Page 74 of Pucked and Pregnant

I check each of my pads for any damage. Then I scour my uniform for any hint of lint. After that, I inspect my socks closely for any holes or tears. My skates and helmet are meticulously checked next, then finally my stick and mouthguard.

I check it all again.

And again.

And again.

I want to make sure I haven’t missed anything.

By my fifth round of checks, everyone is in the locker room. Fortunately, they’re all too busy doing their own preparation rituals to pay any attention to me.

Well, except for Max, apparently. As soon as I start to put on my gear, he makes a beeline for me.

“That bite mark on your shoulder,” Max says, snapping his towel at me, “Am I finally going to get to meet her?”

Fuck.

“Meet who?”

“Don’t play dumb. You’ve clearly been seeing someone.”

“I see a lot of someone’s. You can’t expect me to remember all their names.” I shrug.

“That might work on everyone else but I know you too well. The last time you were this jittery before a game was freshman year. Remember? You invited your girlfriend to come watch you play, and you kept messing with your pads and gear just like you were doing earlier. So, I’ll ask again. Who’s the new girlfriend and when do I get to meet her?”

How the hell do I answer that question?

Here’s a wild idea. You could tell him the truth.

And get my face beat in before the game.

I clear my throat and try to feign nonchalance. “Even if I had someone new in my life—and I’m not admitting to anything so you can wipe that grin off your face—why the hell would I introduce her to someone who’d immediately scare her off?”

“I would not scare her off,” Max protests.

“I’m with O’Brian on this one, Cap. You’re pretty intense,” DeMarco says, weighing in.

“Come on, D, your fiancé loves me.”

“She does now.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that you like to interrogate our girls like they’re criminals.” Karlsson laughs.

The other guys around us start nodding their heads in agreement and adding in their own two cents.

I can feel my shoulders starting to relax as Max directs his focus to them, taking it off me. I hate keeping such a big secret from him but what would I even say?

“Hey, Max. I wanted to let you know that me, Dimitri, and Aiden have been consistently fucking your sister for a little over a month. And no, none of us have any idea how serious it is or where it's even going.”

I’m fairly confident the result would be him murdering us then dropping us down a deep well to dispose of our mangled bodies.

Just the thought makes my skin itch. I can feel every piece of equipment touching my skin, making it even worse.

I suddenly want to take everything off, hop in the shower, and scrub until the feeling is gone, but I can’t. Coach is in the center of the room waiting for everyone to settle.

It’s almost game time, which means it’s speech time. So there will be no relief for me right now, or maybe ever.

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