Page 2 of Revenge Puck

I slap my palms over my burning face, so embarrassed and ready for this conversation to be over. “Oh my god. Did you just refer to me as your ‘sloppy seconds’?”

“You could sleep with every player in the league, and I wouldn’t care,” he says confidently. “Well, except for Preston Lawrence.”

Good to know there’s at least one exception. “Why not him?” I can’t help but ask through my palms.

“Because he’s the guy who is gonna try to take me out of every game in the finals. He’ll slam me into the boards and beat the shit out of me just to keep me from scoring.”

“No kidding?” I’m suddenly a great admirer of this man I’ve never met. I have heard of him, though. Over the past five months, when Christian and I would come up for air, he would bitch about a rivalry with Preston Lawrence. He talked about him like he’s terrified of the other man.

“But it’s not like Preston would ever speak to a nobody like you, much less sleep with you,” Christian continues to kick me while I’m down.

“Wow,” I whisper indignantly at his insult.I’m a nobody.

“I didn’t mean he wouldn’t want you personally, Ellie. He just doesn’t date anyone. Ever. Hockey is his whole little world. He doesn’t allow any distractions from being the most violent prick in the whole damn league.”

Sitting up again, I study the handsome man’s scowl and furrowed brow. “It sounds like you’re scared of him. Christian Riley isn’t nervous about facing some big, bad bruiser in the playoffs, is he?” I can’t help but taunt him, referring to him in third person since that’s how he usually talks about himself.

“What? Hell no, I’m not scared.” He pinches the front of his shirt and says, “The Bobcats are gonna win, and I’m gonna be MVP. Nobody can stop me, babe, especially not Preston fucking Lawrence.”

We’ll just see about that.

The day doesn’t get better when I drag my ass back to the salon, now sad and hungry because I skipped lunch for Christian’s final quickie. Not that skipping a meal is necessarily a bad thing for me…

“You look like crap,” Audrey says when she sees me.

Unlike my beautiful best friend and salon co-owner, who never has a brunette hair out of place, I do look like crap. If I were thinner, prettier, maybe Christian wouldn’t have wanted anyone else.

“No kidding. I just got dumped.”

“What? No!” she exclaims.

“Not thathethinks we even qualified as being together. I was just a hookup for Christian. Nothing else.”

“That’s awful. I’m so sorry, Elle.”

“It’s fine. Really. I never actually thought the notorious playboy would give up all women for me or anything. It was nice to pretend for a while,” I tell her as I slump into my salon chair and use the toe of my slip-ons to spin it around to face her. “Is it wrong that I want to shave his eyebrows off or slash his tires to get back at him?”

“Those are perfectly reasonable desires after a breakup.”

“I can’t mess up his looks or the puck bunnies would full on attack me whenever I go out in public.”

“True enough. They are rabid.”

“And I don’t want to get arrested for assaulting his tires.”

“I think the police would charge you with vandalism, not assault, but it could get you a court date which would require an expensive attorney.”

“He’s not worth those kinds of headaches. It just sucks that he tossed me aside so easily, like I was nothing. Can you believe he told me that I could sleep with one or all of his teammates and he wouldn’t care?”

“Huh. That could help you feel a little better.”

“No, it wouldn’t! Not if he doesn’t care!” I throw my head back on the chair and stare up at the ceiling tiles. “The only stupid exception he made to that offer was some rival on the Warhawks he’s facing in the finals. Preston something.”

“There you go!” Audrey exclaims. Coming over, she spins my chair around one full, quick time, causing my head to snap up. “Go sleep with him.”

“Ha! Funny. Christian said this Preston guy wouldn’t ever want me.”

“Well, you wouldn’t have to actually go through with it, right? Just make Christian think you were hooking up with his rival.”

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