Page 123 of Loving Ladybug: Part One
Chapter Forty-Three
Tenzin
Gwen
At the bar. Come down.
I looked at the photo of her, Clark, andCooter.Fuck.
Me
I’m going to kill Cooter.
Served me right for not asking more questions about the wedding Cooter wanted me to be his plus one at.
It had been nice seeing my Sasquatch teammates, and I’d missed them. But I missed Gwen and Clark more.
The moment I discovered we were going to Quebec, I’d wanted to see if she was close, but my phone had died. Even though myphone had little charge, I shoved it into my pocket. I barreled down the stairs, heading straight to the bar.
Cooter stood with a bunch of people I didn’t know–and some I did, like Dimitri, Clark, andGwen.
Gwen waved me over. “Hey, Big Guy, welcome to the party.”
“Hey, Firecracker.” I gave Cooter a look. “Seriously?”
He couldn’t have told me we were going to thesamewedding as Gwen and Clark? All I knew was that it was some friend of his from university. Jonny.
“Bucket!” Dean waved. “Come join the party. Hey, I didn’t know you were coming?”
“I didn’t either.” I gave Cooter another look.
Cooter smirked again. “Tenny, meet Jonny Boy. We went to university together. He’s now a goalie for this obscure team called the New York Knights. Johnny Boy, this is Tenny. We played on the Sasquatches together.”
Jonny Boy waved. “Jean-Paul, but most people call me JP. Only Peter calls me Jonny Boy.”
I couldn’t tell if Jean-Paul was calling himPeter,or if Cooter sounded that way with his accent. Peter wasn’t Cooter’s name before, it was Cooter.
“I’m Tenzin. It’s nice to meet you. Congratulations on your wedding,” I told him.
“This is Bucket,” Dean told Jean-Paul. “Ladybug found him in the freezer section and now we have a new defender.”
“Tens.” Clark came over holding a beer. “I didn’t know this was the wedding you were going to. I’m so glad you’re here.”
He lookedrelieved.What happened?
Cooter shrugged. “I thought it would be a fun surprise, since you’re a Knight now. You could meet some of your teammates.”
“Welcome to the Knights,” Jean-Paul told me.
“You’re the missing person in the goalie dance. JP, didn’t you go to university here?” Gwen said to Cooter.
“So…” Cooter ran a hand through his hair, looking bashful. “You know how you think a school is one place, and it’s really somewhere else, just has a similar name? That happened. I was so surprised with everyone speaking French. But, hey, we played good hockey, am I right?” He patted Jean-Paul on the shoulder.
Cooter, Jean-Paul, and Gwen started speaking in rapid French, with Dean joining in. My French wasn’t that good, and Cooter had quite the accent.
“Is everything okay?” I asked Clark as I got a beer from the bar.
“Gwen’s brother is here. I didn’t see it, but she was upset.” He frowned. “She thinks he’s here to bring her back to Vancouver.”
