Page 51 of Suck My Puck

Braden

Iunlock the door to my apartment and hold it open so Bella can walk inside.

She’s cradling the shivering dog we found while stargazing in the middle of nowhere. It starts to whine again, but Bella gently shushes it and nuzzles the top of its head.

For a second, I just look at her. She’s still wearing my jacket, which is way too big for her. The bottom hits just above her knees. It looks like she’s wearing a blanket, and it’s fucking adorable.

My heart beats faster in my chest. I like seeing her wear my jacket. I like that my clothes are way too big on her. I like seeing her hold that puppy.

Bella kicks off her shoes and looks up at me. “We should probably try feeding this little cutie.”

I suddenly remember that I’m holding a bag of dog food, which I bought on the way home.

I’m supposed to be helping Bella rescue the dog we found, not staring at her while she stands in front of me.

“Food. Right.” I walk into my kitchen and grab a bowlfrom my cupboard. I open up the bag of kibble and pour some into the bowl, then set it on the ground.

Bella walks over and gently sets the dog down. It whines for a second before sniffing around and noticing the food. It immediately gobbles it up.

I grab another bowl, fill it with water, and set it down next to the food. I glance over at Bella, who’s smiling as she watches the dog.

“Wow. She’s pretty hungry.”

I quirk my eyebrow. “She?”

Bella smiles. “I checked her out while you were in the store grabbing dog food. No penis, so I’m pretty sure she’s a girl.”

I laugh. The dog moves to the water bowl and drinks. Bella kneels down and pets her. She has long floppy ears, stubby legs, and a sausage body. I bet she’s a basset hound mix. Maybe with a little dachshund.

“Poor thing is starving,” Bella says.

A second later, she looks up at me and flashes an easy, beautiful smile. “What a night this turned out to be, right?”

I chuckle and nod as I think about everything that’s happened—how I opened up to her about my dad.

That’s not something I do with just anyone. Yeah, my close friends and teammates know about the strained relationship I have with him. But I don’t talk about it. I don’t feel comfortable enough to do that.

But with Bella, it’s different. When other people find out that my dad is a college hockey coach, they think it’s cool. They assume it must have been awesome to be raised and coached by someone so accomplished.

It wasn’t. And when I’ve told them that, they always seem confused. Some people even get annoyed when I explain that it’s not all sunshine and roses to have a hyper-critical, unrelenting hardass as your dad. They think I’m being a brat or that I’m ungrateful.

Bella didn’t do that though. She let me talk about my experience growing up. She let me talk about how I felt. She didn’t second-guess me.

I think about how, when I told her about my dad saying I wasn’t good enough, she didn’t try to minimize it. She acknowledged how hurtful it was.

Her softly spoken words echo in my mind.

A dad should never, ever say that to his son.

It meant everything to hear her say that.

A wave of emotion washes over me, just like earlier when she spoke those words to me. It was almost overwhelming. No one’s ever made me feel like that. Like my feelings regarding my dad are valid—like my pain is valid.

And then she took my face in her hands and kissed my forehead.

She gave me something I didn’t even know I needed in that moment—comfort.

I was aching for it. And feeling her lips on my forehead kicked off something inside of me.

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