Page 22 of Dirty Pucker

I nod and mumble a quiet “thanks.” It feels good to earn Coach Porter’s praise after my first game, but I can still feel the tension from my teammates. They still don’t like me. And I know that Coach isn’t magically smitten with me. I have a lot left to prove to him still. The rest of the team still doesn’t want me here. And I don’t blame them one bit.

A quiet second passes before Theo speaks. “Never thought I’d be cheering for you, Richards, but you earned it.” I turn to look at him. “Thanks for kicking that guy’s ass on my behalf.”

I nod. “No problem.”

“Let’s hear it!” Theo shouts, clapping. The rest of the team follows suit and claps with him. It’s pretty subdued compared to how loud everyone cheered for Blomdahl and Xander. But I’ll take it.

Things in the locker room wrap up and we start to clean up. When the assistant coach announces who’s up for post-game press, I’m relieved when I don’t hear my name. The last thing I want to do when I’m exhausted after a game is answer questions from sports reporters. I know it’ll probably be my turn next game though, so I’d better enjoy tonight.

When I finish showering and getting dressed, I check my phone and see a text from Ingrid.

Ingrid: Amazing game tonight! The Denver fans love you :)

Me: You think so?

Ingrid: Absolutely! Didn’t you hear how loud they cheered for you when you fought that jerk from the Devils?

Me: I couldn’t really hear, I was too focused on punching him in the face

She sends back a laughing emoji.

Ingrid: Oh by the way, did you see this?

It’s a screenshot of that TikTok video she put together of me with those kittens from yesterday.

Ingrid: 25K views. You owe me a drink.

Me: I thought we already agreed yesterday that I owe you a drink.

Ingrid: We did. I just wanted to rub it in your face a little.

I smile at how playful she is over text. I like it. A lot.

Ingrid: I’m craving French fries too.

Me: I think I can handle that. Where do you want to go?

Ingrid: How about Spanky’s? They have epic fries.

Me: I’m in.

Chapter 9

Del

Iwalk into the entrance of Spanky’s and see Ingrid waving at me from the bar. I wave at her, but then I see who else is sitting at the table.

Xander, Theo, and Blomdahl. They’re all laughing and chatting.

Shit.

My instinct is to turn around and walk out of the bar. I wouldn’t have come if I knew they’d be here too. They’re not gonna want me around for their post-game drinks.

As I stand there and hesitate, Ingrid pops up and rushes over to me.

She smiles. “Hey. Are you going to stand there the whole night glaring at our table or come over and have a drink with us?”

“I didn’t know some of the guys from the team would be here too.”

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