Page 68 of Grudge Puck
Another anxiety attack? Great.
“Traditional how?” I asked.
“When I'm dating a guy, I want to be exclusive—even before we'reofficiallyboyfriend and girlfriend. I don't fuck around on someone I'm dating, and I don't want him to fuck around me, either.”
“Wait,” I laughed, “that's it? You wanna be exclusive? That's what this is about?”
“Well … yeah, but that's not all.”
“Dude. I wish you'd said that earlier, because that's fine with me. I told you, Ilikeyou, and in a way that I haven't liked anyone else. Ever.” Possessively, I grabbed her tiny body and brought her closer into mine. “And I do notwantanyother guys even gettingnearyou! That thought makes my blood boil.”
She pushed against my bare chest with her delicate hands. “But how can I trust you? You've got that app,MeatMarket,where all those young, cute, air-headed girls are just a thumb-tap away—”
Without a word, I whipped out my phone. She watched silently as I deleted my account and then uninstalled MeatMarket.
“Done,” I said simply.
She snickered softly. “Sure, but you couldeasilyreinstall it and make a new account when you're on the road.”
“But I won't.”
“What about all the clubs you and 'the boys' hang out at? All it would take is one night when you have too much to drink. And thenwhoops,you end up taking some girl back to your hotel, and you can kick out Hunter of the room while you fuck her, just like you did with me. And I'll never even come close to knowing about it, because I know you guys would never rat each other out.”
“Hey, I might be an asshole, but the one thing I'veneverdone is cheat on anybody. The guilt would tear me apart.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. And as far as the club goes? Fuck it, man, I don't need to hang out at clubs so much anymore. I'll start spending more time with Hunter. He's always wanting me to spend a little extra time in the gym anyway. If I'm working out like Ishouldbe, I'll be too damn tired to go out and party.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You're serious?”
“Yeah. I told you, I want to dedicate myself to my hockey career now. I can be better. I know I can.”
There was a knock at the door.
“You uh, you guys done in there?” Hunter called from the other side. “Curfew's in ten minutes.”
I rushed to the door, cracked it open and told him to give us just a few more minutes.
“Sure thing, bud,” Hunter said.
Camille and I both started to frantically dress while I made my final arguments.
“Just give me one week, Cam. Call it a trial week. We'll be exclusive. If I do something,anything that rubs you the wrong way or makes you doubt me? Then you can call it off.”
She tried to fight it off, but a huge smile began to break across her face. “See … this is exactly what I didn't want to happen …”
“What?”
“You're making me get my hopes up, Beau.”
I smiled back at her. “That's a good thing.”
“I barely know you as anything else but this guy I couldn't stand for years, and yet—”
I neared and quieted her with a long, passionate kiss.
“I wish I didn't have to leave,” she said. “We've been together all night, and yet it still feels so short.”
