Page 35 of Huge Pucking Play

We spend the next few minutes speculating wildly, the stress of the dress situation momentarily forgotten. Finally, I shake my head.

"God, can you imagine? I'd be freaking out if I was her. I am so not ready to be a mom."

Sophie laughs. "Me neither. Being a stepmom is almost more than I can handle right now. Though Evan's been hinting at having another one…" Evan’s daughter, Natalia, is about as sweet as they come but she can also be a handful at times.

I raise an eyebrow, but my mind drifts back to Garrett. To his offer of dinner. To the way my body aches for his touch.

"Cyn?" Sophie's voice snaps me back. "You okay? You look a million miles away."

I force a smile. "Just...work stuff." For some reason, I haven’t told her yet about my away game antics with Garrett. I guess I’m afraid telling her will make it all too real

But as Sophie launches into more wedding drama, I can't shake the feeling that I'm standing on a precipice, about to make a decision that could change everything.

Sophie leans in, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "I heard something interesting about your Garrett."

My heart skips. "He's not my Garrett," I protest weakly.

She waves her hand dismissively. "Whatever. Anyway, Evan told me about something that happened at his bachelor party."

I try to keep my face neutral. "Oh?"

"Apparently, Barnesy was being a total ass as he tends to do. Making crude comments about you."

My stomach drops. "What kind of comments?"

Sophie grimaces. "The usual toxic locker room crap. But get this—Garrett shut him down. Hard."

I blink, surprised. "He did?"

"Evan said Garrett was really pissed. He told Barnesy if he ever spoke about you like that again, he'd make sure he never played another game."

My cheeks flush with warmth. "Wow."

"That's not all," Sophie continues, eyes gleaming. "Garrett was grilling Evan about his relationship with me. Wanted to know if things were rocky between us in the beginning."

I lean back, mind reeling. "Why?"

“Evan seems to think Garrett’s got a thing for you. Especially after what he said to Barnesy.”

I sat mute, just looking at her. I don’t know how to respond but I’m feeling the overwhelming need to tell my best friend what happened in Denver.

Sophie nods emphatically. "Seems like someone's got it bad for you, Cyn."

I hesitate before pushing the words out of my mouth. “Garrett and I had sex again. Many times actually. When we were in Denver for the away game.”

Sophie's jaw drops. "What?! Cyn, oh my God!" She leans in, eyes wide. "Why didn’t you tell me. What’s with people not telling me things lately?"

I take a deep breath, my cheeks burning. "It started the first night. We ended up riding the elevator together and it turned out we were on the same floor. Then we found out we were in rooms next to each other."

She looks at me with a huge smile on her face.

I continued. “So I get in my room and realize our rooms are adjoining. There’s the door right there and my first thought was ‘fuck, that’s not good’”.

Sophie is laughing hysterically now. “The universe definitely wants the two of you together. It keeps telling you, over and over again.”

I look at her like she’s crazy. Which she is sometimes.

"And then what happened?" Sophie prompts, practically bouncing in her seat.

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