Page 46 of Suck My Puck

“Sorry, I don’t have a right to ask that,” I quickly say.

She shakes her head, a sad smile on her face. “It’s okay. It’s just…our whole relationship was a mistake. I realize that now. I just didn’t when I was in it, unfortunately.”

She’s quiet for a moment.

“He’s why you hate hockey, huh?”

She nods. “I know that’s such a ridiculous reason.”

I shake my head. “I get it. It reminds you of him. And he hurt you.”

Her eyes turn shiny. She blinks quickly, like she’s trying not to let the tears fall.

“He wasn’t always a cheating asshole. He was honestly really sweet when we were first together. He’d take me out on dates and buy me flowers for my birthday and Valentine’s Day. I’d go to his hockey games and wear his jersey and cheer him on.”

She sniffles and wipes her nose with a napkin. “When he started playing for the AHL, I was so proud of him. He had worked so hard, and I knew he would make it pro someday. We were long distance for a while and that really sucked, being away from each other. So when he got calledup to play for Toronto, we agreed that I’d move there so we could live in the same city. We bought a place together. I was so excited. Until I found out he was cheating on me.”

She shakes her head and gazes out her window. “I still can’t believe it took me so long to catch on. I mean, the signs were there.”

I frown. “What signs?”

She looks down at her lap like she’s embarrassed. “He was always really flirty with female fans. Sometimes we’d be out together and they’d ask for a photo and get pretty handsy with him when they posed. Like, they’d grab his ass. Or they’d kiss his cheek. Or ask him to sign their boobs or their butt cheek.”

My brow hits my hairline. “And he was okay with doing that while he was dating you?”

She nods. “I told him that it made me uncomfortable to see him touch other women and flirt with them in front of me, but he always downplayed my feelings. He told me that fans were important and he didn’t want to alienate them by rejecting them. He said it was part of being a pro hockey player. And honestly, I could tell he loved the attention. And it turns out that he was hooking up with a lot of those fans behind my back.”

I mutter a curse as I glance out the window.

I know what it’s like to deal with fans that take it too far. My teammates and I encounter fans who get flirty or handsy when asking for a photo or an autograph sometimes. I’m always polite, but I make it clear that I’m not okay with groping or grabbing. Some of my teammates love it and end up flirting and hooking up with those fans. But they’re single, so it’s all fine.

But to know that Bella’s ex would act like that in frontof her, all the while cheating on her behind her back, pisses me off. Boucher is an asshole off the ice too.

“What a piece of shit,” I say. “I’m sorry he did that to you, Bella.”

She looks at me, so sad and so dazed. “I just feel so stupid. I spent all my savings on the downpayment for our house. And then I found out he was cheating on me. And that was it. My savings, my house, and my relationship were gone, just like that.”

“Did he pay you back?”

“No,” she says weakly.

“Bella, if your name is on the deed of that house, you’re legally entitled to that money.”

“My name’s not on it. He bought the house from his uncle, so everything was in his name.”

I grit my teeth at how fucking shady this guy is, at how he’s completely fine with screwing over his girlfriend. His girlfriend who was loyal and loving to him for years.

“That’s why I moved back to Denver a few months ago,” she says. “My aunt owns the apartment I’m staying in and is nice enough to let me live there for free while I work to rebuild my savings.”

“That’s why you’re working at Spanky’s?”

“Yup. And I work at a coffee shop most mornings too.”

“Wait, so you’re working early morningsandlate nights?”

“Yeah,” she says through a breath.

That’s probably why she was so pissed the morning we met, when my music woke her up. She was exhausted from working so many hours and not getting enough sleep.

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