Page 23 of Unlovable Player

“You like him?” I ask.

The girl wearing my jacket blushes.

“I’ll introduce you.”

“Hey Captain!” I stand up and wave him over. He looks embarrassed.

“This is… sorry I didn’t catch your name.”

“Sarah,” the girl still wearing my fucking jacket while making goo goo eyes at Austin says.

“Hi, nice to meet you.” Austin literally shakes her hand. What the fuck is wrong with him? I watch his gaze roam over my jacket. So maybe he doesn’t want to share? He knows I’m gay, what’s the problem?

“Oh, here.” Sarah shucks out of my jacket and hands it to me like she just found it on the floor at Walmart. So girls would walk over my cold, dead corpse to get to Austin? Got it.

The guys slide into the booth. They’re distracted enough by the girls to stop being pissed at me at least. Gray even thanks me for the beer.

I make space for Austin, so he can sit next to Sarah, and pretend not to listen while she drools all over him.

I don’t know what I expected him to be like around girls, but it’s definitely not this stilted, overly polite, stick in the mud. I’d expected some Jersey boy charm and charisma. The kind that oozes off him on the ice.

He excuses himself at the first opportunity and goes to the bathroom. I follow him, obviously.

Grinning, I unzip and stand a polite distance away at the urinals.

He groans. “What are you smiling about?”

“You, captain of the hockey team being shy around a hot girl.”

“I’m not interested.”

“Why not?”

He looks straight ahead as he pees into the urinal and I try not to even think about looking down.

“I’m just not.”

He zips up and turns away.

“Come on, you know I’m not going to let you off the hook until you give me a reason. She not your type? You don’t like brunettes? More of a blond guy?”

My heart speeds a little at this. I meant blondwomen, but am I the only one who feels the ambiguity lingering in the air?

“I like brunettes fine,” he says. “My ex had brown hair.”

Austin finishes washing his hands and wipes his hands on a paper towel.

“Oh I see.”

“What?”

“You’re still into her.”

He takes a deep inhale like he’s about to protest, but closes his mouth instead. My heart sinks.

“What’s her name?”

“Alyssa, but there’s nothing going on, it’s over.”

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