Page 25 of Three Pucking Words
When I’d gotten here forty minutes early, I didn’t expect anyone to be at the rink. I figure I’d warm up a little longer than normal if today’s practice will be as grueling as the other others. My shoulder needs some extra TLC because I spent half of yesterday carrying Gemma around when she fell asleep halfway through the Bronx Zoo with Joe and Helen. I don’t need Coach to brutalize me anymore by not stretching enough.
“Who isthat?” Henderson asks, scaring the shit out of me as he appears by my side.
My eyes snap away from Honor. “Christ. When did you get here?”
Henderson chuckles, patting me on the back. “A minute ago. I was wondering what you were staring at that made you look that way.”
“What way?” I question.
“Like you have a boner,” he muses, popping up an eyebrow. “Do youhave a boner?”
He starts to lean forward to check, but I elbow him in the ribcage to stop him. “Don’t check out my junk, creep.”
I cup myself to hide the fact that Iamsporting a semi right now. Which is problematic considering the person responsible for it is off-limits. If her dad saw me watching her with a hard-on, something tells me I’d be skating extra laps today and not invited over for dinner again anytime soon.
Sebastian grins. “I have to see your junk all the time in the locker room, and you’ve never been shy. Which tells me all I need to know.” He dips his chin toward the rink. “She’s good.”
I turn to Honor, who’s slowing down toward the rink’s exit. She rests against the wall to catch her breath. “Yeah she is,” I say in whispered awe.
My best friend chuckles. “You’re into her. It looks good on you. Haven’t seen you interested in someone in a long time.”
That’s not entirely true, but I guess he’s not willing to address the unrequited crush I had on his little sister. So, I do the only thing that comes to mind. Deny it. “I don’t even know her, so how could I be into her?”
He shrugs. “You tell me. You haven’t taken your eyes off her this entire time.”
Shit.He’s right. I peel my gaze away as she steps out of the rink. “That’s Coach’s daughter, Honor.”
His lips curl up as a glint sparkles in his eyes. I don’t like his tone when he says, “Interesting.”
I eye him. “There’s nothing interesting about it,” I inform him before he can make something out of nothing.
He holds his hands out. “If you insist.”
“I do.”
“Okay.”
“Okay,” I repeat.
We stand there silently, causing my eyes to drift back over to the now-empty rink. I do a quick scan of the arena to find Honor gone.
Sebastian walks past me, toward the hall leading to the locker room. “Not into her,” he muses doubtfully. “Uh-huh.”
I glare at his back as he disappears.
He’ll only give me shit about it if I give him the ammunition, so I school my features before my irritation gives me away. I didn’t dig into him when he got married out of the blue, so he shouldn’t insert his opinion in my business.
Not again, anyway.
He’d done enough over a year ago by telling his sister not to get involved with me. And while I know he meant well by it, it took a while for me to stop being pissed off. Not that it would have changed the outcome. Olive chose somebody else that she was more compatible with. End of story.
The sting of her rejection faded a while ago, so it’s not something I hold onto. But it’s not something I’ve necessarily forgotten either. Especially not when Sebastian likes to tease me over my lack of a social life.
My priority isn’t dating right now. It’s on being a good dad to Gemma, which I’m sure Sebastian understands more than ever after becoming a father too.
As much as I’m tempted to track down Honor and ask if Coach is the one who taught her to skate like that, I push the urge away. Because my best friend may be annoying, but he’s right. I’m intrigued by the redheaded woman who blew me off at the aquarium to do God knows what. Hell, I even looked her up online after putting Gemma to bed only to find no social media accounts with her name attached.
And that’s a problem.
