pops his door open. “I think Hunt is on the verge of comingundone.”

“I see what you did there,” Charlie answers with a robust laugh. “Is he red in theface?”

Harrison pulls his duffel strap over his head and then eyes me. “Red as a damn firetruck.”

I’m going to murder themall.

I honk my horn, not even caring who I might be disturbing in the neighborhood. “Out! I have places to go, peopleto—”

“Bang?” I hear Zoe shout from Beaumont’s phone. It’s possible I’m also hearing an echo, considering the fact that she’s standing less than fifty feet away. “You better make it an amazing banging experience, Hunt. I know where you sleep and Gwen deserves thebest.”

With another obnoxious honk of my horn, my teammates slam their doors shut and then scatter onto Beaumont’s front lawn. I turn up the radio volume to drown out their laughter as I peel out of thedriveway.

I can’t get back to my house quicklyenough.

17

Hunt

By the timeI pull up in front of my house, Gwen’s alreadywaiting.

Seated on my front stoop with what I can only assume is the blueberry pie resting on her lap, she looks young and nervous andlonely.

Exactly as she’d looked at her father’s funeral three yearsago.

I try not to think of that day often—not because I don’t miss Mark James but because I’ll never forget how I held Gwen in my arms and comforted her, wiped away her tears, and all over a man she barelyknew.

A man who’d influenced my life in more ways thanone.

Until that moment, I’d never made the connection between Mark James, a man who’d taken me under his wing and showed me that I had a future in hockey, and the girl who’d turned me inside out incollege.

---