Page 127 of Thoroughly Pucked

“And yet you did. Admit it. This was your grand plan.”

“Yes, Dev. You figured me out. On my sister’s wedding day, I was really hoping to hook her up with you two clowns,” he says.

“The evidence says so,” I say as I set down the trimmer, then run a hand over my stubble.

“I never planned to be a matchmaker.”

“It could be a new calling,” I say, since this is too fun. Hell, everything is too fun. Life is fucking good. I have a date with Aubrey tonight.

TEN MONTHS EARLY.

And there’s no way I’m going to let her slip through my fingers. I’m keeping her, dammit.

“Why do I put up with you?” Garrett groans.

I could keep hassling him, but that time has passed. I turn serious, like I was when I called him last night. “Seriously, I appreciate you being cool about this.”

“Was I supposed to be an asshole?”

“No. But you weren’t, and I’m grateful,” I say, meaning it from the bottom of my heart.

He’s quiet for a few seconds. “I’m grateful she’s dating…a good guy. A couple good guys,” he says, like those words don’t quite fit.

But they don’tnot fiteither.

“I’ll treat her right.”

“I know,” he says.

“We both will.”

“I know that too.”

I say goodbye, then head to the garage and hop into my car. I head to Ledger’s place to pick him up because we have business to take care of.

Once he gets in the car, I turn to him. “You know what this is?”

He’s as stoic as he’s ever been as he says dryly, “A date?”

“Yes. But it’salsothe start of a future with her. We’re not going to lose her. We’re going to do everything we can to keep her.”

He rolls his eyes. “Obviously.”

55

YES, BABY

Dev

But I’m a little concerned after what I just learned about Aubrey during the first half of the game.

Maybe this drive will clear things up though. The quarterback drops back into the pocket, scans downfield, finds no one open. He scrambles for two, three, four tense seconds until he launches a missile that sails fast and beautifully into the arms of the open receiver, who hauls it in and escorts that baby into the end zone.

Aubrey bursts my eardrums with her cheers of “yes, baby” and “that’s how we do it.”

Yup. It’s clear. She’s a feral football fan. I root for the Renegades too. But still, I need her to sayyes, babyfor me. For us.

When the cheers in the suite settle down, I nudge Aubrey. “Do we need to talk?”

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