Page 62 of Puck You
There was nothing I could do but stand there like a complete idiot.My brain lacked the necessary oxygen to form an adequate response.
“Do you like her?”she asked.
The blunt nature of her question caught me off guard.For a moment, I considered lying.I didn’t owe her anything.Butsomething in my gut told me I could trust Lydia.
“So much.”It felt both good and terrifying to admit it out loud.
She tilted her head to the side as she continued her silent assessment.Eventually, she slipped off the table, strode across the room, and stopped directly in front of me.
“This better not be about winning a bet or getting revenge,” she warned.
“Seems like a lot of effort on my end just to fuck her over.”
“I wouldn’t put it past you,” she told me.“Not after everything you’ve done.”
“She’s the one who said it could never happen again.”My voice fell flat at the admission.How could I fuck Grace over when she wasn’t even willing to admit that she liked me?
“Grace doesn’t open up easily.I don’t know much about her life outside of hockey, but she was willing to risk getting kicked off the team and expelled from this school if it meant standing up for our rights as female athletes.She did that for me, for all of the other girls on the team, when she barely knew us.Just be careful with her.She doesn’t deserve to get her heart broken.”
When I’d met Grace, I was convinced that she was out to get me, her only goal to put me in my place.I’d had it all wrong.Coming after me was always about her teammates and making sure that they were treated with the same decency as the male athletes.At the time, I was nothing more than an obstacle in her path.She’d had every right to push me away, but I wouldn’t allow it any longer.Not after today.What I felt for Grace was more than just an infatuation.It had been silly of me to ever assume I’d be able to fuck her out of my system.She was exceptional; why else would I have gone through all the trouble of making her hate me?Now, she needed to face the truth ofherfeelings.Because under all of that regret and loathing, there was just as much desire.
Lydia studied me for another long moment before she turned around and headed for the exit.She paused in the doorway, glancing back over her shoulder.“And no more sex in the locker room.Seriously, it’s unhygienic.”
Chapter 16
Grace
I didn’t remember walking home.The apartment was empty when I arrived.With shaking hands, I dropped my things at the door and retreated to my bedroom.In the aftermath of Sebastian, I was lost, floating somewhere between elation and denial.I could still feel his lips dusting kisses along the slope of my neck, his hands braced on either side of my hips.My body felt at ease in a way I’d never known before, not even with Matt.What had happened between Sebastian and me wasmorein every sense of the word.It was a terrifying realization, one that made me reach for my phone and FaceTime Sam.
“’Sup, bitch,” she answered on the third ring.
The video feed was dark; I could barely see more than the outline of her face and the whites of her eyes.
“I did something I probably shouldn’t have.”
A bright light flashed across the screen, and she came into view.She was dressed in scrubs and sitting in her car.I looked at the time and realized she must have been on her way home from a shift at the hospital.
“Okay, don’t panic yet.Just take a few deep breaths and tell me what happened,” Sam commanded.
“You were right,” I said, recalling the conversation we’d had after Sebastian’s birthday party.“It was only a matter of time.”
“You’re not making any sense, though I do like to hear that I’m right.”
“I had sex with Sebastian.”
The was a long pause and then Sam was shouting, her face so close to the phone camera that I could only see her nose and mouth.“That’s it?That’s your big mess-up?I thought you were about to tell me you’d murdered someone!I was already thinking about ways to hide the body.”
A strange sound somewhere between a laugh and a choke escaped me.Sam was still talking, rambling on about how much I’d freaked her out.Apparently, she believed me capable of murder.At least I knew I could trust her to help me get rid of a body if I ever did find myself in that situation.
Totally not the point, Grace.
“But I hate Sebastian.”It was the only thing I could think to say.
“Do you?”
“I wish I did,” I admitted.“It would be easier to resist himif I really did.I can’t believe I let him fuck me in the women’s locker room.”
“I will refrain from saying something dirty and instead take this moment to remind you that you’re a twenty-two-year-old single woman.Being horny is normal.”
