Page 10 of Grudge Puck
But he just wouldn't take it.
The stand-off persisted, until Beau had had enough. With a huff, he wrapped his huge hand around my wrist. Moving my hand over the tip jar, Beau made me drop the $100 bill into the jar.
“There,” he grinned.
Fucker.
And as if that wasn't enough, his wallet came out again.
“And, since Piper said she's never been to a game,” Beau trailed off as he pulled two tickets from his wallet. “Here's two tickets for the game tomorrow night.”
He displayed those tickets with a smug grin before he placed those in our tip jar, too. And then, just for good measure, another $100.
I wasn't amused.Oh, stop it already.
But Piper clapped her hands excitedly. “Oh my God! That's so nice of you! Thank you, Mr. Bradford!”
“Anytime, sweetheart. And please, just call me Beau.” Beau winked at Piper.
Piper leaned against the counter-top. “So,Beau,we'd love to go to the game tomorrow night. But what will you fellas be getting up to tonight?”
I quietly reprimanded her. “Piper!”
Beau smiled that charming snake-smile of his. “We'll be hanging out at club 1 OAK. Love to see you ladies there.”
He turned that smile on me next—except I was immune to its voodoo. “Camille. Hope you can make it.”
Oh, how kind, he does know my name after all.
“Yeah, we'll see. Bye Beau.”
We watched as the two men gathered up their boxes and took off.
The second our door closed after them, Piper fanned herself like she could faint at any moment.
“Holy fuck,Camille. Those guys aresmokinghot.”
I groaned. “Piper! I can't believe you.”
“What? They are! My God, those bodies. When they first walked into the shop, I was going to ask if they were firefighters. And heck,thatthought made me weak in the knees. But once Beau said that they're professional hockey players?” Piper's eyes rolled into the back of her head. “Marone.”
I had to laugh. “If you grew up with Beau like I did, you wouldn't think so. But hey, I don't blame you. Appearances can be deceiving.”
“Really?” Piper asked as she fished the tickets and both hundred dollar bills out of the tip jar. “Because Beau seems nice as hell!”
“Trust me—he's not.”
“I'm still just shocked. You never, ever told methat someone you went to high school with is a professional hockey player. That is so cool. And he's so down-to-Earth.”
“Down-to-Earth! Beau Bradford!” Ihadto have a hearty laugh over that one. “Judging by the size of that guy's ego in high school? Let's just say that I seriously doubt that he's any more humble now that he's a famous athlete.”
“Well, I'm not seeing it,” Piper shrugged.
“Luckily for you, ignorance is bliss.”
“And you know what else? Thanks to those guys, we turned a profit today.”
“Our first profit,” I grumbled.
