Page 47 of Thoroughly Pucked

THE BIRDS AND THE BEES

Aubrey

Twigs crunch under my feet as the summer sun sneaks its rays through branches canopying the trail. Wildflowers bloom along the path while birds chirp from nearby branches.

Bees buzz too.

But nope. I refuse to think about the birds and the bees. I’ve got a better plan for Ellie the Elephant today.

Keep the guys talking about hockey, like I’ve done all afternoon on our hike. “So that game last year when you went into overtime when you were playing the Sabers,” I say, cueing Dev on my next round of hockey chatter.

Another hockey tale will keep my mind where it belongs.Off my lust.“They were working you hard in that game. Taking shot after shot on goal. Were you exhausted at the end of it?”

Dev’s ahead of me, hiking in trim khaki shorts and a T-shirt, and fine, the clothes look good. But I’m not checking out his ass. Nope. I’m not at all admiring the gloriously firm shape of it whatsoever.

I so am.

With a quick glance back at me, he gives an easy shrug and winds past a small boulder. “Yes, but no. I’ve got pretty good stamina,” he says, a twinkle in his green eyes.

Great. Just great.

I try to laser in on a question that can’t become wordplay. “What about you, Ledger? What’s the wildest game you’ve ever played in?”

From behind me, the Sea Dog forward hums, clearly giving it some thought. I steal a glance at him as he says, “That’d have to be?—”

“Fuck. Shit. Hell.”

I startle, whipping my gaze back to the man in the lead who’s backing the fuck up, right into me.

“What’s going on?” I ask Dev, setting my palms on his back.

Dev flails a hand at the dirt path in front of him. “I thought I saw a?—”

“My sweet summer child.” I laugh softly then sidle past him to handle the scary creature. I bend and pick up…a long brown twig. I waggle it, not meanly, just playfully. “This thing?”

Dev shudders, then breathes out hard, a dragon disturbed. “It looked like it.”

“Dude.Dude,” Ledger says, unable to stop chuckling.

“I saved you from the twig,” I say to Dev, then I wing the stick into the woods, away from the path. I turn around and squeeze his shoulder, reassuringly. “There, you’re all safe now.”

Dev closes his eyes, his expression pained, like he’s embarrassed. When he opens them, he mumbles, “Fucking hate snakes.”

We’re jumbled together on the narrow path. A thicket-covered hill stretches up on the left, and the other side of the trail slopes to a gently flowing river below. This proximity, this intensity—it’s like it was when we were in bed.

Which means we should keep going, maybe all afternoon and all night. Anything so that I don’t have to face the temptation of sleeping next to these two men again.

“Want Aubrey to walk in front of you?” Ledger goads Dev. “Protect you from any more woodland threats? There might be a chipmunk ambush ahead.”

Dev flips him the bird.

Ledger smiles, then says genuinely, “No worries, man. If a Ferris wheel jumped at me, I’d freak the fuck out too.”

“What is it about Ferris wheels?” I ask Ledger while Dev resumes his pace. “Is it heights you don’t like?”

“Nope. I hate the thought of getting stuck,” Ledger says, owning his fear. “Do not want to get stuck in something that I can’t escape from.”

“What about you, Dev?” I ask as he hikes past a willow tree, its branches sweeping the top of his head.

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