Page 92 of Honey Pot

“Mr. November,” Zoey swooned. “Always a favorite.”

Van choked on his beer.

“But Mr. June…” Ella flipped the calendar back to Cael’s month.

“Oh my God.” I covered my mouth and looked down at it. “How did you even get up there?”

Cael was standing with his feet wide, balanced on the massive block letter sign that lit up the front of the Harbor stadium with a bat carefully positioned between his legs and his hands wrapped around the top in such a way that he perfectly covered himself.

“A ladder.” He shrugged, clearly very proud of himself.

The hazy blue light of the sign kissed his naked skin and complimented his stupid grin.

“You climbed that ladder naked?” Zoey giggled.

“I’ll tell you something, there’s nothing as freeing as the wind kissing your balls twenty feet in the air with the looming threat of death on the horizon.” Cael smiled.

I dug my phone out of my pocket and snapped a photo of Mr. June and saved it.

“I have more, I’ll mail you a copy,” Ella said and Arlo practically hissed from his spot at the table.

“Oh relax, Cap,” Ella waved him off. “I pulled Mr. January out of all of them. Your ass in those baseball pants are for my eyes only.”

He cocked his head and the lightness returned to his features as he rose from his chair.

“One last question.” She stared at Cael as Arlo rounded the table and hung himself around her, kissing her face just below her scar. “I asked about your past, but what do you see for your future?”

MATTHEWS

2016

“You stink.” I laughed as Kiefer came off the ice.He had invited me down to watch practice but I’d spent most of my time with my nose in my journal. It was fun to watch them play but hockey had never been my favorite sport.

“Yeah, I do.” He smiled and kissed my cheek.

“Did you have fun?” I asked.

“Uh, yeah… There were a lot of drills today, I’m just kind of exhausted now,” he said, running his fingers through damp hair.

I nodded, not really sure what to say. I had barely even watched practice.

“I’m going to go shower, and then I’ll drive you home, yeah?” He said after a beat of awkward silence, backing up from me on his skates.

Sometimes there was this flutter in my chest that reminded me just how lucky I was that a guy like Kiefer Hart had even given me the time of day. And when he smiled at me, the way he was now, with his sweaty hair and flushed cheeks, that feeling ran rampant.

I nodded. “Go!” I shooed him off and went back to collect my things from the empty stands. There were a few parents around, and a girlfriend or two but, for the most part, the arena was quiet.

“Looks like Cael Cody’s shadow got a boyfriend.” Andrea sauntered up behind me with one of her many plastic-looking lackeys and smiled. “Surprising, I figured you would follow him around until you died. Do you like…have a chair you sit in to watch him make out with other girls or…”

She was bitter because things hadn’t worked out between her and Cael. He’d said something like,‘she’s probably the most vapid person I’ve ever spoken to,’which had ended with us laughing so hard we were crying.

But Cael wasn’t here now to protect me from her petty wrath.

“Did you need something, Andrea?” I politely asked her.

“Oh, I just came over to tell you that you're still pathetic, even with Kiefer Hart on your arm. It’s a giant cry for help. He just got out of a relationship with someone and is clearly heartbroken enough to date the likes of… well you.” Andrea giggled and looked me over. “Have a good day, Clemmy.”

I stared at her back as she wandered away with her friends, pushing down the bile that rose as I battled the insecurities swirling around in the pit of my stomach. I sat on the bench for another twenty minutes, waiting for Kiefer and, when he finally appeared, laughing with his teammates, I was more than ready to go home.

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