Page 19 of The Goalie

I shook my head.

I shouldn’t care what Sam’s response would be. I shouldn’t care if she said no or laughed at the mere thought of us together in a romantic sense.

But I did. And I hoped it didn’t affect my game tonight.

On the way to the rink, Lucy called. I hesitated about answering. Lucy was always emotional. She was a set of extremes—either really happy or really upset, and her energy was overwhelming. I wasn’t sure I needed that sort of confrontation before a game. Then again, ignoring her might be worse.

“Yeah?” I asked after I pressed a button on my dash.

“What the hell were you thinking, telling Sam I told you about Sam’s love life?”

Yup, definitely a bad idea.

Then again, the fact that San had called Lucy was a good thing, wasn’t it? Women called their best friends during difficult decisions to get their take on the situation, right? Which meant she viewed our potential relationship as something important.

“Why in the hell would you tell her that?” Lucy pushed.

I hadn’t realized she was still talking.

“In fact,” she continued before I could answer, “what made you think to tell her in the first place? Why are you guys talking to each other when I know for a fact that you guys hate each other? It doesn’t make any sense. Why are you guys talking? And when? And—”

“Look, Luc, I’d love to be able to talk more, but I’m pulling up to the rink,” I said, reaching to hang up the call.

“Oh, God, Dan, you didn’t sleep with her, did you?” Lucy asked.

I dropped my hand as I pulled into the lot. “Why would you even think that?” I asked.

“I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t,” Lucy insisted. “Except…” She paused for a moment and I could picture her playing with her bangs the way she always did when she was nervous. “Okay, when I talked to Sam, she had this tone. Like she wasn’t telling me something. I didn’t push because I thought it was about Josh showing up to get her stuff and maybe she wasn’t as over him as she thought she was. But maybe it was something else. I mean, I did notice a flush on her cheeks after I grabbed you at the party.”

“How could you have possibly noticed that?” I asked. I pulled up to another red light and began to drum my fingers on the wheel. How many red lights could I reasonably hit before I got to the rink? “She was wearing a mask.”

“You’re an idiot. I notice everything. How many times do I have to tell you? And it’s not just with my eyes, either. I pick up tones and other nuances no one even thinks about.”

I arched a brow even though she couldn’t see me. “Oh, really?” I asked. The light turned green and it took everything in me not to punch the gas.

“Yeah, really.” Though I wasn’t in front of her, I knew she was nodding her head, arms crossed over her chest in a no-nonsense way. She really should have been a lawyer. “Like right now, I bet you’re arching your brow, looking at the phone like I’m some sort of idiot. Like I can’t tell that you had sex last night.”

“You shouldn’t know me that well, Luc,” I said. “I’m your brother.”

“I noticed the flush on Sam, the way she basically ditched the party after I found you. I noticed I couldn’t find you guys for a while, but I didn’t really care because I was too busy hostessing….” She let her voice trail off. “Oh my God, Dan, did you have sex with my best friend in my gym?”

My mouth dropped open before I could stop it. I had no idea how she was able to piece together the information, but she was. When she said it like that, it sounded bad. Skeezy, even. But caught in the moment, I didn’t think much about it at all.

Now, though…

No, don’t pretend. In all honesty, you would do it all over again and you know it.

I said nothing, ignoring the thought.

“Dan, how could you take advantage of her?”

Lucy’s voice interrupted my inner musings.

“What?” I asked, not bothering to hide my disturbed tone. I furrowed my brow even though Lucy wasn’t in front of me. I had no idea what she was even talking about. Why would she think I would take advantage of her? What had happened to Sam that Lucy would assume she was being taken advantage of in the first place? “Take advantage of her? Are you kidding me right now?”

“She’s in a delicate state after the breakup!” Lucy let out a frustrated sigh. “Oh, come on, Dan, she’s my best friend! She’s fragile right now and the last thing she needs is you fucking her in some closet. She might think, I don’t know, that you’ve secretly loved her for all these years. I just don’t need to deal with another heartbreak.”

“There’s the Lucy I know,” I taunted. I couldn’t help it. She didn’t even realize what she was saying.

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