Page 54 of Puck & Make Up

Well, I don’t really have a third, except to say that he’s my friend and a good guy and…I don’t go around punching my friends.

Even when they’re being fucking annoying.

“Your point?” I grind out.

“Mypointis that you’ve gone from whistling that annoying little tune of yours,” he says, “to…”

“Murdering pucks?” I ask quietly.

“Exactly.” His lips twitch. “Which speaks of only one thing.”

I pause just outside the locker room and glance over at him, lifting an eyebrow in question.

“Woman trouble.”

My jaw tenses further and I know the asshole clocks it because he smirks. “Dessie?”

“Dude,” I mutter.

“I fucking knew it.”

“I didn’t say it was her.”

“I still heard you say her name.” He leans closer. “Plus, Rosie clued me in.”

That’s not helpful.

“How’s it going with the Gold?” I ask, trying to distract him.

His eyes dance, and I immediately know he sees right through me, but before I can pivot, he just says, “Great.” Then he shrugs. “So, how’d you fuck up with Dessie?”

I exhale and scrub my hands over my face. “I finally got in there, man. Behind the barbed wire and past the steel-lined walls. I thought we were going to be smooth-sailing for once and…”

“What?”

“I woke up after the best orgasm of my life”—he smirks—“after all but telling her that I love her and”—his eyes widen—“she was gone.”

“Too much too fast?”

I groan and shove my hair out of my face. “I didn’t think so, considering that she stayed and cooked me dinner after I told her how I feel, that she made the first fucking move to”—our eyes connect—“you know.”

He nods.

“She was…” I sigh and push through the locker room door, thankful it’s empty and my new teammates are nowhere in sight. “I thought she was finally all in.”

“Have you talked to her?”

I exhale. “No,” I mutter, dropping onto the bench. “I must have called at least a dozen times, and she didn’t return any of my texts, see?” I pull out my phone, start to show him the blank screen.

Only it’s not blank.

There’s a call.

And a text.

My heart squeezes hard as I read.

DESSIE: I’m sorry.

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