Page 64 of Forbidden Puck
“I was thinking MacAllister's,” Lance shouted from across the room.
“Shouldn't we take her some place she hasn't—…” I swallowed the rest of the incriminating sentence down before I shot myself in the foot.
“Some place she hasn't what?” Lance asked.
“I meant, shouldn't we take her some place fancier?” I muttered.
“Nice try.” He wagged his finger at me. “I know exactly what you're trying to do, Radar.”
Gulp.“You do?”
“Yeah. You heard me say I'm buying dinner for the team, so now MacAllister's isn't nice enough. Lemme guess, you want to go to the most expensive steak house in Boston, right? You're just trying to drive the bill up as high as possible, you fucker!”
I let out a breath of relief.Whew.“Ha, yeah, you caught me …”
“I knew it, bud. I should makeyoupay for dinner, since you owe me that five grand!”
Once everyone was dressed and ready to go, the entire team headed over to the club room where we picked up Ella.
I stayed away from her, since I knew that was what she probably wanted. It kinda hurt to see her joking around with the others.
We went outside, where a fleet of cabs was waiting for us. Lance grabbed the first car, opened the door for Ella, and shouted, “who wants to ride with me and Ella? Radar? Ilya?”
I jumped into an empty cab before he could spot me. Shea climbed in after me and shut the door.
***
“So what's up with you?” Shea grumbled at me.
“Huh?”
“You. You're acting fucking weird. So, what's up?”
“Nothin'.”
“Bullshit. I've seen you play with the flu. I've seen you play a game after a night you didn't get any sleep. I've seen you play so hungover, I could smell the alcohol pouring out of your sweat. But tonight? That's the worst game I've ever seen you play.” He paused. “You might manage to fool Lance and the others, but you're not fooling me. So what is it? What happened that's got you all fucked up?”
“I, uh.” My throat grew chalky. I couldn't speak if I wanted to.
“You know, I saw the way you and Lance's little sister looked at each other back there in the dressing room.”
I played dumb. “Huh?”
“I also heard you almost slip-up. Something about 'Ella's already been to MacAllister's'.”
Shit. How'd he hear that?
Shea stared me down. “I'm going to ask you something serious, Radar, and I want you to answer truthfully. Don't bother trying to lie, because I'll see it in your eyes.”
I nervously swallowed as I waited for his question.
“Did you do something with Lance's little sister?”
I couldn't lie to Shea. I broke eye contact and turned to stare out the window instead, swearing under my breath, “fuck.”
“Holy shit,” Shea muttered. “Holyshit, Radar. What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“You can't tell him,” I said, or pleaded, desperately.
