Page 2 of The Puck Player

“All the time.” The three words are delivered with so much confidence that I know he isn’t bluffing, but still I roll my eyes and slam back my other shot.

“Then they are both desperate and delusional, and I’m neither, so save your breath.” I turn my back, hoping to dismiss him completely, but his dark chuckle dances up the back of my spine, as I focus on my best friend. “Are you ready to go?” I ask, even though I know she isn’t, but when she meets my desperate stare, she sighs with a nod.

“Sure, B, let’s go,” she smiles, sliding off her stool and winking at the bartender.

Malorie has been my best friend since we were five years old, there is no one in the world who knows me better, which is what makes my imminent move all the more criminal. After my mom died, I went to live with my grandma, but apparently the heartbreak of losing her only daughter was too much, she passed away eight weeks later. Which means my fate now lies with my estranged father, one I’ve only spent summers with in recent years, and now I’m moving across the state to live with him.

A thought that is only reinforced when my phone lights up and I spy his contact flashing across the screen. Knowing he will just call right back, I ignore it, turning on my heels to leave the bar, but not before prince Alexander tugs on one of the bows in my hair, tossing me a wink.

“See you around, Trouble,” he promises, his words scraping against my bones, and I feel the hint of something deep down in the pit of my stomach.

“Yeah, don’t count on it,” I murmur, storming away without another word, and his answering laugh follows me all the way out of the bar.

As soon as the cool January air hits me, I inhale it deeply, sighing as my phone starts to ring again, and I clear my throat. “Hi Dad,” I greet him, trying to sound happier than I feel, but sometimes I forget he’s actually my father and helped to raise me.

“Aubree, are you okay?”

I open my mouth to tell him I’m fine, when Malorie spills out the bar behind me, two of the frat guys hot on her heels, begging for her number.

“I’m fine, Dad, just heading back to Mal’s place,” I tell him, but it’s too late, he’s already heard the guys. I guess sniffing out boys comes with his job.

“Has she taken you out to meet boys again?” he snaps, and I almost laugh at his concerned, fatherly tone.

“Dad, I have a boyfriend, remember?” I remind him, and his answering grunt is the only sense of disapproval I need from him.

“Whatever, as long as you stay away from my team when you get here,” he adds, repeating the lecture I have been hearing for the last two years, every single time I came to see him for a visit.

“Oh please, I don’t even like jocks, so trust me when I say I have no interest in your precious Fairfield Flyers,” I snap, the shots I knocked back stealing some of my usual patience, but my dad only hums in response.

Little did I know they would be my famous last words.

Istarted my day with one girl riding my dick and another riding my face. Life was good, but when you’re a six-foot-four ice hockey goalie, born to insanely wealthy parents, life is always good. The two girls this morning were attractive, as they always are, but neither of them had my dick as hard as the little pink pocket rocket who just stormed away from me. Do you believe in love at first sight? How about desperate to fuck at first sight? Because that’s exactly how I feel about the little troublemaker I just saved from the group of rowdy guys across the bar.

When I was flirting with her friend, Valerie, Malorie, or whatever the fuck her name was, I could tell she was distracted, and I can’t say I blame her, because the second I glanced across the bar and caught sight of the fiery little ice queen, I was fuckingdistracted too. Valerie fed me some bullshit about her friend not getting out often, and not being used to guys, but I was barely even listening, and when she said she needed to save her, I took my chance. I was across the floor and stealing her from the bunch of frat guys hitting on her before Valerie could even protest, and fuck was she even better up close. All thick thighs and bad attitude, with the best rack I have ever laid my fucking eyes on. I can just imagine my cock plunging between those two perfect, pale pillows of wonder.

To think I almost walked right past this shitty little bar, but I was too desperate for a drink to keep on looking for somewhere better. I was at one of my parents’ penthouses around the corner, rubbing shoulders with all of my father’s so-called friends during a business dinner, but there are only so many times I can answer bullshit questions about what I’m going to do when I graduate this year. Most of them don’t see ice hockey as a worthy career, and it gets tiring defending it while also having their wives, who happen to be twenty years their junior, hitting on me.

It’s always the same. The same people, the same conversation, and I’m so fucking over the whole scene. It’s why I don’t come home for the holidays anymore, and keep my visits to a minimum, because as much as I love my parents, I don’t love their fucking world, no matter how many privileges it affords me. None of the men there tonight care about the fact that hockey is something I am passionate about, no, the only thing they care about is making their wallets as big as their bellies. Which is ironic, since I have been richer than all of them for the last three years now, but when talk turned to their children and the lives they had planned out for them, I had to get out of there.

I knew my parents would understand, they aren’t like them, so I bailed and found myself here, and fuck am I glad I did. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have been blessed with her fucking beauty. Shelooks fucking perfect in her blush-colored little dress, and bows that give her an air of innocence, yet she glared at me like she would rather set me on fire than talk to me, and just like that I was hooked. There is just something about a girl being mean to me that gets my dick hard, especially when I am used to them throwing themselves at me.

My eyes trail after her as she storms from the bar, leaving her friend to rush and catch up, and fuck me, I don’t think I have ever seen an ass so plump and perfect. Half the fucking bar watches her leave while she is distracted by her phone, as Valerie laps up the attention that is so clearly not meant for her, and I grind my teeth in irritation. Downing my drink, I will my fucking cock to relax at her retreating form, but it’s no use. I can still feel the perfect weight of her as I tossed her over my shoulder, and how perfectly she molded against me when she slid down my body as I put her back to the floor.

Fuck.

My cock is begging me to chase after her, and as soon as she is out of the door, I turn back to the bartender and toss a few hundred dollar bills on the bar top, to cover my drinks along with a healthy tip. Then I am moving, stalking after her before I can stop myself, but just as I make it through the door, my eyes lock with hers, as the cab she is sitting in whisks her away from me.

Double fuck.

I start weighing up my options, which are almost slim to none considering I didn’t even catch her name, but nothing is impossible, not with my net worth. Turning on my heel, I head back inside the bar and let my eyes scan the space more thoroughly than I did before, not settling anywhere, until I find the opening that no doubt leads to a back office. I’m already storming towards it before anyone can spot me, let alone stop me, and when I reach a door marked ‘private’ I push inside. Ifind a middle-aged man with a rounded belly, sitting behind an old wooden desk, pouring over a stack of papers.

“How much for tonight’s security footage?” I ask by way of greeting, not wasting time on niceties, and his furrowed brow meets my expectant glare in confusion.

“Get the fuck out of here, kid,” he spits in response, and I almost roll my eyes. At my size, no one has called me a fucking kid in almost a decade.

“The footage, how much?” I repeat, my tone more pressing, and he huffs in annoyance at me interrupting his night.

“Not for sale, now get the fuck out.” He waves his hand towards the door behind me to exaggerate his point, and I feel my own irritation rising.

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