Page 113 of Pucking Sweet

Jesus, that’s depressing.

“Well, you don’t make it easy for the guys to know you,” I say. “I mean, you say we’re close, but I’ve never even seen the new place where you’re living.”

“You’re not missing anything, trust me. It’s a four-bedroom beach house with exactly three pieces of furniture: a bed, a couch, and a TV.”

“Why don’t you hire a decorator? A lot of the guys do.”

He just shrugs. “No point. I don’t care enough to decorate.”

“So, you’re just going to live in a big empty house with nothing but a bed and a couch? Won’t you be here for, like, six years?”

“If they keep me. They could trade me away if they really wanted to. There’s always a back door, an emergency valve.”

“Perfect philosophy for a guy who’s always on the run,” I muse.

He glares at me. “Yeah, well, I’ve had a lot of shit worth running from in my life, Cole.”

I adjust the ice pack on my elbow. “Have you ever found anything worth runningto?”

He looks quickly away. “No.”

I sigh, leaning back. “You’re lying.”

“Well, I can’t just come out and fucking say it, can I? I told you, Coley. I don’t wanna lose you. I’d rather know that the only two people I care about are together than know my selfishness drove all three of us apart. So, I’m gonna help you win her over.”

“You don’t have to do this—”

“I want to,” he presses. “I want you both to be happy.”

I raise a brow at him. “Even if it costs you your own happiness?”

He just shrugs again. “I’ve never been happy. Why start now?”

“Nov—”

“Wait, scratch that.” He holds up a hand, deep in thought for a moment. Then he smiles and snaps his fingers. “When Canada went all the way to the gold medal stand in the 2014 Olympics. I watched every game and cried like a baby. I was happy then.”

My mind hums as I take in all this new information. I’ve always liked Novy. He’s fun and funny, and he has a great nose for sniffing out cool restaurants. He’s also a damn hard worker. He’ll be the first guy in the gym and the last off the ice. It’s been nice to play on the same team again.

But I won’t deny it shocked the hell out of me when he told me I was his emergency contact. For all the time we’ve spent together, it’s always been at work or with the other guys. Does he really have no one else? I can’t imagine not having my mom and my sisters in my life to look out for me and be ready to take that call if it came.

Well, for better or worse, I’m in Novy’s life now. So long as we’reboth Rays, I’m his person. This bullshit with Poppy aside, I’m the one who’s gonna step in and give a damn about him. My gaze softens a little as I take him in, looking so pathetic in his inside out hoodie. “What did you have in mind, Nov?”

He digs his hand back into the bag of granola. “Well, for starters, I think you need to play harder to get.”

I grind my teeth. “I don’twantto play hard to get. I want her to fucking come and get me.”

He nods, swallowing the granola. “Yeah, and you can think that, and you can say it to me all you want. But you don’t say that to anyone else—especiallyher.”

I wave a hand in frustration. “Why can’t I tell her that I want her more than anything? Why can’t I tell her that she’s all I fucking think about?”

He groans, zipping the granola bag shut. “God, you are too Leo to function.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“It means you’re scaring her off, bud. She’s not ready to hear you talk about love and babies and weddings in Aruba.”

“How do you know?”