Page 16 of Pucking the Team

I zipped up my suitcase and went to the door.

Voices.

Someone else was in the room.

A man.

I opened the door a fraction, then stooped to retrieve the gown from the floor. As I straightened, I heard my name uttered in a low voice.

I stilled. Through the gap I could see both Ben and his brother, Theo, standing by the window. They were tall and wearing matching red jerseys, both with the name EVANS in black writing on the back. Each had a bottle of beer in their hand.

“She really all right?” Theo asked.

“She seems to be holding it together; quite impressive. Most chicks would be a heap on the floor after what she’s been through today. Wailing and shit.”

Heap on the floor? That wasn’t my style. I was made of tougher stuff.

“Yeah, you’re right. Remember Carrie?” Theo pointed his beer at his brother. “Huh?”

“How could I forget? She was a mess. I mean, it was her who’d done the dirty on me, right, but still, she was a wreck, and I felt awful for finishing it despite doing nothing wrong.”

So Ben knew what I was going through. How being cheated on screwed with your heart and your mind until you felt like you’d been chewed up and spat out like a piece of old gum.

“I just can’t see Pippa being the wailing sort.” Theo nodded thoughtfully. “She’s got a maturity about her, don’t you think?”

“I guess, yeah. She’s sharp, too, can see it in her eyes. Cool and considered when under pressure. Intelligent.”

“I like that on the iceandI like it off the ice.” Theo glanced over at the bathroom.

Flustered, I stood, cleared my throat, and stepped out, trying my best to act as though I hadn’t been listening. It was flattering they thought me sharp and considered, but what surprised me the most was they hadn’t once mentioned that I was hot, or fit, or sexy, which was usually how I was described before anyone judged another thing about me.

“Hey.” Theo grinned, giving me a dazzling white smile. “Feel better now you’re in normal clothes?”

“Much better, thank you.” I dumped the dress on the bed. “I’ll be glad to get this thing out of my sight.”

“I poured you white wine, hope that’s cool with you.” Ben handed me a glass.

“Anything with alcohol in it will do, turps if necessary.”

“Turps?” Ben frowned. “What’s that?”

“Don’t worry about it.” I flapped my hand, took a big gulp of Pinot, then closed my eyes and sighed.

“You sure you’re okay?” Ben asked.

I opened my eyes to see both brothers peering at me with a mixture of trepidation and curiosity.

“I really am…but…”

“But?” Theo kind of grimaced.

Perhaps he was waiting for my hysteria to set in. “But I’m not going to look at my phone today. I haven’t got it in me to do that.”

“You’re not?”

“Nope.” I nodded to where it sat on the dressing table. “I’ve told the most important person in my world, my aunt, what’s happened and told her not to worry about me, and everyone else can wait.” I swallowed, knowing that Trevor, William, and Casey and all my other friends would be worried and confused. But there was nothing I could do to ease their concern, not right now. It was taking everything that I was to hold it together, and so far, according to these two hunky hockey players, I was doing okay.

“So when you going to deal with it?” Ben asked as it buzzed again.