Page 55 of Absolutely Pucked
The guy frowned, and then the bus lurched, and he fell completely on top of me. I managed to catch him before his face hit the side of the seat and righted him in the spot next to mine.
“Well, now I’m double embarrassed.” He straightened and folded his cane, shoving it between his knees, then extended his hand toward me. “Jonah.”
“Ki—” I turned the consonant into a cough. “Excuse me. I’m Ian.”
He frowned. “Hmm. Kian.”
“Just Ian.” For some reason, I hated lying to him. Obviously, he knew Tucker, so there was one more person who was going to get pissed when the truth came to light.
“Okay, Just Ian. Weird name.”
“My parents were weird.”
He laughed and shook his head. “Yeah. Join the club. I was named after a guy who lived in a whale, and my brother was named after a minor prophet in the bible.”
“Uh…”
“Micah.”
“Oh shit,” I blurted. Damn it! His brows flew up, and I knew I was busted. “I know your brother. I work with Ford.” There. Damage control.
Jonah frowned, then suddenly lunged at me. I flinched, but his hands went to my legs, feeling them up and down. It only took me a second to realize what he was doing. Just like we’d done with the little girl at the supermarket. “Sorry. Just checking.”
“Cop a feel all you need,” I told him.
He grinned. “I like you. You come here often?”
I hesitated. “Are you hitting on me?”
“Mm…the thing is, I’m not usually into dudes. Are you very pretty? I might make an exception if you’ve got a Pedro Pascal thing going for you.”
“No one has ever called me pretty,” I told him, “and I definitely don’t look like Pedro Pascal.”
He hummed in thought. “Then…no. Not hitting on you. But I’m going to talk to you while I wait for my stop if that’s cool.”
“That sounds a lot better than simmering in my existential crisis while watching randos on the bus.”
He burst into laughter. “Tell me about the crisis.”
“Well…” I hesitated, but I could do this without giving away too many details. Right? “My wife—soon-to-be ex-wife—she’s having an affair with my boss.”
He whistled lowly. “Damn.”
“He fired me to make her happy,” I added.
Jonah’s brows flew up. “Seriously?”
“Mhm. I came to the East Coast to see a friend and maybe find some work, but my now ex-boss had me blacklisted, so I had to get a job doing stocking at a supermarket until I can figure this out. Oh, and my entire estranged family took her side.” Except Tucker, but I wasn’t going to count him because of fucking course he didn’t take her side. But he wasn’t on mine either.
“Dude, you win.”
“That is a shitty trophy,” I told him.
Jonah grinned. “I was going to tell you my sad sack story, but now I feel like a jerk.”
“No, please tell me,” I begged. “I need to know other people are suffering.”
He snorted. “Fine. So I kind of sort of picked a fight at my last game—I play hockey. Do you watch the PPHL?”
