Page 58 of Absolutely Pucked
“A new sex friend,” I clarified.
“Tell me it’s not someone from the fucking Ice Cats.” His voice was very tense.
They were the Legends’ and the Fury’s biggest rivals, and it seemed like all the dickheads in the league were traded to that team. Which I guess made sense, considering it was in Baltimore, and the energy there was chaotic as fuck.
“You know I don’t fuck hockey players.”Anymore, I added to myself. “No. He’s some guy I met at a club.”
“Wait…the guy? Theguyguy?”
I realized I hadn’t talked about my love life or meeting anyone since I met Killian at the bar that night. So I was screwed. “Mm…yeah.”
“I thought he skipped town.”
“He came back. And now he’s sending me selfies with cute kittens.”
Micah wrinkled his nose. “Uhg. Jonah has been up my ass about getting a cat. So much that he wants to move out.”
“I know.”
“And it’s fucking shitty. It’s shitty that he wants to abandon me in that place just for a goddamn cat, and?—”
“And you love him, so you’re not going to put up a fight?” I pressed. “Didn’t you tell him you wanted to get your own place so you could get laid without him listening in?”
“Yes, but that’s not the point.” He sighed and flopped backward, misjudging the location of the pillows and cracking his head on the table between the beds. “Jesus. Who the fuck put that there?”
I put my arm around him and tugged until he had his head pillowed against my shoulder. He sighed with a happy hum and went boneless. “Better?”
“Yes, but if you tell people we fucked?—”
“Micah!”
“What? The last time I had a cuddle session, everyone assumed I was getting freaky with him.”
That would be Hugo. And Boden had been the one who freaked out. I could only hope that he and Hugowere working their shit out now, but Micah was right. Wehadall assumed.
“I’m sorry for being a dickhead. I have no business judging or assuming.”
Micah let out a trembling breath. “I, um…I don’t…”
I waited.
“I don’t have sex as much as people think I do. I thought if I dated sighted people who have nothing to do with the PPHL, they might not think I’m some horny fuckboy who only cares about getting laid. Except…for some reason, they alldo, and when I turn them down…” He trailed off, and I knew why.
More than once, either Boden or I had gone out to rescue him from a bad date. And more than once, Boden and I had secretly judged him for it. I felt like an epic asshole.
“Hugo was the first person who didn’t think that about me,” Micah finished softly. “I like him. I hope Boden doesn’t fuck that up.”
I couldn’t help a small laugh. I was grateful the topic was off me and on literally anyone else so I didn’t have to keep telling half-truths. It wasn’t going to last. I wasn’t that lucky, but at the very least, I was going to hoard my borrowed time.
My borrowed time began to run out two weeks after we got back to Turenne.
“Left! Left!” Boden’s voice rang across the ice, but Iwas too distracted to realize what the fuck he was talking about until it was too late.
Some hulking motherfucker slammed into me. He was a rookie on the Burners—the community league up in Boston. I toppled over, hitting the ice just before my bucket flipped off my head and skittered several feet away. My world swam, my vision going fuzzy, and when I tried to sit up straight, I couldn’t.
Fuck.
The sharp sound of the whistle penetrated my brain, sending searing pain up and down my spine. The lights reflecting off the ice were way too fucking bright, and it was too cold, and I realized in that moment my chest was burning because I couldn’t draw a breath.
