Page 37 of First Puck

Considering the success of Brad’s 1.0-8.0, it was in my best interest to doubt him. But I still had hope. I always had hope, but I never acted on it. It didn’t matter how hard I pushed myself out on the ice and how I did everything I could to win, it never applied to anything except hockey.

I swallowed the nerves fluttering through me. It felt strange to treat this like a game, but it made it easier to face the possibility I might lose my best friend forever, no matter what I did.

So I just had to remember: strategy.

Brad

The second I saw Alex turn off the street from the living room window, I grabbed sneakers and hurled myself out the door. I didn’t know if he was getting the bus to the restaurant or whatever, but I had to catch him.

Because I needed to make sure he was safe.

He didn’t tell me who he was dating, but she could be some kind of man-eater who was just out to fuck him or something. Alex needed better than that. He needed someone who was going to love and appreciate him, and all that shit.

Alex needed someone to protect him tonight, and who else was going to do it better than me?

But, after all his fussing about leaving early, he literally walked six blocks to the snobby, posh place on the corner of the main street.

He seriously worried way too much.

Like, I wasn’tstalkingstalking him. I just happened to stay exactly five feet behind him the whole time he walked down the block. And maybe I shot some evil at the people passing him by on the street. But they shouldn’t have been giving him appreciative looks when they didn’t know anything about him.

I mean, I did that to literally any hot girl who checked me out, but it was totally different.

He was my best friend on his first date, and I had to make sure he was safe.

I pursed my lips, watching through the restaurant window as he gave his name to the maître d’ at 7:45PM and just breezed straight on through.

I mean, we were on hockey scholarships, and Alex wasn’t exactly rolling in it. Neither of us were. So, who was special enough to him that he was shelling out that kind of money?

Okay, maybe I started hovering outside the restaurant like a bit of a weirdo, kind of hiding behind one of the pillars on the veranda, but I had to see who he was meeting. As long as I grabbed an eyeful and sussed she was fine, I’d leave it. I could go home, then stay up so I could grill him about it when he came back—if he came back.

They led him straight to a window seat, smack bang in the middle of the row, looking out onto a pretty fountain and the evening diners.

My nerves were already hopping about, and, of course, when his gaze panned out over the veranda that edged onto the street,the only sane thing to do was throw myself to the sidewalk behind a short row of trimmed bushes.

Totally ignoring the strange looks I got from some diners, and from people passing by on the street, I craftily positioned myself so I could lean against the wooden fence of the veranda and keep an eye on Alex.

My plan was perfect. Nothing could go wrong.

I was bulky as fuck, but I had this superpower called ‘bullshitting’ that let me get away with anything I wanted.

So, crouching behind the bushes, weird fucking nerves shaking in me, I drew in a deep breath, preparing myself for the big reveal.

But Alex just sat there.

And sat there.

And sat there.

And by the time my calves were killing me, I was prepared to shoot up and storm in, get myself in that chair across from him and be his date instead.

Tommy kept weaving around the restaurant, and maybe I would have cared if it had just been him, but I was too focused on Alex to be bothered that Tommy was there.

It kind of explained some things about him, like the weird cuts on his hands I’d sometimes see, but we didn’t exactly talk that much, so I never actually asked.

It was 8:05PM before a familiar figure cut through the restaurant. Five minutes late was totally unacceptable. I would have never left Alex waiting like that.

I tracked the figure across the restaurant, hoping it was just a coincidence. But he locked eyes with Alex, and Alex smiled, and suddenly Lance Austin was leaning over the table and pressing a kiss against my best friend’s cheek.

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