Page 99 of Puck to the Heart
“Fuck, Barnes, I want?—”
“Shutup, Wilder.”
My jaw snapped close, teeth clicking audibly.
“How many times have you done this for me? Let me return the favor. Let me do this for you.”
“You don’t have to?—"
“Haven’t we had this conversation before?” A twist of her wrist had me seeing stars.
“We have.” My voice was barely audible through clenched teeth and the strain of keeping myself together.
“How did you think it would go, then? If I remember correctly, you won last time. Which means it’s my turn.” Evil, evil woman. She twisted her wrist again, sliding her hand up my length.
I didn’t know where to look, what to do. A strangled sound left my mouth, my only response.
“It must be such a hardship, right?” The steely glint in her eyes flashed to sparkling mischief as she teased me with the tip of her tongue.
“So hard. But after?—”
“Didn’t I tell you to shut up?” Then she sank down, further than she’d taken me before.
I shut up.
It was—it was—I didn’t have words for what this was. Our role reversal, her walking me through my self-effacing sabotage and bringing us to this point. All I knew was the way Olivia shattered me completely and put me back together.
After completinghis run as temporary captain, Ash’s skates were steadily back beneath him. The press conference before tonight’s game was to announce him as official captain for the Knights.
After the game, the team trooped out together, all of them dressed in whatever passed for ‘dressed up’ clothes. With athletes, it was always a mixed bag. Half wore trousers paired with sneakers; some wore branded t-shirts worth more than my monthly salary.Beforetaxes. Spirits were high, and they must have cracked a couple bottles of liquor before leaving, because they were already looking glazed.
Breaking a four-game losing streak had to be exhilarating. They deserved to celebrate.
“Do you want to go? Out? With the team?”
Ash had the look of someone crushed one too many times yet still remained hopeful.
“Of course!” I wanted him to know how proud I was of him, tobewith him.
Knights players and their families packed the bar Coach Olsen rented out for them. He sent us a round of drinks, and when he passed by, he gave Ash a silent nod of affirmation, and I sensed it was high praise coming from the man.
Coach’s wife approached, a glass of red wine in hand. “Hi, Olivia, I’m Grace Olsen.”
“Oh, hi!” It was nice to finally meet one of the spouses and partners. I couldn’t bring myself to call them WAGs. “Please call me Liv. Nobody calls me Olivia but Ash. And he does it to be annoying.” Oops. Maybe I’d imbibed too quickly and overshared.
But Grace didn’t seem to mind, throwing her head back in a big, booming, contagious laugh. “Julian’s the same way.” She took a sip of her wine. She was tall, well over six feet in her wicked heels. Her short, white-blonde hair wasperfectin a way I would never dare even wish for. The navy jacket she wore over a silk blouse and skirt stretched out her Valkyrie frame to impossible lengths. The woman wasgorgeous, and the patriarchy-brainwashed side of my brain I hated and kept tamped down screamed for me to hate her on sight.
In another life, maybe I would’ve. All the months I’d spent at Hurst Labs surrounded by mediocre men made me realize how much I missed having a female presenting friend, and I desperately wanted to be her friend.
“Your eyeliner is amazing,” I blurted, then clapped my hand over my mouth. But seriously, how did she get it soeven?
Grace smiled broadly, revealing perfect, glistening teeth. “You want to know a secret?” She leaned in conspiratorially. “It’s a stencil. I got tired of redoing it fifteen times every day.”
“Fuckingbrilliant.” I clinked my glass against hers.
“Julian told me you wanted to start a science club for high schoolers?”
“Yes!” Oh dear, I was doing the thing where I yelled when I got excited. My new friend didn’t seem bothered by it, though. “It’s not really a club. When I was in high school, I had an amazing STEM group who helped with scholarships and took our advanced science classes on tours and stuff. It wassocool but in college, I found out how many people didn’t have a support system, and I want to—” I paused, trying to swallow a hiccup, “help.”
