Page 35 of Puck You Very Much

Liar,she’d whispered.

Anna’s voice echoed in his head, but he ignored it. Instead, he pushed the door to the bar open with his fist. She had no idea what she was talking about.

Chapter 11

“Where’s Dax?”

“I don’t know,” Matt muttered absently, peering skeptically at the red, lumpy substance on his spoon. “This is a five-star hotel, right? Then why is the soup cold?”

“It’s gazpacho. A soup from Southern Spain,” she replied impatiently.

“And it got cold on the flight over, or what?” he asked glumly.

“Matt! Where is Dax? I can’t reach him. He isn’t at the table and he’s not answering the phone. Where is he? And the soup should be cold! It’s intentional. That’s how you eat it.” Lucy lifted her chin and scanned the hotel restaurant, which was filled with tall, broad men. But the one she was seeking wasn’t among them. Usually, Dax wasn’t that hard to find. He was the kind of man who immediately stood out in a crowd. Right now, all that meant was that he wasn’t here.

“Mm-hm,” Matt said absently, lowering the spoon to look at her thoughtfully across the table. “You seem nervous.”

“Because Dax isn’t here!” And she had an incredibly bad feeling about it. The game had been terrible, watching Dax on the ice pure torture. It had been worse than a traffic accident. He had to be frustrated and angry—and frustrated, angry people didn’t make the best decisions. Frustrated, angry, and rich ice hockey players were even worse.

“Isn’t it your job to always know where he is?” Matt inquired. “So why are you bothering me with this question when you should know the answer?”

She pursed her lips and glared at him. “He’s your best friend and I had a job to do right after the game. I had to reassure the press that Dax’s total disaster on the ice tonight had nothing to do with Jack West at all!”

“But it did,” Matt protested.

“I know that,” she snapped. “But the press doesn’t have to know that! And do you seriously have no idea where he is? Or are you just not telling me because he asked you not to?”

Matt sighed and pushed the soup away. “Oh, no, no. I’m not getting involved in this ridiculous power struggle you’ve been waging for eleven months! If you must know, the last time I saw him was an hour ago. I asked him if he wanted to play some darts. Thought he could use the distraction. But he declined. He’ll be in his room recovering from the day.”

“No, he’s not.” She occupied the room next to his and had knocked several times in a way that couldn’t be ignored. “Did he happen to look like he was planning to do something stupid?”

Matt laughed loudly. “He always looks like he’s planning to do something stupid. That’s what his face looks like.”

Sighing, she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. “You’re not being helpful, you know,” she announced dryly as she searched her apps and found what she was looking for.

She had hoped it would never come to this, but… Unfortunately, Dax gave her no other choice.

“Oh my God, did you hack his phone and put a tracking app on it?” Matt asked incredulously, leaning forward so he could peer at her screen, where a map of the area had appeared.

“Nonsense. It’s not hacking if you know the password,” she murmured absently. “And it’s not a tracking app. It’s calledFind my Friends.”

“But he’s not friends with you,” Matt said, stating the obvious, his eyes as big as the soup bowl. “Oh shit, he has no idea, does he?”

“Of course he has no idea,” she replied angrily, watching for the red dot on the map that would tell her Dax’s whereabouts. “I’m not an amateur. And honestly, if you use your last two jersey numbers as your password, it’s your own fault.”

It was clear he wasn’t at the hotel, but he wasn’t far, either. He was in a place called the Snow Hut. A bar. Crap. The only thing Dax did in bars was drink and pick up women. Since he wasn’t drinking at the moment…

“Shit.” She jumped up from her chair. “I knew I should have bought a taser. Ah, whatever, I’ll find another way to take him down.”

Matt’s eyes widened. “Fuck, Dax and Maddie are right, you’re crazy. At least, as far as he’s concerned. I always believed they were exaggerating, but… Nuh-uh. Your marbles have definitely rolled under the radiator!”

“I haven’t lost my marbles! I’m simply very engaged. With my job,” she clarified. “And why are you talking about me to my sister?”

“She asked how things were going with you and Dax.” He shrugged.

“So why doesn’t she askme?”

“Because I’m a lot more honest and entertaining than you,” he explained sagely.

---