Page 57 of Filthy Ruck

His smirk became a curled lip of disgust. “Fuck off, Keller. I wouldn't kiss you if you were the last person on the face of the planet.”

“If I was the last person on the face of the planet, you wouldn't be around to kiss me,” I reasoned. “We'd have to be the two last people on the planet.” I gave him a smug smile.

“You're an idiot,” he said. “You know what I meant.”

“Did I?” I said with mock innocence. I turned sideways and glanced at Frost. “Did you know what he meant?”

“I did, but I like your answer better,” Frost said. “I mean, you're not technically incorrect.”

I looked back at Atlas and nodded. “There it is. I'm not wrong.”

“Neither am I,” Atlas said. “You're still an idiot. Who's Chelsea, and does she need me to recommend a good ophthalmologist? If she'd want to kiss any of you, she clearly needs her eyesight tested.”

“You're giving me a headache with your big words.” I rubbed my temples. “Did you eat a thesaurus?”

“No, I got an education,” he retorted. “Something the Sydney Devils appreciate.”

“You're not a Devil anymore,” Frost said. “Maybe they didn't appreciate it enough.”

The look Atlas gave him could have bored a hole right through his forehead.

“He shoots, he scores,” I said. I offered Frost a fist bump.

“Maybe you should lay off,” Dallas said softly. “Changing teams is hard enough without you guys being pricks about it.”

We all gave him a surprised look.

He shrugged at us. “Just saying.”

“I don't need them to be nice,” Atlas said. “Tell Chelsea I said hi.” He turned and walked away.

I resisted the urge to jump to my socked feet and strangle the living shit out of him. If he so much as looked at her the wrong way, I might give in to that urge.

Maybe I should, because sooner or later he'd meet her and that occurrence wasn't without the risk that he'd get sucked into her orbit too. I'd rather face an hour-long session talking about my deepest feelings than consider sharing her with him as well.

“Sometimes, I think it might be better if she didn't end up working here,” Frost said slowly. Reluctantly.

Now it was him I stared at. “What are you talking about?”

“Same question,” Dallas snapped. “You know that's what she wants.” And what he wanted, too. I'd seen him once or twicesneak off for a while and come back looking more satisfied than he had when he left. It doesn’t take a genius to work out what he was doing and who he was doing it with. At no time was I jealous; I'd have my time with her later.

“First of all, you might get your shit together better if she wasn't so close,” Frost said to Dallas. “And none of the other guys would get to meet her if she wasn't here.”

“They'd meet her sooner or later,” I said. “We hang out with some of them, sometimes.”

“Yes, but we get to choose who we hang out with,” Frost said. “If we don't invite guys like him, they won't see her in person.”

“We'd need to ban her from coming to any of our games,” I said, slowly cottoning on to what he was saying. “Or make sure she sits where they can't see her.”

“You guys are out of your minds,” Dallas snarled, while still keeping his voice down. “You can't keep her from her job. She'll be furious.”

“She has another job she can go back to,” I said. I didn't like that option either. I preferred it when we weren't sharing her with the gazes of other men.

“No way,” Frost said immediately. “That's out.”

“I agree,” Dallas said, still glowering. “Come up with another solution.” He pushed himself to his feet and stomped away.

“We will,” I said to his back. Even if I had to strangle Atlas for real, I'd keep him from her.

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