Page 180 of Loving Ladybug: Part One
“Yeah?” She looked around, leaned in and gave me a kiss. “Hey did you ever get a necklace or ring, or anything, when they gave you goodies the other day?”
I blinked, frowning. “Um, I don’t think so. The bag. The training camp hoodie I gave you. There were a few other things. You can rummage through it and see what else is in there. A necklace would be fun.”
“Right? Earrings, too. Maybe I should see if the MASOs are ordering cute stuff. See you tonight.” She kissed me again.
I entered the locker room in time to hear one of the free agents ask about the‘hottie in the knee socks’.
“That’s Clark’s girl,” Anders joked as he changed, blond hair up in his usual man-bun. “Touch her and he’ll pulverize you in Go-goKart.”
“Hey, don’t sit on Lucky,” Dean yelled at one of the Bantams as they went to sit down.
Everyone started laughing. The Bantam looked baffled.
Nia looked at me. “Good for Ladybug. Aren’t goalies supposed to date hot people?”
The entire room erupted in guffaws, because clips of the commercial I’d done for Bare Armor had gone viral for my ‘hotness.’ I threw my towel at her.
Every day, Gwen and I grew closer. Tenzin had been so busy. Sure, he had stuff going on. At the same time, we seemed to be further back from where we’d been before the wedding. I had no idea what to do.
We went to conditioning and off-ice training, then the whole team gathered to eat in the dining room.
“Scrimmage rosters are posted for Saturday,” Coach Atkins told us. “Two EBUGs will be the goalies for scrimmage game B. You’ll meet all of them tomorrow and you’ll be seeing them around all season. The roster for the first two pre-season games is also posted.”
“I call Gwen,” Jonas laughed. “Nia, you can have Ty.”
“Eat my dick, Jonas, I get Ladybug.” Nia threw a wadded napkin at him.
Coach gave them a look. “You two don’t even know which EBUGs are playing. You’re also both on scrimmage game A.”
He talked a little about the EBUG program, then launched into the ‘do not harass the EBUGs and it’s a bad idea to date them’speech.
A couple of people smirked at me.
After I ate, I checked the roster. They assigned Tenzin and me to the same team for our first away game against Boston. The coaches would be mixing things up and figuring out the roster and the lines.
After we finished for the day, a bunch of us headed to Tito’s. I saw Tenzin going to his truck as I got on my bike.
“Hey, are you going to Tito’s?” I asked. “I miss hanging out with you.”
He shook his head. “Unfortunately, I have to take care of some things.”
“I get it. Hey, we’re going to Dimitri’s tonight. Come join us? Gwen would love to see you,” I added. She missed him a lot.
Those little packs of cookies he’d given her had made her day.
“I can’t. But I’ll be at the barbeque at Nia’s tomorrow, and the pool party at Coach Atkins’ on Saturday.” His look grew anxious. “I don’t know what to bring. We never brought stuff to Sasquatch parties, it was always fully catered.”
“I’m bringing artichoke dip. Gwen’s making lasagna. You know, if you text her, she’ll have ideas.” Bringing things–and seeing what everyone else brought–was half the fun.
“I’ll do that. Thanks.” He got in his car and drove off. I stood there, frowning.
“Clark, hey.” Atticus, Nia’s omega, came over to me. He was a slim, well-dressed omega that was about Gwen’s height, and in his late twenties. Their pack had twin toddlers and he worked in marketing.
“Hey, Atty.” I saw Nia talking to Pauley and Nakey. Pauley was a forward like Nia and had blond, beachy hair. He was mated to Nakey, who had dark hair and played defense.
“You added Gwen as your person, right? I’m head MASO this year, so I have the list,” Atty added.
“I figured it would be nice for her to have access to the family room and be able to come to games. Oh, and get snacks.” Because she was always hungry.
