Page 255 of Branded
Of course, she was also beautiful and had that inner light and?—
I liked her.
I just…couldn’t have her.
Sighing, I smothered the urge to go after her, to help her with the heavy tray, the large number of plates. At the very best, I knew that would be a huge overstep (and look at me go with my critical thinking skills!). At the worst, it would be an unwanted comment about her abilities.
Truthfully, though, I was still tempted to risk it. I hated the thought of her on her own, even here, wanted to show her that I was there, that I was?—
“Might want to stop mooning over her,” Theo muttered, clapping his hand on my shoulder, “and start doing something about it.”
Normally, Theo would be right about getting off my ass and doing something about it.
Normally, I lived my life by grabbing on to opportunities, by putting balls to the walls, by knowing that I’d miss one hundred percent of the shots I didn’t take, by leaving it all on the ice, by?—
Insert other cliché sports analogy here.
There would be no ball-walling or shooting or leaving it on the ice.
Jules had turned me down.
So, I wasn’t going to be a dick.
She’d drawn a line. I wasn’t going to cross it.
Sighing, I picked up my glass, started to drain it, but Theo smacked me on the shoulder again, nearly making me choke on the beer.
“Welp, on that grumpy expression of yours,” Theo said, the asshole fucking beyond chipper as I tossed a napkin on the table then gave a jaunty wave. “I’m out.”
Which was when I realized that the rest of the table had cleared out.
Right.
I’d been—as Theo said—mooning over Jules, and not doing it slyly in the least. Certainly not slyly enough to avoid my teammate, Smitty’s, matchmaking laser. Nor sly enough to avoid Beth’s newfound interest in the same subject if their disappearing acts were any indication.
Cuddling up to her hot hockey player my ass.
Another sigh. Another gulp of my beer.
They would pile on the shit in the locker room.
Not something I’d typically care about. I could take the teasing and could dish it out just as effortlessly.
But it was going to sting because I didn’t have a shot with Jules.
All the teasing would be pointless.
Grumbling to myself when I spotted the signed credit card receipt on the table and realized that one of the guys must have gone to Matt while I was mooning and Jules was working and cashed our tables out, I drained the remnants of my beer. I stood, threw a hundred on the table because she was a single mom and I knew what it was like to be struggling for money. My parents were good people, had made it work even though things had been tight as they raised four kids. They were okay now because my siblings and I were adults (and I was in a position where I could help with things like college tuition). But I still had a soft spot for those who were hustling their asses off.
Jules was one of those people.
I’d caught her studying on her break, working to improve her future.
I’d seen her leave a shift early when her son was ill.
I’d watched her hustle during every shift, remaining capable and cheerful even with dark circles beneath her eyes.
Now, it was late. CeCe’s had cleared out, and I was one of a handful of customers left.
