Page 44 of Pucked Up

“You’re such a fucking nightmare,” he said with a snort. “I love it. But, uh, yeah. Your coach.”

My veins went icy. He was taking Hugo as his date?MyHugo? “You’re going to date my coach?”

His face twisted into a grimace. “What? Fuck no. I don’t date anyone who has anything to do with hockey. You know this. But my coach called me and told me he and I were going together.”

“Tell them no,” I said. There was fire in my voice. Anger. Jealousy. It was absurd because even if Hugo did end up wanting Micah—and the guy wasgorgeous, so I wouldn’t have been surprised—Micah really was adamantly against fucking hockey players.

He sighed. “I can’t. But look, find me there, yeah? We’ll ditch our shitty dates and go get wasted. Oooh, we should make a speech,” he added as I pulled into the parking spot for his apartment. He turned his face toward me and folded his hands under his chin. “Can we get drunk and make a speech?”

“Micah. I’m trying to get a foot in the door here.” I wouldn’t have another Paralympic incident. I would not.

“In where? My place? Bodie, I don’t fuck players, and Idon’tfuck friends.”

I smacked him on the shoulder. “No, jackass. The PPHL. I need…I want…” My voice cracked, and Micah’s face fell. “Shit, I’m sorry, but I need to behave that night. I’m running out of chances.”

“Right. I forgot. I’m sorry, bud. I’m being a dick. I just hate being told where to go and what to do, you know?”

I did. More than I wanted to say.

“Just punch me in the mouth next time.”

“I’d rather punch people who made you feel like shit and tried to attack you,” I confessed.

His brows shot up. “Dude, just call me next time. There’s, like, at least six people I’d like to knock out right now. If your fists are feeling restless, we’ll go find one of them.”

“Deal.” I hesitated, then reached out and gripped his shoulder. “I’m sorry tonight sucked.”

“I’ve had worse,” he said. I hated that for him,but he really didn’t seem too bothered. But then again, when did he ever?

Guys like us were good at hiding until we weren’t, and I hoped one day Micah wasn’t going to crack the way I was starting to. And if he did, I hoped there was a Hugo for him to fuck it out of his system.

Just so long as it wasn’tmyHugo.

Oh God, no. I could not start thinking of him as mine. No matter how possessive I felt.

“See you later?” Micah asked, snagging his cane from between his feet.

“Yeah. Call me if you need anything.”

He shot me a little salute off the side of his forehead and then got out. I sat there watching him make his way to his door, not because I was afraid he wouldn’t make it but because I was afraid of going home to be with my thoughts.

I was feeling too many goddamn feelings about Hugo now, and those were the last things about myself I wanted to face.

CHAPTER

ELEVEN

HUGO

I’d been dozingoff in my armchair when my phone started going off. For a moment, I felt a rush of panic until I realized that it wasn’t some kind of alarm. Fumbling for the damn thing on the side table, I squinted at the screen and saw three emails, then four texts from a number I didn’t recognize.

Unknown: Hey. How about lunch?

Unknown: I realized you have no idea who this is.

Unknown: Sorry hit send too early.

Unknown: Again. This is Ben—I’m the coach for the Fury. Journey and I were going to grab a bite and he suggested we invite you to chat about the upcoming trip with Micah.