Page 21 of What If I Knew You

“And did you get his name too?”

I slurp a spoonful of my ramen, savoring the chicken flavor. “Yes. His name is Alan.”

Layken scrunches her face. “Alan? What the hell kind of name is Alan?”

“What’s wrong with Alan?”

“It’s…I don’t know. Old.”

“Okay, so he has an old name. Maybe it’s a family name.”

“Are you planning to meet him? Like for real?”

“I invited him here.”

Her eyes bulge. “WHAT?” She looks around for a lone man but I chuckle and pat her arm.

“Relax spaz. He’s away for work. I just thought meeting in a public place would be easy and we could’ve bolted if we wanted to had it gone badly.”

“You mean if he was ugly as hell?”

I grin over my noodles. “Yeah. That too. So, how’s the book writing going?”

She swallows another bite and shrugs. “It’s slow going for now. Work is a lot, so I write when I can. And my best friend keeps tearing me away to do stupid shit like shop and suck ramen down our pie holes and watch hot guys play hockey.”

“God, she sounds like a real bitch.”

She rolls her eyes. “Don’t even get me started.”

“Well, I’m sure it’s going to be a masterpiece and I can’t wait to read a few chapters when you have them done.”

“I promise you’ll be the first to know.”

“Do you have an exciting main character?”

“Yeah I think so. He’s going to be this guy who?—”

DING!

My phone dings with a text, lighting up the screen. I nearly choke on my ramen when I see what the message says.

Mr. Stranger

I think I need sex lessons. Is that a thing?

CHAPTER FIVE

BODHI

Tonight’s game was a disaster.

I don’t know what came over the team but every single one of us had a hot mess moment at some point during the game, which led to the Grizzlies ending the game with a 4-2 victory. Bear has been seething since we got off the ice because somehow he let Minnesota into his net four times, which is very unlike him. He hit the ice bath pretty quickly after the game.

Hopefully he’s alright.

Once we got back to our hotel most of us stopped in the bar where they gave us a roped-off area to enjoy a late dinner and a few drinks. Oliver headed upstairs about forty minutes ago to call Scarlett and August and Ella went up together as well with their hands all over each other. Ledger said something about the two of them still living in their honeymoon phase. Either way they’re lucky to have each other. Especially when we’re on the road.

The rest of us are three beers in and have been discussing Griffin’s collection of pajama pants and how even though he sometimes looks like a complete bum, he’s never at a loss for women.

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