Page 37 of Just my Puck (Love & Laughter #1)

LUCY

D usting off the books in the library, I slowly make my way up to the second floor.

It has been a while since I have seen Patty.

She was really sick after the last hockey game with the flu and asked me to stay away, so she didn’t give it to me.

Now four days have passed, and I’m so excited to catch up with her.

I see her at the end of the aisle, her cheeks flushed from the summer heat. She is wearing her usual library uniform — a crisp white button-down shirt and black slacks.

Smiling as I walk up to her, she waves. “Ugh. Maple has me archiving, can you believe it?”

“It’s because you can sit. You should still be off, really.”

“Not a chance. Steve was driving me nuts.”

“I love that he was there taking care of you.”

“Yeah, well.” She shrugs, her face flushing a deeper red.

“Something you care to share?” I eye her up suspiciously.

She giggles. “I’m dying to hear about you and the Storm, but yeah, Steve and I are together now, exclusive and everything.”

“Oh, yay!” Clapping my hands excitedly, I grin. “I have to meet this guy.”

“He wants to meet you too. We’ll have to set it up.”

“I’m so happy for you.”

“Fuck that. Storm gossip now? How big is his truncheon?”

Snorting with amusement, I hold my hands about eight inches apart. “About this big.”

Eyes wide, she murmurs, “Whoa.”

“But this wide...” I make a circle with my two hands. “Girthy doesn’t quite cover it.”

She giggles. “Oooh, and does he know how to use it?”

“Well, that I don’t know. We haven’t had sex yet.”

“Bummer,” she says, disappointed. “Soooo, you’re really dating all of them?”

“Yeah. It’s wild.”

“Have you...you know?” Her curious look is genuine and not at all prying or judgmental.

“Had sex with more than one of them at a time?” I ask with a laugh. “No. But apparently, that is how they want it. It’s weird. I’m not sure when, maybe when they get back from playing away.”

“Yeah, you’ll have missed them so much, you’ll jump all their bones, including Storm’s.”

“It’s weird,” I confide. “I never in a million years thought I would date more than one guy at a time, let alone sleep with them. I don’t even know how that will work.”

“Watch some porn, get real good at telling them where to go.” She lets out a lewd laugh. “If I weren’t so loved up, I’d be jelly.”

“I love that you’re loved up.”

She grins. “Yeah, me too.”

“Guess I’d better get back downstairs before Maple blows a gasket or two.”

Patty nods and gets back to work as I leave her, knowing I have to decide very soon about what to do with the three hot hockey players who want me.

Maybe being with all three of them at the same time will help me to move forward with Jason, or maybe it will just complicate things even more.

As I make my way back downstairs, my mind is spinning with thoughts of lust and confusion.

But at the same time, I feel a sense of excitement at the possibilities that lie ahead. Maybe I’ll never have to settle for just one man again. Maybe I can have it all - the passion, the variety, and the freedom to explore my desires without shame or guilt.

As I reach the bottom of the stairs, I catch Maple’s eye and smile, feeling a newfound confidence within myself.

Whatever lies ahead, I know that I’m ready for it.

Deciding to give it a shot because what have I got to lose, I make a plan to tell Jason first when I speak to him next and hope he is okay with us having sex for the first time in front of his two friends, who will also rail me.

Fuck. What am I thinking? This is crazy!

Scurrying off to shelve some books and tidy up, I force myself to focus on the work until it’s time for closing.

As I wave bye to Patty and head down the steps, I come up short when I see Mae standing there, her expression tight and guarded. I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but goddammit, I know something is up. And then she says the words that confirm my worst fears.

“I know about you and them.”

“Mae?” My stomach sinks as I try to work out what’s happening, why is she doing this? A million thoughts race through my head.

“I’ve been watching you,” she hisses. “You’re such a little sneaky slut, aren’t you, Lucy?” Her sneer shocks me, causing my stomach to knot, making me feel sick.

“Screwing the entire Titan’s hockey team. Who’d have thought.”

“No, that isn’t true?—“

“Please,” she scoffs.

What the hell is this?

My face is pinched in agitation as I fix Mae with a hard look. “Whatever you heard or saw, that isn’t the case.”

“I know all about how you’re hanging around with all of them, going back to their houses for hot tub parties.

” The look of triumph on her face makes me shiver, even though my temperature has gone up several degrees.

She knows, and she is going to tell everyone.

I can feel it in my core. I’ve never seen that look on her face before.

She is out for blood, my blood, but I don’t know what I ever did to piss her off except tell her to mind her own business.

But the way her chin lifts proudly and the way she looks down on me gives it away completely – Mae knows what’s going on, and she is going to tell all.

Jason will have to deal with being talked about all over again unless I can stop Mae from talking.

“Look, Mae. I don’t know what’s going on here, but you’ve got it all wrong.”

“You’ve been with them all for the last two weeks, but what do you think will happen once they get sick of you?

” Her forehead is wrinkled in bitterness; her eyes are narrowed.

“Do you think any of them are going to stick by your side after all the fucking has stopped and the winning streak is over, Lucky Lucy ?”

A cold knot of fear and anger builds up in my stomach, lodged between my ribs. I’m already so confused about everything with Jason, Steele, and Carter. And now Mae is throwing it in my face what she thinks she knows.

I don’t know what to do. I’m standing here letting Mae rattle off accusations when all I want to do is run away and hide.

But the longer I stand here listening to the hate coming out of her mouth, the more I feel like my whole world is spinning out of control.

But then it strikes me. I was so blind to it before, but Mae is a puck bunny.

I know she has slept with half the reserve squad, hell, she left with some of them the night I face planted into Jason’s cock.

The first team never gave her the time of day and she’s jealous.

She wants Jason all to herself. My anger flares up that she is treating me like shit, my supposed friend, over a guy she wants to bang.

“Fuck you, you’re just jealous.”

Her eyes narrow further, and her lip curls in disgust. “Jealous of you ? Are you fucking deluded? I would never want to be you.”

“Fuck you and your friends, and your whole attitude, Mae. You are a horrible friend, a horrible person and you need to get over this.”

As she glares at me and walks away, clearly not having anything else to say now that I’ve stood up for myself, I’m furious for letting this woman get under my skin because it resolves nothing; it only makes things worse for me.

“They’ll dump your ass soon, Lucy. That’s how this goes. Hope it hurts.”

Her parting shot makes me realize this is serious shit. She is angry with me for getting the attention of the hockey players she wants.

What is this? High school? She is acting like a spoiled brat who isn’t getting her own way and lashing out.

“What a child!”

Making the exclamation to myself as no one else is around, I know she has hit a big nerve.

This relationship is beginning to scare me, but the thought that it could all be over with tells me that I need to act fast. I don’t want to lose them.

None of them. I enjoy their company, and I would be devastated if this came to an end before it even got started.

This realization hits me so hard that I stumble and struggle to take a breath.

I can’t lose them. I won’t. Whatever it takes to move forward with this relationship that they want with me, I’m willing to take it because the only other option is to end up bitter and alone like Mae, and over my dead body, will I allow that to happen to me.