Page 69 of Pucked and Pregnant

“I know you’re up.” Max sing-songs. “It’s time for breakfast.”

Bang. Bang. Bang.

“Is he slurring his words?”

Aiden grimaces. “Yeah, a little bit.”

I sigh. “There’s going to be no getting rid of him in this state. You guys go hide in the bathroom or something. When I get him far enough away from the room, I’ll text you the all-clear.”

They grumble for a second but they know Max almost as well as I do so they don’t bother trying to argue.

The first thing I notice when I open the door is the smell.

“What the hell? Did you fall into a vat of alcohol?”

“No. Champagne shower after the game.” He grins.

“That doesn’t explain why you still have alcohol emanating from your pores.”

“That’s because I never went to bed.”

Max tries to lean against the door in a devil-may-care fashion, but instead, he stumbles and sways. I reach forward and catch his arm before he can smack his head on the doorframe.

“I was partying so hard I didn’t even know it was morning until my alarm went off.” He leans in conspiratorially. “You know, I think I might still be a little drunk from celebrating.”

“You don’t say.”

“I do say.” Then his eyes brighten. “Hey, I have an idea. I'll just shower here and that’ll help me sober up for breakfast then we can head down together.”

“No. You can’t come in here.”

Max raises an eyebrow. “You have company, don’t you? Let me in so I can give them the talk. Make sure they’re good enough for you.”

Yeesh, and I thought sober Max was bad.

“You promised to back off, remember?”

“I did, didn’t I?”

“You did.”

“But if I don’t come in and shower I’m going to stink at breakfast, and you’ll be annoyed with me.”

There’s no sense in arguing with him. He’s not in his right mind.

I take a long, slow breath.

“How about you go back to your room and grab a shower? You can grab a quick nap while you’re at it and meet me at the hotel restaurant in an hour.”

“Okay.” He concedes.

He heads down the hallway swaying like a tree in a windstorm.

Are you really going to let him walk away when he’s like this? What kind of sister are you?

I duck back into the room and grab my phone and room key. When I poke my head back out, he’s halfway down the hall.

“Max, wait.”

---