Page 34 of Puck Block

TAYTUM

I tracethe line of stars above me and blow a puff of air out of my mouth, only to watch my breath disappear into the cool night. The roof is slanted enough to give me an adrenaline rush but still safe so I don’t fall to my death.

After wiggling my fingers a few more times and cursing the pain radiating to my wrist, I place it back on my lower belly and close my eyes, only to open them a second later when I hear a footstep against the shingles.

“I hate when you come out here,” he says.

“Leave me alone, Ford.”

He is the last person I want to see right now. I’m already frustrated enough from what happened tonight. I definitely don’t need his teasing jokes to add to it. But as always, he ignores me and plops down on the roof anyway.

“Here.”

I peek an eye open, and he’s holding a bag of frozen peas out for me to take. When I make no move to grab them, he takes my hurt hand in his warm grip and studies the swelling with an intent to diagnose me. After a few seconds, he places my handon his lap and presses the cold bag of peas on top and says, “I’m gonna start calling you Nosebreaker instead of Heartbreaker.”

I let a soft laugh leave me by accident.

“What happened?” he asks. “One second, I’m demonstrating how to seduce someone, and the next, I’m looking at some guy with a bloody nose talking about how the goalie’s sister punched him.”

I turn my head to stare at his strong profile. Ford’s jaw is cut like a piece of stone, and there isn’t a single flaw on him. When he smiles, he’s everyone’s favorite guy in the room. When he’s serious, he looks like a perfectly sculpted statue. He’s always been painfully flawless, so much so that, when I was younger, I would stare at him from across the dinner table just to try and find at least one flaw.

Years later, I still haven’t found one.

“I’m surprised you noticed anything at all with your face glued to the lips of that puck bunny.”

Ford’s eyes fall to mine, and the air crackles. “Jealous?”

I’m quick to tell my lie. “Not even a little bit.”

He grins down at me and shakes his head. I turn away and continue to stare at the stars because I’m afraid he’ll know I’m lying.

“Well, are you going to tell me what happened, or do I need to finish what you started?”

“Nothing happened,” I say.

Ford grips me by the arm and pulls me upright from my lying position. My thick hair flies out of my face, and when our eyes meet, I know he’s being serious. I suck in my cheeks and force out a play by play for him, because if I don’t, I know he’ll run off and tell my brother—or worse, go back on his word and refuse to help me in the dating department.

“He deserved the punch, then.” Ford removes the peas to study my hand some more, and I wait with my lip tucked inbetween my teeth. “Well, good news is that I don’t think it’s broken.”

“And what’s the bad news?” I ask.

He looks me dead in the face. “Bad news is that you didn’t get laid.”

A sudden laugh erupts from me, and Ford flashes me his perfect smile. “Oh, and by the way…” He looks out into the darkness. “You suck at picking guys.”

I huff. “If my hand wasn’t in pain, I’d punch you.”

He turns toward me. “You’d never.”

I lean in close. “You know I would.”

Neither of us move. Our faces are inches apart, like we’re ten years old again and having a staring contest in the back of my parents’ minivan. He gulps, and I suck in a breath. When he opens his mouth, I drop my gaze, but my phone beeps before words leave his lips.

He flicks his chin to my open window. “Up you go. Time for insulin.”

My eyebrows furrow. “Who said I need insulin?”

He’s half in my bedroom with one leg still on the roof. “Because I know what that ding on your phone means.”

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