Page 31 of Netting the Goalie

“Nice?”Jake said.“This girl is sonice, you told her you would go to a wedding with her?”

Jake’s accent got thicker with each word and his blond eyebrows rose until they were hidden by the fringe of pale hair that fell over his forehead.

I shrugged, feeling a little WTF myself over the guys’ reaction.“Yeah, she’s nice.So what?”

Jake and Lad exchanged a glance then they both looked at Joey, who started to shake his dark head.

“Nice girls are the ones you really have to watch out for, “Joey said.“They’ll screw with your head and you’ll never know what hit you.Seriously.You should run now.Before you’re totally fucked.”

I adjusted my tie,grabbed my coat and headed out the door.

For some stupid reason, I was having trouble breathing.It wasn’t like I hadn’t been on a first date before but it’d been a while.At least six months, maybe more.

Damn, I couldn’t even remember.Had to have been after last season, when I’d been home.Couldn’t even remember the girl’s name.Did that make me a dick?Probably.

Pitiful.Fucking pitiful.

Sliding into my truck, I doubled checked the address Bliss had texted me, took a look at the map to make sure I knew where I was going, then headed out of the parking lot.

My phone rang seconds later and I answered through the truck’s Bluetooth system when I recognized the number.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Yo, Brick.We are checked up on you before your date tonight.Jakub and I are planning to get shitfaced and watch…that show.What’s that show?”

The last of that sentence had faded, probably because Lad had turned away from the phone to talk to Jake.

“I have no idea what the hell you’re talking about.”That was Jake, hard to make out because he must have been farther from the phone.“Shane, please come save this asshole’s ass before I fucking kill him out of boredom.”

Lad responded in Russian, some of which I understood but only the swear words, and then Czech, which I didn’t understand at all.And then what sounded like a scuffle.

I started to laugh but the other two guys didn’t hear me until at least a minute had passed.

“Bastard laughs at us.”Jake’s voice, closer to the phone now.“But we are not the ones going to a wedding tonight.”

Still laughing, I shook my head.“At least I’ll be drinking for free.”

“It is not the drinking you go for.”Lad’s voice got sly.

Very true.“Fuck you, Drac.It’s a date.You remember those, don’t you?Or are you and Jake still playing with each other on and off the ice?”

Despite the language barrier they’d faced when they’d first arrived in the states three years ago, Lad and Jake had picked up English quick.But they still fell back on their native languages when they wanted to insult you.

So when Jake spouted off something in Czech and Lad started to laugh, I figured I didn’t want to know what Jake had said.

“Well, then, fuck you,” Jake finally said in English, disgust in his tone.“Ignore your buddies for a slice of ass cake.”

“If I had the chance to get some of that,” Lad added, “I’d leave you at home, too.”

I laughed so hard, my chest started to hurt.

“You two are fucking assholes, you know that, right?You deserve each other.”

“Dude, you definitely need to get laid more often.”Lad sounded serious now, such an abrupt switch that I had to shake my head.“This will help you get your head out of your own ass.You need some…what’s the word?”

“Ass!”Jake yelled from the background again.

“No, not— He’s an asshole.Don’t listen to him.No.Distraction.You need distraction.So go be distracted.We call you tomorrow.Or maybe you call us if you’re not busy, yes?”

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