Page 72 of Suck My Puck

I turn to Bella and slide my arm around her, hugging her closer to me.

I drop a kiss to her mouth. “Thanks for this. I really needed it.”

Her smile turns tender as she looks at me. “It’s my pleasure.” She pauses for a second. “Are you okay?”

“I’m feeling better than I was.”

Bella reaches up and runs her fingers through my hair. I close my eyes and moan softly, relaxing intoher touch.

After a quiet few seconds, I open my eyes and look at her. “So that thing Xander mentioned about my dad.”

She cups my cheeks. “You don’t have to talk about him if you don’t want to.”

“It’s okay. Really.”

Her eyes scan my face. She softly strokes her thumb along the stubble on my cheek.

“I found out he did a podcast interview the other day and made a shitty comment about me.”

Bella’s eyebrows crash together. “He what?”

I tell her that my dad was a guest on the Tim Rhodes podcast and that hurtful thing he said about my performance so far this season.

Her mouth falls open the second I say it.

“Are you kidding?”

I shake my head. “Nope. That’s exactly what he said.”

She drops her hand from my cheek and laces her fingers in mine. I lean back on the couch and gaze up at the ceiling.

“It didn’t help that I found out about it during post-game press when one of the reporters brought it up,” I mutter.

She’s quiet for a long moment. The whole time she keeps hold of my hand.

“Braden, that’s…” She exhales sharply. “That’s so fucked up. I’m sorry.”

I shrug. “That’s who my dad is. He tells it like it is, always. He’s a straighter shooter to the core.”

“No, he’s a dick.”

I sit up and look at her.

“I’m sorry to use such a harsh word. I know he’s your dad and I’ve never met him. But he’s a dick for doing that to you,” she says. “I can’t even imagine what kind of personwould go on a podcast and trash their own son like that. He should be raving about you. He should be so proud of you.”

For a long moment, I stare at her. I take in the focused look in her eyes and the conviction in her tone, the way she defends me without hesitation. Without a second thought.

She blinks, her expression turning shy and regretful. She shakes her head and glances off to the side. “Sorry, I probably crossed a line saying all that.”

I let go of her hand and gently cup her face, turning her to look at me. “You didn’t. At all.”

“You’re not mad?”

I shake my head. “Not even close to mad. It means everything that you’d defend me, Bella. Thank you.”

“Of course I’ll defend you,” she says. “You don’t deserve to be treated like that, Braden. You deserve so much better than the way your dad treats you.”

Emotion surges up my chest. It’s so overwhelming that I have to take a second to breathe through it.

---