Page 30 of A Little Puck Luck

Skatingwasalwayssomuch fun, and I almost never missed a skate practice. Okay, there were some optional ones over the years that I missed because I was hungover. But I’d rather play guilty than not go. I would only stay home if I were actively puking out the alcohol, but that hadn’t happened for a few years.

It was how I knew Gavin was the bad influence and not the other way around, no matter what his girlfriend Sabrina thought.

Today’s practice had the die-hards who loved the sport, except for Spencer Levine. He had been fighting some injuries lately that the press didn’t know about, so it wasn’t a surprise. Doc has been trying to prevent major injuries with a few guys.

As per usual, Jetski, Cartsy, and I were the first to finish warmups, so while the others were finishing up, it was the perfect time to catch up. Spencer leaned against his stick and angled his glove toward me to block his mouth. “Now that Siobhan is living with Cartsy, how long do you think it will take for him to propose?”

Well, that was a shock. While I knew Carter and Siobhan had been going hot and heavy for a while now, I had no clue they were ready to take the next step. It seemed so sudden.

Granted, all our timelines were pretty similar. The biggest difference was that both Spence and I have known our girls for a long time. It was not a new girl in our lives like Siobhan was to Carter.

Annie’s not your girl. Not anymore.

Although, after last night, she might become my girl once more. I just hope I don’t have to get her blitzed every time we need to have an honest talk.

I stared at Carter. The guy was smitten for sure, but I didn’t think he was ready to be engaged.

Carter shoved Spence. “Cut it. You know the reason she moved in.”

Ooh. This was getting interesting. It was rare to see those two even fake fight because they were thick as thieves, seeing as Spence dated Cartsy’s little sister.

“Is this a secret or do I get to know?” I asked.

Carter and Spencer turned to me and stared. It was as if they were trying to decide if I was worthy enough to know the secret. Then I noticed something subtle in Carter’s eyes, and it was as if it were asking if I was just that dumb.

I frowned. “Wait. What am I missing?”

The two continued to stare at me. For fuck’s sake, they were going to make me work for it.

So, I racked my brain to figure out what it could be. The girls hung out the other night. Was Annie supposed to tell me something and didn’t?

Fuck, why did there have to be more secrets? Right when I thought we were finally getting somewhere and ending all the lies and secrets. However, given the state she was in, I probably didn’t ask the right questions.

At least I hope that’s why she didn’t tell me about what happened.

“Annette got very, very drunk with the girls when they were dealing with their ‘crisis,’ so if she was supposed to fill me in on something, she couldn’t.”

Trying to do air quotes while wearing hockey gloves was way less effective, but it worked.

Until this moment, I figured Natalie used the term crisis to just have a girls’ night, which was fine. It was nice to see Annie go out since she was always in mom mode. She should go out sometimes.

The fellas snickered.

“Yeah, Siobhan was pretty plastered too.” Then Carter’s voice turned into that serious tone he normally saved for when we were being idiots or for trying to calm tempers while on the ice so we didn’t take a dumbass penalty. “Siobhan has a stalker, and she moved out of her place that night. Spence already blew the beans by mentioning she’s at my place.”

Oh fuck.

That was terrifying. No wonder she moved in so fast. Carter’s place had top-of-the-line security, and their relationship has been on the down-low. Okay, we all knew about them since she hung out at Jokers with us after games when she was not filming late into the night.

I hated how it seemed like all our girls were getting stalked. He Who Must Not Be Named followed Natalie to Eric’s hockey practice not too long ago, prior to Annie’s hospital stay. The moment I found out about that night, I upgraded our security systems since if he stalked one of Annie’s friends, what was stopping him from doing it to Annie and my kid? He was out of jail now, and there was a protection order out on her, but it was just a fucking piece of paper.

I had to ask the obvious question, “You don’t think it’s You-Know-Who?”

Yeah, I treated Luke like he was Lord Voldemort. But anyone who could slap a woman and make a scene at a hockey rink shouldn’t be talked about like he was human. Instead, he received the villain treatment, and I refused to speak his name if I didn’t have to.

“Doesn’t look like it. With her being on Shady Oaks, it’s probably just some random fan. But it’s all been sent to the police.”

Well, that was something. While it was trite, I said, “I hope that’s the end of it, man.”

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